Planned city, new city or planned locality is a city created on previously undeveloped land, with a specific purpose and in accordance with a global urban plan. Its development depends, therefore, on an administrative decision and not on the natural movement of the population.

Historians of antiquity left testimony of the creation of new cities, normally palatial cities that reflected the magnificence of the monarch, since he had architects, master builders, foremen, workers and economic resources at his disposal. In Ancient Egypt, Akhenaten ordered the construction of the new city of Akhenaten in the middle of the century BC. C. A palatial city with a reticulated plan with ordered neighborhoods, which was abandoned after his death. Persepolis, ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire during the Achaemenid era; construction started by Darius I around 512 BC. C. and destroyed by Alexander the Great.

The Hellenic colonization of the Mediterranean coasts disseminated the concept of ordered urban planning with orthogonal streets, the hippodamic layout, since the century BC. in their new cities.

The Romans built a large number of cities throughout their empire, often as colonies for the settlement of citizens or veterans. Following an ideological-urban model, they were primarily characterized by a network of streets and a planned water supply; Many modern European cities of Roman foundation still preserve part of the original street network, such as, among others, Mérida "Mérida (Spain)"), Verona, Turin, Narbonne, Cologne "Cologne (Germany)") or Trier.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, planned urban settlements flourished again throughout medieval Europe, mainly between the 12th and 14th centuries. Among the most notable cities are Lübeck, Riga or Gdansk.[1]​.

Centuries later, the creation of new cities occurs during the colonization processes of new areas; Cities of this type also arise when an attempt is made to create a new economic center - case, for example, Glenrothes (Scotland), Tres Cantos (Spain), La Plata (Argentina), Cancún (Mexico) or Ciudad Guayana (Venezuela), also political centers. Thus, many "Capital (political)" capitals of the world are planned cities: Washington D. C. (United States), Canberra (Australia), Brasilia (Brazil), New Delhi (India), Putrajaya (Malaysia), Belmopan (Belize), Abuja (Nigeria), Islamabad (Pakistan), Naypyidaw (Burma) or Yamoussoukro (Ivory Coast).