My dissertation, “Roman Fire Prevention and the Development of the 'Urbs Nova,'” traces the legal, historical, and architectural development of the urbs nova by distilling fire prevention strategies into discrete indices of change, which, assessed diachronically in cities across the Roman west, unlock a fresh material understanding of the new urban form. The cataclysmic Fire of 64 CE which catalyzed the fundamental reshaping of the city ultimately transformed expressions of urbanism beyond Rome itself: the urbs nova presented an ideal model of a new city, drawing together a set of architectonic elements into an urban blueprint, forming an architectural package from which elements could be selectively deployed in other cities. This urban ideal adapted and reinvigorated older notions of city building, combining them with new innovations in ways which transformed the very essence of the Roman city.

The photograph of Rebecca L. Kerns was taken by P.G. O'Callahan.