Lessons for Software UX From Ancient City Planners

Writing for Fast Company, Tom Seiple reports on a lesson recently acquired on a visit to the Alfama district in Lisbon, which was originally formed in 1200 BCE:

It shares, more or less, the same characteristics and elements of any modern city. Despite the centuries of time that separate them and clear differences in scale, Chicago and Alfama share many of the same core elements. They both have roads, businesses, homes, places of worship, public art, neighborhood squares, parks, schools, and much more. They may look exceptionally different in terms of their form and scale, but at the end of the day, Alfama’s churches, markets, and alleyways perform the exact same functions as the same spaces in Lagos, London, Beijing, Mumbai, Los Angeles, or any other major modern metropolis.

The tradition goes back even further into history, writes Seiple, to the oldest known city, Çatalhöyük. “In the nearly 10,000 years—as far as we are aware—that mankind has been building cities, the same common elements have always existed, albeit in various forms and scales,” writes Seiple.

Nothing shared from the article so far will come as a surprise to Planetizen readers, but Seiple soon provides a twist: the lessons from cities, ancient to contemporary, can be applied to software design. The article draws on examples of urban form (referencing Frank Lloyd Wright) and the image of the city (referencing Kevin Lynch).

In addition to the article linked below, Seiple promises another article soon about how lessons of good and bad urban design can be applied to software UX.