Reconstructing the Urban Fabric of Nea Paphos by Comparison with Regularly Planned Mediterranean Cities, Using 3D Procedural Modeling and Spatial Analysis

Bibliographic Data

ID19595358
AuthorsAnna Kubicka (0000-0001-5442-3947), Anna Kubicka-Sowińska, Łukasz Miszk (0000-0002-5774-4647), Paulina Zachar (0000-0002-1830-9423), Anna Fijałkowska (0000-0002-0567-9863), Waclaw Ostrowski (0000-0003-2103-1546), Wojciech Ostrowski (0000-0001-9823-7978), Jakub Modrzewski (0009-0003-3800-8585), Ewdoksja Papuci-Władyka (0000-0002-4533-2557), Ewdoksia Papuci-Władyka
Year2024
Volume391
Pages163-189
Publication date2024-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2769-3589 • E-ISSN: 2769-3600
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/730152
OpenAlexW4395663584
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited21

Nea Paphos, the Hellenistic-Roman capital of Cyprus, was established according to a regular Hippodamian street grid in the Hellenistic period. The city has been subjected to continuous archaeological research since the 1960s. Despite this, the possibilities for reconstructing its fabric were severely limited. This paper aims to gain a more in-depth understanding of the ways in which computational methods can be used in the analysis of ancient urban planning and the reconstruction of its elements, using the similarity of urban processes and social behavior in ancient Greek cities as its main premise. Therefore, a study based on Network and Space Syntax analysis was conducted for cities with a well-recognized urban layout of the Late Classical and Hellenistic periods, namely Olynthus and Priene, and other, less archaeologically explored harbor towns of the Hellenistic period, such as Piraeus and Ptolemais. The results of these studies were then extrapolated to hypothetical reconstructions of Nea Paphos in the Hellenistic period, mainly to propose the location of the main public buildings and to model the urban traffic. This methodology is experimental in its nature. The aim of this paper is to try to assess to what extent the adopted workflow can be useful in reconstructing the landscape of ancient cities

Archaeology · Art · Civil engineering · Geography · Hellenistic Period · Mediterranean climate · Space syntax · Urban planning · Workflow · Computer Science · Engineering · Land Use and Ecosystem Services · Public Spaces through Art · Urban Design and Spatial Analysis

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