Planning in the Roman Empire - Essay Example

The emperor also provided a lot of economic opportunities that people could take advantage of. The emporium faced major problems in maintaining security and peace and in governance. The central government also had devolved a lot of its governance responsibility of local affairs and certain imperial duties to the cities. There was a lot of competition within between the cities in the empire. The competition is evident bearing in mind how the senior citizens competitively vie with each other for recognition by the public and for senior civil posts.

Cities also competed with each other to gain honorific titles. However, the competition of the cities was to some extent beneficial to the empire as it fostered decorative and architectural developments as they strove to outdo rival cities in the “splendor of their public monuments and the variety or their urban facilities”(p122). The competitions also brought other potential dangers. Some building projects which were undertaken in cities like Bithynia were left unfinished. Much of the empire’s resources were concentrated on development.

New ideas, techniques, buildings and materials for building were employed in a bid to come up with bigger more impressive buildings. More architectural work was done. The focus of the empire was on transforming the existing cities and fostering growth of cities in the urbanized provinces. Civic planning can achieve various benefits if well done and implemented. On the other hand, if not well planned or implemented, it can end up having a lot of negative results. In the empire, buildings would give a sense of solidarity which was not the situation on the ground as the cities were strong competitors.

The buildings were magnificent and beautiful which would also have given a sense of unity in the empire, which was not also the case. Many buildings also had been started