"The lanes and streets of the city being set out, the choice of sites for the convenience and use of the state remains to be decided on; for sacred edifices, for the forum, and for other public buildings"
About this Quote
The phrase “convenience and use of the state” sounds utilitarian, but it’s also a Trojan horse for ideology. Convenience for whom? Use toward what ends? In Roman civic life, site selection wasn’t mere logistics; it was choreography. Put sacred buildings on commanding elevations and you naturalize the gods’ oversight. Place the forum at the city’s center and you stage commerce, law, and debate as the beating heart of collective identity. Public buildings become a curriculum in citizenship: where people walk teaches them what matters.
Vitruvius is writing in a late-Republic/early-Augustan world where architecture is propaganda with columns. His treatise speaks the language of practical expertise, yet it smuggles in a vision of order: the well-planned city mirrors the well-ruled state. The subtext is that design can preempt disorder - social, religious, even political - by assigning every function its proper place. Streets are the skeleton; site choice is where the city gets its soul, and the regime gets its stage.
Quote Details
| Topic | Vision & Strategy |
|---|---|
| Source | Vitruvius (Marcus Vitruvius Pollio), De architectura (Ten Books on Architecture), English trans. Morris H. Morgan, 1914 — Book I (city planning section). |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Pollio, Marcus V. (2026, January 17). The lanes and streets of the city being set out, the choice of sites for the convenience and use of the state remains to be decided on; for sacred edifices, for the forum, and for other public buildings. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-lanes-and-streets-of-the-city-being-set-out-81346/
Chicago Style
Pollio, Marcus V. "The lanes and streets of the city being set out, the choice of sites for the convenience and use of the state remains to be decided on; for sacred edifices, for the forum, and for other public buildings." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-lanes-and-streets-of-the-city-being-set-out-81346/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The lanes and streets of the city being set out, the choice of sites for the convenience and use of the state remains to be decided on; for sacred edifices, for the forum, and for other public buildings." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-lanes-and-streets-of-the-city-being-set-out-81346/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
