Hill town
Despite the challenges of building settlements on uneven ground, cities in complex topographic settings are "routinely" considered to be among most distinctive ones,[6] pleasing to the eye when observed from within or enjoyed as a part of the landscape.
Christian Norberg-Schulz noted in 1970s that while the row of buildings is a natural layout for the flat terrain, the use of promontory suggests a cluster-like arrangement of houses.
[10] As the urban sprawl exhausts the available level grounds, major cities worldwide become hillier (San Diego, São Paulo, Madrid, Nairobi, Nagasaki, Perth).
[12] Architects studied their commonalities since the early 1800s (Karl Friedrich Schinkel), but intensive research started with the formation of Team 10 in 1953 and creation of the International Laboratory of Architecture and Urban Design (ILAUD) in 1976.
[13] The hill towns in Tuscany and Umbria retained many medieval buildings, a testament both to their former wealth necessary for the use of lasting materials as well to a rapid impoverishment later that prevented the demolition of old structures.
[4] While decidedly medieval on the surface, these hill towns usually have deeper roots dating back to Etruscans and frequently to the Bronze Age cultures.
[16] This was aided by the general deterioration of agriculture seeing the return from the regular crop rotation back to the shifting cultivation and nomadic herding that did not need permanent small hamlets in the plains that were prevalent during the Roman colonization.
[18] The typical ancient Greek town started as fortified poleis on the hill top, frequently replacing a castle of Mycenean ruler.
Stephen Owen concentrates on the towns' appearance and proposes a narrow definition for the type: "free-standing small towns set in English upland landscapes where, because of their siting on predominantly convex land shapes, the whole settlement [...] is visible from viewpoints and routes in the surrounding landscape" (this excludes villages with fewer than 2000 occupants that lack complexity[clarification needed] and cities with more than 10 000 occupants that cannot be experienced as a whole[dubious – discuss]).
Other siting considerations often overruled the slope orientation, and there are hill towns in England facing the (wettest) west or (windiest) northeast directions.
[26] Some of the English hill towns started as a supply source for a hilltop castle, some have a mining or manufacturing pedigree (mostly wool or textiles due to abundance of water and proximity to the sheep pastures); most evolved to become the centers of trade.
[25] There was historically a significant divide in prosperity between the northern (Pennine) hill towns that had experienced large swings in their fortunes with long periods of downturn, while their southern counterparts (like Shaftesbury) fared better.
[30] Giancarlo De Carlo made major contribution to the hill town model,[31] including the Villaggio Matteotti housing development in Terni (Italy).
Bill Buchanan, Douglas Duany, Lucien Steil and others have studied hill towns with a view to reviving interest in the enduring form.
