Migration and way of living. Houses, public spaces and city-planning in the late Middle Ages in the east-Mediterranean area

During the late Middle Ages, between the 12th and 14th centuries, most of the centers now known as historic cities were rebuilt according to new principles. Thousands of cities, villages, and hamlets are planned by the thousands as “new towns” according to models that, despite the many variations occurring in European regions, follow common guidelines. Other, more ancient cities plan urban expansions that frequently double the area and population of the city. City designers elaborate plans that meet the most diverse needs. The founding deeds often describe the geometries to be used, the criterion for the construction of terraced houses, the rules for the allocation of lots to new settlers, the market norms: they spread in a wide area, the one in which the culture of Romanesque architecture or of early Gothic architecture became dominant.