Sumeria fue la primera sociedad que creó la ciudad en sí como una forma construida: estaban orgullosos de este logro como lo demuestra el Poema de Gilgamesh que se inicia con una descripción de Uruk, sus muros, calles, mercados, templos y jardines. Uruk en sí misma es importante como el centro de una cultura urbana que colonizó y urbanizó el occidente asiático.

La construcción de ciudades fue el producto final de las tendencias que empezaron en la Revolución neolítica. El crecimiento de la ciudad fue parcialmente planificada y parcialmente orgánica. El planeamiento es evidente en los muros, el distrito de los templos principales, el canal central con el puerto y la calle principal. La estructura de espacios residenciales y comerciales fue la reacción de las fuerzas económicas a los límites espaciales impuesto por las áreas planificadas que resultaron en un diseño irregular con características regulares. Debido a que los sumerios registraron las transacciones de bienes raíces, es posible reconstruir buena parte del patrón de crecimiento urbano, la densidad demográfica, el valor de las propiedades y otras medidas a partir de fuentes cuneiformes.

La ciudad típica dividió el espacio en áreas residenciales, uso mixto, comercial y cívico. Las áreas residenciales estaban agrupadas de acuerdo a las profesiones.[1]​ En el centro de la ciudad se encontraba un templo principal siempre situado un poco fuera del centro geográfico. Este templo usualmente precedía a la fundación de la ciudad y fue el núcleo en torno al cual creció la forma urbana. Los distritos adyacentes a las puertas tenían una función especial religiosa y económica.

La ciudad siempre incluía un cinturón de tierra agrícola irrigada que incluía pequeñas aldeas. Una red de caminos y canales conectaba la ciudad con estas tierras. La red de transportes estaba organizada en tres escalones: amplias calles procesionales (en acadio:sūqu ilāni u šarri), calles públicas perpendiculares (en acadio:sūqu nišī) y callejones sin salida privados (en acadio:mūṣû). Las calles públicas que definían una manzana variaron poco en el tiempo, mientras que los callejones sin salida eran mucho más fluidos. Actualmente, se estima que el 10% del área urbana estaba compuesto por calles y el 90% por edificios.[2]​.

The case of Uruk

The large buildings of Uruk from this stage have been called temples, although the use they had cannot be assured, and they may have been palaces.[3]​.

In the city of Uruk, two areas stood out as an urban center, both political and religious: Eanna and Kullab.

Eanna was located on flat land: it was the oldest mound and it was from the Uruk period (3400 BC) when its architecture began to stand out. The Temple of the Stone Cones dates from this stage, which had stone walls up to 3.5 meters high. It was made up of a central nave and two corridors surrounded by three large walls that together formed an area of ​​28x19 meters, under which there was an inaccessible basement whose usefulness is unknown. The Limestone Temple of Eanna V was built at a later stage. Its plan was rectangular and was formed by a large central nave measuring 58x9 meters surrounded by a series of rooms with access to the outside, being completely accessible from the public square, also built in stone. In level IV, temples D and E were built, which, as mentioned, were dismantled in level III (3200 BC). Temple D was the largest of them, with dimensions of 45x80 meters, narrow entrances and a T-shaped central nave. Temple E contained a square central chamber flanked on each side by vestibules connected to the outside and to the central chamber by numerous entrances. The buildings that were built after these in level III followed a fairly similar scheme.

Kullab stood in a steep and steep region. In its earliest phases it contained a series of symmetrical structures. One of the most notable buildings was the so-called White Temple, which ended up being covered by bricks and buried.

The residential architectural design was a direct development of the buildings of the El Obeid period. Although the Sumerian cylindrical seals represented the houses used by the Mudhifs, the house with an interior courtyard was the predominant typology that has been used in Mesopotamia until the present day. This house called e (in Akkadian: bītu) faced the interior with an open courtyard that provided a cooling effect to create convection currents. Sumerian cylinder seals also describe reed-built houses, similar to those built by the lowland Arabs of southern Iraq, as late as 400 BC. c.

This courtyard called tarbasu was the first organizational feature of the houses, towards which all the rooms were directed. The external walls did not have any distinctive features, except for a single opening that connected the house with the street. Movement between the house and the street required a 90° turn through a small antechamber. From the street, only the back wall of the antechamber would be visible through an open door, likewise there was no view from the street into the courtyard. The Sumerians had a strict division of public and private spaces. The usual area of ​​a Sumerian house was 90 m².[2]​.

A bazaar was a market or set of businesses, where goods and services were available for purchase and sale. Archaeological excavations have found signs of bazaars in different parts of the Middle East: near Kermanshah (9000 BC), in Tappeh Sialk and in Teppe Hasanlu") (6000 BC), in Shahr-i Sokhta (3000 BC) and in Susa (from 4000 BC).[4]​ The urbanization that took place from the 4th millennium BC. C. made economic growth and increased exchanges possible, even with distant places.

Landscape architecture has been an overlooked aspect of Sumerian culture. Written sources indicate that open space planning was a part of the city from early times. The description of Uruk in the Epic of Gilgamesh tells that a third of the city was reserved for gardens. Similar open space planning is found in Nippur's fifth precinct. Another important landscape element was the vacant space (in Akkadian: kišubbû) that was used alternately for agriculture and for waste disposal.[2]​.

Outside the city, the Sumerian agricultural irrigation system created one of the first gardens in history. The garden (sar) had a perimeter canal. This enclosed quadrangular form was the basis for the later paradise gardens of Persia.

Sumeria fue la primera sociedad que creó la ciudad en sí como una forma construida: estaban orgullosos de este logro como lo demuestra el Poema de Gilgamesh que se inicia con una descripción de Uruk, sus muros, calles, mercados, templos y jardines. Uruk en sí misma es importante como el centro de una cultura urbana que colonizó y urbanizó el occidente asiático.

La construcción de ciudades fue el producto final de las tendencias que empezaron en la Revolución neolítica. El crecimiento de la ciudad fue parcialmente planificada y parcialmente orgánica. El planeamiento es evidente en los muros, el distrito de los templos principales, el canal central con el puerto y la calle principal. La estructura de espacios residenciales y comerciales fue la reacción de las fuerzas económicas a los límites espaciales impuesto por las áreas planificadas que resultaron en un diseño irregular con características regulares. Debido a que los sumerios registraron las transacciones de bienes raíces, es posible reconstruir buena parte del patrón de crecimiento urbano, la densidad demográfica, el valor de las propiedades y otras medidas a partir de fuentes cuneiformes.

La ciudad típica dividió el espacio en áreas residenciales, uso mixto, comercial y cívico. Las áreas residenciales estaban agrupadas de acuerdo a las profesiones.[1]​ En el centro de la ciudad se encontraba un templo principal siempre situado un poco fuera del centro geográfico. Este templo usualmente precedía a la fundación de la ciudad y fue el núcleo en torno al cual creció la forma urbana. Los distritos adyacentes a las puertas tenían una función especial religiosa y económica.

La ciudad siempre incluía un cinturón de tierra agrícola irrigada que incluía pequeñas aldeas. Una red de caminos y canales conectaba la ciudad con estas tierras. La red de transportes estaba organizada en tres escalones: amplias calles procesionales (en acadio:sūqu ilāni u šarri), calles públicas perpendiculares (en acadio:sūqu nišī) y callejones sin salida privados (en acadio:mūṣû). Las calles públicas que definían una manzana variaron poco en el tiempo, mientras que los callejones sin salida eran mucho más fluidos. Actualmente, se estima que el 10% del área urbana estaba compuesto por calles y el 90% por edificios.[2]​.

The case of Uruk

The large buildings of Uruk from this stage have been called temples, although the use they had cannot be assured, and they may have been palaces.[3]​.

In the city of Uruk, two areas stood out as an urban center, both political and religious: Eanna and Kullab.

Eanna was located on flat land: it was the oldest mound and it was from the Uruk period (3400 BC) when its architecture began to stand out. The Temple of the Stone Cones dates from this stage, which had stone walls up to 3.5 meters high. It was made up of a central nave and two corridors surrounded by three large walls that together formed an area of ​​28x19 meters, under which there was an inaccessible basement whose usefulness is unknown. The Limestone Temple of Eanna V was built at a later stage. Its plan was rectangular and was formed by a large central nave measuring 58x9 meters surrounded by a series of rooms with access to the outside, being completely accessible from the public square, also built in stone. In level IV, temples D and E were built, which, as mentioned, were dismantled in level III (3200 BC). Temple D was the largest of them, with dimensions of 45x80 meters, narrow entrances and a T-shaped central nave. Temple E contained a square central chamber flanked on each side by vestibules connected to the outside and to the central chamber by numerous entrances. The buildings that were built after these in level III followed a fairly similar scheme.

Kullab stood in a steep and steep region. In its earliest phases it contained a series of symmetrical structures. One of the most notable buildings was the so-called White Temple, which ended up being covered by bricks and buried.

The residential architectural design was a direct development of the buildings of the El Obeid period. Although the Sumerian cylindrical seals represented the houses used by the Mudhifs, the house with an interior courtyard was the predominant typology that has been used in Mesopotamia until the present day. This house called e (in Akkadian: bītu) faced the interior with an open courtyard that provided a cooling effect to create convection currents. Sumerian cylinder seals also describe reed-built houses, similar to those built by the lowland Arabs of southern Iraq, as late as 400 BC. c.

This courtyard called tarbasu was the first organizational feature of the houses, towards which all the rooms were directed. The external walls did not have any distinctive features, except for a single opening that connected the house with the street. Movement between the house and the street required a 90° turn through a small antechamber. From the street, only the back wall of the antechamber would be visible through an open door, likewise there was no view from the street into the courtyard. The Sumerians had a strict division of public and private spaces. The usual area of ​​a Sumerian house was 90 m².[2]​.

A bazaar was a market or set of businesses, where goods and services were available for purchase and sale. Archaeological excavations have found signs of bazaars in different parts of the Middle East: near Kermanshah (9000 BC), in Tappeh Sialk and in Teppe Hasanlu") (6000 BC), in Shahr-i Sokhta (3000 BC) and in Susa (from 4000 BC).[4]​ The urbanization that took place from the 4th millennium BC. C. made economic growth and increased exchanges possible, even with distant places.

Landscape architecture has been an overlooked aspect of Sumerian culture. Written sources indicate that open space planning was a part of the city from early times. The description of Uruk in the Epic of Gilgamesh tells that a third of the city was reserved for gardens. Similar open space planning is found in Nippur's fifth precinct. Another important landscape element was the vacant space (in Akkadian: kišubbû) that was used alternately for agriculture and for waste disposal.[2]​.

Outside the city, the Sumerian agricultural irrigation system created one of the first gardens in history. The garden (sar) had a perimeter canal. This enclosed quadrangular form was the basis for the later paradise gardens of Persia.