How did medieval European city planning work?

by Koldstream

Hi,

I'm trying to create a procedural medieval city generator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procedural_generation), so I'm trying to understand how medieval cities were planned.

I'd like my generator to be able to grow cities organically. I.e. I'd like to run the simulation for 100 years and see a small settlement with a few basic industries and then continue for 1000 years to see a huge metropolis. I want to capture the way in which medieval European cities would have developed.

At the highest level I want to know How did medieval city planning work? (Was there any or did people just build where they wanted?)

Specific Questions:

  • Who got to decide where people built houses/shops? Did the owner of the castle sell plots off with more expensive plots being closer to the castle?

  • Were streets planned before there were houses? Did any building regulations exist about how wide the streets had to be?

  • Was the location of the market planned? Or would traders just put their stalls near major thoroughfares?

  • Why did houses become more packed towards the walls?

  • How did neighborhoods develop?

I have a bunch of assumptions that I would like to make. I'm not sure these are correct and I'd like some feedback on

  • The city was centered around a castle/fort with a nearby water and food supply

  • Richer people lived towards the cent e in large houses, whilst the slums were towards the walls and undesirable locations (ports etc).

  • Houses became smaller and more packed towards the walls.

Finally, can you suggest any reading material?

I'm aware that this might require quite an involved answer so thanks for your time.

Ambarenya

Although I cannot provide a hugely detailed answer at the moment, I would suggest that you take a look at medieval Constantinople for an understanding of what can be seen as the pinnacle of European metropolitan organization in the Middle Ages. There is a fascinating website called Byzantium1200 which was an academic project aimed at recreating the City of Constantinople in 3D to appear as it was in the year 1200 AD. You'll find and see a great deal about how the largest city of the European Middle Ages was laid out, including urban development along the Theodosian Walls and even inter-wall farming/agriculture. When I get a chance, I'll try to answer your specific questions accordingly.