GMU:Patterns/Melisa Aslan

21.04.2026 - Previous Works and The Initial Idea

File:Melisa - Introduction.pdf

References

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Introduction

Architects and urban planners shape our cities according to ownership of urban land and the land market. This is because legal and econom-

ic history affects city-making is an enormous subject. Cities are planned by religious orders too, such as the Cistercians in Gascony and the

Teutonic Order in eastern Europe, the Franciscan mission in Spanish Mexico and the aldeias of the Jesuits in Amazonia and central Brazil

(Kostof, 1991).

Architects and urban designers mostly develop cities by analysing commercial areas infrastructures today the plans are mostly imposed by

politicians. Even when we, architects, try to read the historical development of a city, we falsely read them , especially when we see an organic

plan. Kostof says and proves that Siena was one of those false readings of a city plan. It is again more likely to be elated to the regimented design

of medieval urbanism. (Kostof, 1991 p.70-71)

This project tries to find and alternative reading and analyiss og cities by asking these questions:

What if cities were shaped by something other than land, markets, and master plans?

How can we analyse and perceive our cities from ecological behaviour: water, wind, or animal paths data and re-experience them?

Mexico City (Tenochtitlan)

The Aztec foundation myth is literally a bird omen. An eagle landing on a cactus, eating a serpent, told them where to build. The entire city

was founded on this omen. The modern city sits exactly on that spot, now buried under concrete. The installation here would be devastating:

the city that was built because a bird landed there, and you can't see a single bird from the centre of it anymore.

Rome

While seeking the perfect location for their new city, the twins wandered across the seven hills (Aventine, Celio, Capitol, Esquiline, Palatine,

Quirinal and Viminal). Remus wished to start the city on Aventine Hill, while Romulus preferred Palatine Hill. To decide which brother was

right, they agreed to consult augury, where birds are examined to see what the gods favoured. Remus claimed to have seen six birds, where-

as his brother had seen twelve. Even though Romulus had seen more birds, Remus argued that he had seen them first and therefore the city

should be built on the Aventine Hill. Meanwhile, Romulus began to build a wall on his hill, which Remus decided to jump over.

Augury was literally constitutional; Roman law required reading birds before any major civic decision. The city's founding is a bird story:

Romulus saw twelve vultures, Remus saw six, and that decided who built the walls. The seven hills were augural observation points before

they were administrative districts. The city is already a frozen augury reading. One of the most famous auspices is the one which is connected

with the founding of Rome. Once the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, arrived at the Palatine Hill, the two argued over where the

exact position of the city should be. Romulus was set on building the city upon the Palatine, but Remus wanted to build the city on the strategic

and easily fortified Aventine Hill. The two agreed to settle their argument by testing their abilities as augurs and by the will of the gods. Each

took a seat on the ground apart from one another, and, according to Plutarch, Remus saw six vultures, after which Romulus saw twelve. The

two clashed over whether the preference of the gods was indicated by Remus seeing vultures before Romulus did, or by Romulus seeing

twelve vultures while Remus saw six. Vultures were pre-eminent in Roman augury, furnishing the strongest signs an augur could receive from

a wild bird. They were subject to protective taboos and also called sacred birds.

Cairo / Memphis

The ibis was Thoth, scribe, measurer, the god of knowledge and urban order. Ancient Egyptian cities aligned with bird migration and Nile

flood patterns simultaneously. The sacred ibis nested along the Nile in patterns that