Within present Czech Republic, cities were founded in medieval times as the territory was outside of the Roman Empire, and no location could derive an urban tradition from the antiquity. The city rights were given at first to the exiting market communities during the reign of king Ottokar I (+1230) to places like Litoměřice, Bruntál, Hradec Králové between 1213-1225. These were established communities that grew around administrative centers, decanate church or royal castle. By 1250, many other Czech cities were given a city rights and their territory was reformatted to combine the older settlement, the city defenses, and the new development of street grids for the rising merchant class. This happened to Prague Old Town, Brno, Olomouc, Znojmo, where the Romanesque crooked streets were combined with a new regular chess pattern grid. This pattern is visible in Prague Old town where the old settlement toward the Charles Bridge was established before the city rights, while area around St. Gallus church has a regular chess grid pattern. Similarly, Brno, the old Romanesque street layout is still visible around the St. Peter Church while a rectangular pattern can be seen around the current city center of Freedom Square.

In years between 1250-1280, the Bohemian royal chamber established numerous cities on a regular chess pattern grid with a rectangular city blocks, squares, surrounded by the walls. The process was handled by a locator, who divided the blocks into exact parcels, and the land was developed by the new urban dwellers. In the case of Prague St. Gallus quarter, the locator was Eberhard. Hirzo was a locator that established royal cities of Písek, and České Budějovice. Others where Konrad Limberk, or Konrad Spitalar that established various cities in central and eastern Bohemia (Čáslav, Nymburk Polička). In this time, the population was rather transferred from a near-by marketplace or ford into a better, defensive position, sometimes just a mile. This process happened to royal cities like Uherský Brod, Uherské Hradiště, and others, where the old location was either limiting growth, or was not easy to defend; therefore, the location was moved just off the existing location, and the old community became a suburb outside the new city like it happened Brno (Old Brno and city of Brno). Pilsen was established similarly when the old castle and community was not sufficient to be an administrative center and marketplace, and a new city was established in 1295 on a confluence of rivers 5 miles northwest.

Pilsen, Nový Bydžov, Polička, Vodňany were established late in 1295-1337 with extremely rectangular layout. Unlike in older locations that grew from old municipalities and had numerous churches and stone structures, these cities were established on a green field. The locator oversaw the establishment and the construction of the city. The position of the parish church, market square, main streets, defenses, gates, monasteries within the city was thoroughly planned and strictly enforced. The peak of the Bohemian medieval urbanism was an establishment of a New Town of Prague. This was the biggest and most populous city north of the Alps and the city planning was overseen by the Imperial chamber under Charles IV in 1348. Charles IV had a model of his future imperial metropolis, and his architects and urban planners, defined the existing Prague street grid, the location of palaces, its squares, public buildings, fortifications, gates, monasteries, and numerous of churches. The land was divided into lots and developed by nearly 25000 new settlers. City magistrate worked with the plans to ensure the safety (prevention of city fires from the business), defensiveness, and fulfilled the emperor’s vision of turning Prague into a great city. Emperor personally toured the city and gave an approval or displeasure from the deviation of the plan.

Therefore, the urban planning within the Czech lands at its beginning started as a process where the old Romanesque cities were fortified, and the remaining free land was redeveloped. Later era, the experienced locators and administrators worked with a better, rectangular grid system that they perfected in the 14th century with the establishment of new cities on a green field like Nový Bydžov. The increasing commerce, better education, increasing wealth, and changing military tactics, forced the government to oversee the urban developments to ensure the municipality survival.