The semiotics of the Vitruvian city

Abstract

The Vitruvian city in De architectura is founded on an eight-part windrose. Vitruvius describes how to trace the direction of the eight winds astronomically and relates the tracing of the street network of the city to the form of the windrose, but his description is extremely laconic. Ever since the Renaissance, the customary interpretation is that the form of the proposed city is radial-concentric, a pattern that exercised a powerful influence on the Renaissance model city. However, a close reading of the text shows that the Vitruvian city has a grid plan, following the general Roman model.