Rome: Urban Formation and Transformation

In this book, Formation is ideal and utopian thinking, and Transformation is the adaptation of the ideal to the real or existing conditions. The book examines the dialectical relationship of these in the creation of the city. The subject is a contextual theory of urban design, utilizing Italian Renaissance and Baroque architecture and urban development of Rome, as a case study. It demonstrates the complexity of Roman urbanism and the inter-relationship and role of Roman architecture to its urban context.

The theory of urban ’Contextualism’ has not been adequately discussed and presented in regards to this historical city. Why it is important as a theory and as a method for designing Roman cities today? And therefore, it needs to be discussed. The book is an exploration and demonstration of urban analysis and visual diagramming, it is an urban and architectural analysis of significant Ancient, Renaissance and Baroque historical developments in the great city of Rome. There has rarely been a discussion and visual presentation of the relationship of Roman architecture to its urban context.