"Cities compress and unleash the creative urges of humanity. ... [T]hree critical factors have determined the overall health of cities -- the sacredness of place, the ability to provide security and project power, and last, the animating role of commerce. Where these factors are present, urban c...
With marauding knights and brigands roaming the countryside, the first priority lay in erecting a defensive perimeter. An eighth-century description of Verona, in Italy, tells of a city “protected by thick walls and surrounded by forty-eight gleaming towers.” In the years before the introduction ...