City Planning (Civ3)/Civilopedia

When function and form coalesce, mighty cities are built. Many ancient cities were
built from plans laid out long before the first pavement stones were laid. A gridwork
of main streets running north and south and east and west, with a public square or forum
in the center was a common feature in many ancient cities of Mesopotamia, such as
Nineveh and Babylon. Ancient city planners worked diligently to design cities that were
not only well organized, but ones that possessed spiritual power. The careful blending
of geometry and physics in the creation of streets and temple districts, open-air
markets and living quarters, helped engineers build cities that could expand for
centuries.