The rise of the city plans

Abstract

The paper explores changes in producing the printed images of cities since the late 16th to the early 19th centuries. It identifies the substantive elements of images that make it possible to quantify the progress and direction of these changes. Besides, it addresses the alternative techniques of drawing that appeared more or less simultaneously with the single point perspective but were opposed to it. Special attention is given to the anthropological and historical-cultural aspects of the changes in question. The article traces the background to the development of city plans.