Water-First Urban Planning: Reimagining Roman Urban Principles for Future Sustainable Cities
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Rapid urbanization over the last century has led to the continuous expansion of megacities, creating increasing challenges related to water security, infrastructure complexity, transportation, environmental degradation, housing quality, and long-term urban resilience. Rather than further enlarging existing metropolitan regions, this paper proposes a Water-First Urban Planning framework for developing human-scale sustainable companion cities surrounding major megacities. Inspired by the engineering principles of Roman urbanism, the proposed approach prioritizes water resources, ecological preservation, and agricultural sustainability before residential development, establishing a resilient foundation for future urban growth.The proposed city integrates standardized architectural design, modular additive construction, renewable energy systems, intelligent infrastructure, and centralized computational management into a unified urban ecosystem. Public institutions are organized within a pedestrian-oriented civic core inspired by the Roman forum, while commercial boulevards, residential districts, green corridors, agricultural belts, and peripheral industrial zones are systematically arranged to maximize livability, environmental performance, and long-term sustainability. Future aerial transportation is accommodated through centralized public eVTOL infrastructure integrated above the civic district rather than dispersed throughout residential neighborhoods. https://dynisos.com/
Author: AYDIN, Nihat
Language: English
Subfield: Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7214776407