How Teotihuacan's Urban Design Was Lost and Found

Most ancient cities throughout Mesoamerica followed the same planning principles, and they included the same kinds of buildings. Each city usually had a well-planned central area which included temples, a royal palace, a ballcourt, and a plaza that was surrounded by a much more chaotic (in terms of planning) residential area. Teotihuacan most likely had no royal palace, no ballcourt, and no central areas. It was much larger than cities before it, and the residential areas were much better planned than its predecessors, and it had an innovation unique in world history – the apartment compound. Buildings with one entrance that contained many households had been rare before the industrial revolution and those that did exist were for the poor. Teotihuacan’s were spacious and comfortable.

“Teotihuacan stood alone as the only city using a new and very different set of planning principles, and its apartment compounds represent a unique form of urban residence not just in Mesoamerica but in world urban history,” said Michael E. Smith.

All of these features were unique in Central America before and after, until the Aztecs drew their inspiration for their capital Tenochtitlan from Teotihuacan using many of the same features.

Contacts and sources:

Eric Merkel-Sobotta
De Gruyter Open

Citation: The Teotihuacan Anomaly: The Historical Trajectory of Urban Design in Ancient Central Mexico.  Michael E. Smith  https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2017-0010

For more information about Teotihuacan: https://shesc.asu.edu/centers/teotihuacan-research-laboratory