Andrew Wallace–Hadrill

key element is also the individuality of the settler as a concept and the understanding that the settler is a citizen with a role within the community, which normally becomes associated with ownership of urban and rural allocated plots. In the Mesopotamian tradition, which had enough mathematical knowledge to do perfect right angles, the distribution of urban spaces in new foundations was done by granting sectors to groups based on kinship or other form of collective self-definition, and this did not result in street grids

underlining the fact that the urban form at the foundation represents the cultural values of the founders and not necessarily those of their successors centuries after

One level of understanding represents the cosmological perception of the city. In this sense, the establishing of a new city should reflect the ideal concept of urbanism, but a city could also represent the values and visions of the cosmos. Circular cities are a very clear example of cosmological ideas imposed on an urban plan, but rectangular grids can also represent the ideal worldview