Urban design: Cities in past present and future 03/2023

In the Cluster of Excellence ‘ROOTS – Social, Environmental and Cultural Connectivity in Past Societies’, scholars from diverse disciplines deal with the reconstruction of past societies. Connectivities of individuals and groups, of people and the environment, of events, processes and structures are investigated from an archaeological and historical perspective. Globalisation as a worldwide process, including the associated regional effects and reactions, is of primary importance. The underlying hypothesis – the more people are connected, the lower the potential for conflict – was the starting point. 3 Preface This booklet is devoted to ‘urban design’. The role that urban design played within different societies is one example how humans deal with the construction of their environments in self-created worlds of connectivity. This includes not only the material design of urban space through architecture and other design elements but also the development of social regulations and norms that regulated how people lived together. Beside design features and their meaning, urban landscapes are the place where, in addition to humans, also animals, plants and microbiomes, or – in a created reflection – even deities play a role. Therefore, research into ‘urban design’ and the underlying prerequisites, premises and concepts in the past, present and future can serve as an example for people’s attempts to construct their direct environment in connected worlds and thus to help shape the basis for human action in general.