The form of Seleneca is linked through history to various attempts at describing and creating the “ideal city.” In about 360 BC, Plato was perhaps is the first to describe an ideal city with his story of Atlantis in his book Timaeus and Critias. Physically he described it as a series of circular rings, each with specific activities and functions. In general, he and others that came after him looked to ideal cities with a philosophical approach to organize society (politics) and wellbeing. It is ironic, and completely coincidental (?), that Seleneca rests at the southern edge of Timaeus Crater on the shore of Mare Frigoris.
Vitruvius, a Roman engineer and architect who lived between 80 to 15 BC, appears to the first to write down architectural theory. What he spelled out for a building also holds true for a city, Buildings should exhibit three things: strength, convenience (usefulness), and beauty. For cities he outlined the method of design and construction. He said the first things to go up should be the walls of the city. This is true for lunar cities be since the void of space is a harsher and non-relenting killer of man than any waring nation of fellow humans. Vitruvius suggested a circular form for the city and defined his locations for streets based on airflow. Although Seleneca does not have natural wind, we must make our own to distribute our breathable atmosphere throughout the city. He also sorted out what uses should go where, such as putting the courts near the businessmen, and religious institutions should be distant from shopping areas which were typically malodorous.
There were two more Renaissance men who also contributed significantly to the concept of ideal cities: the Italians Antonio di Pietro Averlino “Filarete” born about 1400 AD. and Leon Battista Alberti born about 1404. Filarete wrote about the fictitious ideal city called Sforzinda, and it became a model that influenced later designers of the public realm that included Giangaleazzo Sforza, Piero de’ Medici, Francesco di Giorgio, and Leonardo da Vinci.
One ideal city that was realized is Palmanova, Italy, built in 1593 within the Venetian Republic. This is shown in the attached image to this blog post. It was designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi. It is not so different in size from Seleneca’s. It measures about 450 meters from the center to the edge of the buildings. Seleneca is about 400 meters from center to the edge of buildings. At both of them, in about 10 minutes, you can walk from one edge to the other, or 5 minutes to the center, max. Both are surrounded by farms.
Palmanova, Italy
