Papers address a major challenge in archaeology: non-intrusive research in pursuit of a deeper understanding of urban areas can be richly informative and cost-effective. Geophysical surveys, UAVs, exposed historic structures and the exhaustive examination of archival records can all play a vital role and their implementation is considered here.

This study presents new evidence for the development of commerce and inter-regional trade through survey and analysis of urban layout and architecture. The study of Roman urbanism – especially its early (Republican) phases – is extensively rooted in the evidence provided by a series of key sites, several of them located in Italy. Some of these Italian towns (e.g. Fregellae, Alba Fucens, Cosa) have received a great deal of scholarly attention in the past and they are routinely referenced as textbook examples, framing much of our understanding of the broad phenomenon of Roman urbanism. However, discussions of these sites tend to fall back on well-established interpretations, with relatively little or no awareness of more recent developments. This is remarkable, since our understanding of these sites has since evolved thanks to new archaeological fieldwork, often characterised by the pursuit of new questions and the application of new approaches. Similarly, new evidence from other sites has since prompted a reconsideration of time-honoured views about the nature, role and long-term trajectory of Roman towns in Italy. Tracing its origins in the Laurence Seminar on Roman Urbanism in Italy: recent discoveries and new directions, which took place at the Faculty of Classics of the University of Cambridge (27–28 May 2022), this volume brings together scholars whose recent work at key sites is contributing to expand, change or challenge our current knowledge and understanding of Roman urbanism in Italy. The individual chapters showcase some of the most recent methods and approaches applied to the study of Roman towns, discussing the broader implications of fresh archaeological discoveries from both well known and less widely known sites, from the Po Plain to Southern Italy, from the Republican to the Late Antique period (and beyond).

"The book's focus on applied urban research would seem to make it particularly useful to nonacademic researchers. Because it condenses a lot of information into a limited amount of space, however, the work will benefit from use in a classroom setting, where an experienced researcher can elaborate on points made or examples used in the text, supplement its contents with material from additional sources, and guide students through the exercises suggested at the end of each chapter." --Canadian Journal of Urban Research What is the current spatial form and structure of our urban environment? How can we study the factors and forces that account for the specific structure of urban space, its social and political processes, population distribution, and land use? Addressing these and other important issues, Gregory D. Andranovich and Gerry Riposa highlight specific urban research questions and the ways in which they can be approached by offering a framework for doing urban research. Covering such topics as how to choose a research design, secondary research methods for data collection, and how to enhance research utilization, the authors demonstrate ways to pair research questions with specific analysis and national-level analysis. Students and researchers in sociology, political science, psychology, public policy, and anthropology will find this book a useful guide for planning and executing urban research.

Urban design--understood as a transdisciplinary field at the intersection of architecture, urban and regional planning, landscape architecture and sociology, plus the stakeholders involved in any project--requires a compendium of methods to collapse boundaries between theory and praxis. This book collects a range of approaches intended to support urban designers with this aim.

Contributing Authors Include Milos Macura, G. Gouswaard, Olaf Boustedt, And Many Others.