design

aerial geometry: 5 circular communities from the sky

by deputydog ⋅ 17 / 02 / 2008 ⋅ post a comment

following the star forts post a couple of weeks ago i became immersed in a world of aerial geometry due to the fact that i find it hard to research a topic for this site and not explore everything related to it. to be honest, star forts are pretty impossible to beat for impressiveness but the circular communities below are still quite stunning. there’s a wikipedia link and google maps link for each example apart from the one in brondby - if anyone knows more about it let us know. as always, leave any other examples of similar communities in the comments.

1. sun city, arizona, usa - (wiki / google maps link)

2. nahalal, jezreel valley, israel - (wiki / google maps link)

3. unknown community, brondby, denmark (google maps link)

4. firuzabad, fars province, iran - (wiki / google maps link)

5. hamadan, hamadan province, iran - (wiki / google maps link)

sources: 1, 2

discussion

51 comments for “aerial geometry: 5 circular communities from the sky”

  1. I think Santa Cruz in Bolivia also has a configuration like this… See wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_de_la_Sierra

    Another great post though!

    posted by Scott | 17th of February, 2008, 11:01 am

  2. People love circles.

    posted by len | 17th of February, 2008, 6:39 pm

  3. Arizona, Iran, Israel- these circular communities seem to be most popular in warm, arid climates.

    posted by Adam | 17th of February, 2008, 7:22 pm

  4. enter palmanova italy into google maps and prepare to have your mind blown

    posted by giudecca | 17th of February, 2008, 9:18 pm

  5. Check out Rotonda, Florida

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotonda,_Florida

    Another round (wagon wheel) shaped community

    posted by chicagogreg | 17th of February, 2008, 9:24 pm

  6. Yerevan, the capital of the Republic of Armenia is also set up as a circular city.

    posted by narf | 17th of February, 2008, 10:00 pm

  7. Great examples! Thank you. Here is a modern one in China: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingang_New_City

    posted by Georg | 17th of February, 2008, 11:16 pm

  8. http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=t85j1rj0zv0w&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=18345513&where1=brondby%2C%20denmark&encType=1

    posted by jahan | 18th of February, 2008, 1:29 am

  9. You don’t think the Iranian ones could be a super-secret megaparticle accelerator do you???
    Just joking.. Aaaagh - the’ve got me even before this got posted

    posted by Dave | 18th of February, 2008, 3:22 am

  10. Don’t forget Canberra, Australia!

    posted by yuhann | 18th of February, 2008, 4:34 am

  11. I think theese people want the aliens to see them.

    http://www.juzamdjinn.blogspot.com

    posted by duhu | 18th of February, 2008, 7:15 am

  12. http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&hl=de&geocode=&sll=48.773977,9.170014&sspn=0.006321,0.01442&ie=UTF8&ll=40.328487,17.823086&spn=0.058497,0.115356&t=h&z=13

    Nardo is another nice circular community.
    A race track and pitstop.

    posted by Kai Nehm | 18th of February, 2008, 7:29 am

  13. If memory serves, some of the circular communities in Iran are based on ancient round fortifications. I know that there were circular, and very large, defensive walls erected, often with a large tower at the very center. Names are escaping me at the moment, which makes me a bad classicist, but that might be related to the Iranian ones at least.

    posted by Andrew | 18th of February, 2008, 8:27 am

  14. I used to work in sun city, AZ next to Luke Airforce base. You aren’t the first to notice the geomerty there. The pilots jokingly call that area the “target range”.

    posted by Rick | 18th of February, 2008, 9:02 am

  15. “Little boxes on the hill side…”. :)))))))

    posted by wypasiona_foczka | 18th of February, 2008, 10:17 am

  16. ancient influence or not …
    these areas are smoking kewl …
    i like it …

    posted by subcorpus | 18th of February, 2008, 11:33 am

  17. I think UCF in orlando, fl has their campus set up like this

    posted by wane | 18th of February, 2008, 1:10 pm

  18. The object in Brøndby/Denmark are summer cottages, planned to be a green trench in the copenhagen expanding vestwards

    posted by Bent | 18th of February, 2008, 1:56 pm

  19. Circle is a great form, but a hexagonal form of the bees is more suitable to divide space in an efficient way.

    I wonder if anyone uses the system of the bees to plan cities.

    posted by Nataly Short | 18th of February, 2008, 2:50 pm

  20. Rotonda West, Florida, USA

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Rotonda+West,+FL,+USA&ie=UTF8&ll=26.891837,-82.271891&spn=0.053661,0.089521&t=h&z=14

    posted by Jeremiah Fish | 18th of February, 2008, 6:44 pm

  21. try this: it’s a summer town in Italy, north eastearn shore
    its name is Lignano Pineta

    Visualizzazione ingrandita della mappa

    posted by Alessandro | 19th of February, 2008, 5:54 am

  22. try this: it’s a summer town in Italy, north eastearn shore
    its name is Lignano Pineta

    http://maps.google.it/maps?f=q&hl=it&geocode=&q=lignano+pineta&sll=41.442726,12.392578&sspn=12.545315,20.566406&ie=UTF8&ll=45.670384,13.104973&spn=0.022851,0.040169&t=k&z=15

    posted by Alessandro | 19th of February, 2008, 5:55 am

  23. The ones in Denmark look really cool - the cars are all kept well away from the houses - lots of green space between the circles for recreation. I’d move there tomorrow, if I spoke the language.

    posted by Mangetout | 19th of February, 2008, 6:31 am

  24. Nataly Short wrote:
    Circle is a great form, but a hexagonal form of the bees is more suitable to divide space in an efficient way.

    I wonder if anyone uses the system of the bees to plan cities.

    Such efficiency is all well and good for subservient insects, but who wants to live in a beehive?
    The inefficiency of packing in the Brondby development makes it look a great place to live.

    posted by Mangetout | 19th of February, 2008, 6:35 am

  25. Nataly: check this out: http://tessellar.blogspot.com/

    Stars and circles are great, but the hexagon is the key to the universe!

    ;)

    There is also an essay in a town planning journal I saw a couple of years ago called, I think, ‘Hexagonal Planning in Theory and Practice.’ Worth tracking down- so much better than my poorly remembered details.

    (First visit- great site.)

    posted by Robert P, Dublin | 20th of February, 2008, 10:40 am

  26. Though not exactly a circular town by itself, have a look at Oost-Souburg (NL): http://maps.google.nl/maps?f=q&hl=nl&geocode=&q=oost-souburg&sll=52.469397,5.509644&sspn=3.011959,7.470703&ie=UTF8&ll=51.463252,3.604438&spn=0.003008,0.007296&t=h&z=17

    posted by jeroen | 21st of February, 2008, 5:44 am

  27. I’m architect from Israel, now my office have a project in Nahalal, public school… You not really feel the geometry of the place, when you’re visiting it.

    posted by Maryana | 21st of February, 2008, 11:03 am

  28. It reminds me when I fly. It’s always a gorgeous site to see.

    posted by Deuce | 22nd of February, 2008, 10:33 pm

  29. You should google: L(a)titudes I think thats what it is. It’s artwork that is very similar to the natural geometrical shapes made available to our viewable pleasure by google earth and such.

    posted by Cool Beans | 25th of February, 2008, 9:09 pm

  30. I’m architect from Israel, now my office have a project in Nahalal, public school… You not really feel the geometry of the place, when you’re visiting it.

    posted by seo | 26th of February, 2008, 8:07 pm

  31. see also: Neuf Brisach, France…

    posted by Andreas | 21st of March, 2008, 7:03 am

  32. cool
    http://maps.google.it/maps?f=q&hl=it&geocode=&q=lignano+pineta&sll=41.442726,12.392578&sspn=12.545315,20.566406&ie=UTF8&ll=45.670384,13.104973&spn=0.022851,0.040169&t=k&z=15

    posted by geometri | 1st of May, 2008, 3:05 am


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