Editing Grid plan (section)

====Ancient Rome====
[[File:Mapa Caesaraugusta.svg|thumb| [[Caesaraugusta]] Roman city matching the current [[Zaragoza]] city map:<br />
1.- Decumano; 2.- Cardo; 3.- [[Foro romano de Caesaraugusta|Foro de Caesaraugusta]]; 4.- [[Museo del Puerto Fluvial de Caesaraugusta|Puerto fluvial]]; 5.- [[Termas romanas de Caesaraugusta|Termas públicas]]; 6.- [[Teatro romano de Caesaraugusta|Teatro]]; 7.- [[Muralla romana de Zaragoza|Muralla]]]]

The [[Etruscan people]], whose territories in Italy encompassed what would eventually become Rome, founded what is now the city of [[Marzabotto]] at the end of the 6th century BC. Its layout was based on Greek Ionic ideas, and it was here that the main east–west and north–south axes of a town (the ''decumanus maximus'' and ''cardo maximus'' respectively) could first be seen in Italy. According to Stanislawski (1946), the Romans did use grids until the time of the late Republic or early Empire, when they introduced ''[[Roman centuriation|centuriation]]'', a system which they spread around the Mediterranean and into northern Europe later on.<ref name="Stanislawski 116"/>

The military expansion of this period facilitated the adoption of the grid form as standard: the Romans established ''[[castra]]'' (forts or camps) first as military centres; some of them developed into administrative hubs. The Roman grid was similar in form to the Greek version of a grid but allowed for practical considerations. For example, Roman ''castra'' were often sited on flat land, especially close to or on important nodes like river crossings or intersections of trade routes.<ref name="Higgins, Hannah 2009 p. 60"/> The dimensions of the ''castra'' were often standard, with each of its four walls generally having a length of {{convert|2150|ft|m|order=flip}}. Familiarity was the aim of such standardisation: soldiers could be stationed anywhere around the Empire, and orientation would be easy within established towns if they had a standard layout. Each would have the aforementioned ''[[decumanus maximus]]'' and ''[[cardo maximus]]'' at its heart, and their intersection would form the forum, around which would be sited important public buildings. Indeed, such was the degree of similarity between towns that Higgins states that soldiers "would be housed at the same address as they moved from ''castra'' to ''castra''".<ref name="Higgins, Hannah 2009 p. 60"/> Pompeii has been cited by both Higgins<ref name="Higgins, Hannah 2009 p. 60"/> and Laurence<ref>Laurence, Ray (2007), ''Roman Pompeii: space and society'', p. 15-16.</ref>{{failed verification|date=February 2018}} as the best-preserved example of the Roman grid.

Outside of the castra, large tracts of land were also divided in accordance with the grid within the walls. These were typically {{convert|2400|ft|m|order=flip}} per side (called [[Ancient Roman units of measurement|''centuria'']]) and contained 100 parcels of land (each called [[Ancient Roman units of measurement|''heredium'']]).<ref name="Gelernter 15">Gelernter, Mark (2001), ''A history of American architecture: buildings in their cultural and technological context'', p. 15.</ref> The ''decumanus maximus'' and ''cardo maximus'' extended from the town gates out towards neighbouring settlements. These were lined up to be as straight as possible, only deviating from their path due to natural obstacles that prevented a direct route.<ref name="Gelernter 15"/>

While the imposition of only one town form regardless of region could be seen as an imposition of imperial authority, there is no doubting the practical reasoning behind the formation of the Roman grid. Under Roman guidance, the grid was designed for efficiency and interchangeability, both facilitated by and aiding the expansion of their empire.