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From Ancient Rome to Pandemica Alfresco
Before Pandemica, the universal city that I introduced here a few days ago, there was the Roman military camp, the , and its constituent crossroads (the decumanus and the cardo).
In my original blog, myurbanist, I wrote about the precedential role of the castrum, and how, especially in Europe, the contextual evolution of these crossroads created commercial, walkable, street life. Over time, a place of armies became a sociocultural place anew.
For instance, in Jerusalem, the legendary path to the cross coincides with the Roman decumanus. In Split, Croatia, the crossing of the decumanus and cardo in the old urban center shows remnants of the temples of the Dalmatian summer palace of Emperor Diocletian.
In myurbanist, I used to challenge American placemaking advocates to consider pragmatic approaches when borrowing from qualities of foreign urban spaces, recalling their evolution over thousands of years under different socio-cultural circumstances. Little did I know that a pandemic would make…
