 3 elements of urban structure:

 (1) networks
An urban network is defined as a linked set of cities that exchange ideas and
allow skilled employees to easily commute between them. A network is
analogous to a city in some aspects, although with fewer connections. Networks,
like cities, exist to facilitate the exchange of goods, people, and ideas. The most
ancient urban networks formed more than 6,000 years ago along rivers such as the
Indus, Tigris, and Euphrates. One plausible explanation is that networks arose
initially for commercial purposes, but were later consolidated into political units
under the military power of kings and empires.

 (2) buildings
Buildings are the most visible aspects of a city, and they are the traits that give
each city its personality, which is comprised by:

- Residential buildings comprise about half of all urban land, with building styles
ranging from dispersed single-family houses to dense high-rise apartments.
- Commercial buildings are concentrated downtown and in numerous sub-centers,
with skyscrapers dominating in the central business area and low-rise structures
dominating elsewhere, while tall buildings are becoming increasingly frequent in
the suburbs.
- Industrial buildings occur in a variety of sizes and shapes, ranging from massive
manufacturing complexes in industrial districts to modest workshops.

The physical scale, space, and ambiance of a place are determined by urban
design, as are the built and natural forms within which individual buildings and
infrastructure are sited. As a result, it has an impact on the balance of natural
ecosystems and constructed environments, as well as their sustainability results.
They foster a feeling of identity and represent a city's history and ideals to
residents and tourists. Skyscrapers, for example, are commonly used to
commemorate a city's successful times or new technological achievements.

 (3) open spaces

Land that has not been actively developed for residential, commercial, industrial,
or institutional purposes is referred to as open space. Whether it is publicly or
privately held, it serves a variety of functions. Open space is often overlooked,
although it makes a significant contribution to the quality of urban life.

- "Hard" spaces like plazas, malls, and courtyards serve as backdrops for a variety
of public activities.
- "Soft" spaces such as parks, gardens, lawns, and nature preserves give much-
needed respite from the harsh urban environment while also providing
opportunities for leisure activities.
- The above "amenities" are beginning to shape perceptions of which cities are
good places to live.
 Reasons why cities exist?
Cities exist for a variety of reasons, and the complexity of the services that cities perform
may be traced back to the diversity of urban forms. Storage, trade, and manufacturing are
all centered in cities. Cities process and distribute the agricultural surplus from the
surrounding countryside. Cities developed established around markets, where far-flung
items could be swapped for local goods. Cities have sprung up at the crossroads of
transportation routes throughout history, as well as at sites where products must be
transferred from one form of transit to another, such as river and ocean ports.

 What are some influences that affect a city form?

Natural constraints must be observed if a settlement is to live and develop. Cities are
physical creations put into a preexisting natural world. Although technology has
increasingly emerged to restructure the land to suit human objectives, cities must
conform to the terrain in which they are placed. Thus, a city form is influenced by:

- Climate - Climate has an impact on the shape of cities. Streets, for example, have
been rerouted to take advantage of cooling breezes, and arcades have been built to protect
people from the sun and rain. Individual building construction frequently reflects climate
adjustments to temperature, rainfall, snow, wind, and other factors.

- Water supply – Cities must have a good water supply, and places along rivers and
streams, or near underground watercourses, are typically desirable. Many major
contemporary towns have outgrown their local water resources and must rely on distant
water sources diverted through intricate networks of pipelines and canals.

- Location – Natural transportation channels have had a significant impact on the

location and internal layout of cities. Cities have traditionally been built around natural
harbors, navigable rivers, or along land routes dictated by area geography.

- Calamity/disaster - Natural calamities such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes,

and floods have devastated cities regularly. The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco
revealed how natural forces may quickly ruin decades of human endeavor.

 Cities characteristics on architecture periods?

- 3,000 B.C. in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley - Ancient cities
displayed both "organic" and "planned" types of urban form. These societies had
elaborate religious, political, and military hierarchies. Two typical features of the ancient
city are the wall and the citadel: the wall for defense in regions periodically swept by
conquering armies, and the citadel -- a large, elevated precinct within the city -- devoted
to religious and state functions.

- Greek-Greek cities did not follow a single pattern. Cities growing slowly from old
villages often had an irregular, organic form, adapting gradually to the accidents of
topography and history.
- Colonial - were planned before settlement using the grid system. The grid is easy to layout,
easy to comprehend, and divides urban land into uniform rectangular lots suitable for
development.
- Roman - Rome itself displayed the informal complexity created by centuries of organic
growth, although particular temple and public districts were highly planned. In contrast, the
Roman military and colonial towns were laid out in a variation of the grid.
- Spanish - Spanish colonial cities in the New World were built according to rules codified in
the Laws of the Indies of 1573, specifying an orderly grid of streets with a central plaza,
defensive wall, and uniform building style.
- Baroque - Versailles is a clear expression of this city-building model; which is
characterized by long avenues, radial street networks, monumental squares, geometric parks, and
gardens.
- 19th century - New towns founded during this period were conceived as commercial
enterprises, and the neutral grid was the most effective means to divide the land up into parcels
for sale. No longer would religious, political, and cultural imperatives shape urban development;
rather, the market would be allowed to determine the pattern of urban growth.

 Create a definition of a “city” based on the reading.

Cities are described as constructed environments, and as such, they have always been the
settings of inventive and purposeful architectural buildings and spaces, according to the
reading. Typically, they were built to honor a particular political, ceremonial, or religious
movement, or to fulfill a public function, such as a market, theater, or administrative
complex.

Historically, the city has twisted nature to adapt to it, physically molding land and water
bodies to meet architectural desires; the city has disregarded its natural surroundings,
resulting in the problems that come with the notion that man can manage or control
nature.