In the

Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; oc, Lengadòc-Rosselhon ; ca, Llenguadoc-Rosselló) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania. It comprised five departments, and ...

region of the south of France, a ''circulade'' is a traditional village that has been built in concentric circles. The center, which one might expect to be the site of a '' château-fort'' or a parish church, is as often as not, empty, as air photography demonstrates.

Origin of the term

The neologism and the concept were proposed in 1992 by Krzysztof Pawlowski, an architect-urban planner of Polish origin specialist of the historic cities, in his work ''Circulades languedociennes de l'an mille''. Though the highly structured ''circulade'' plans were not identified as a unique urbanistic phenomenon until 1992, are medieval in origin, dating from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, two centuries earlier than the planned ''

bastide Bastides are fortified new towns built in medieval Languedoc, Gascony, Aquitaine, England and Wales during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, although some authorities count Mont-de-Marsan and Montauban, which was founded in 1144, as the f ...

s'' of the region. The '' Larousse'' does not list this

neologism A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...

for an ancient form of

urbanisation Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly the ...

, which has been adopted by an association formed to promote these "circular villages"; Jacques Heers included it in this handbook ''La ville au Moyen Age'' (Hachette Pluriel, 1992). An earlier designation, used by geographers, is "round village" as evidenced by Louis Josserand's article, ''Les villages ronds du Razès (

Aude Aude (; ) is a Departments of France, department in Southern France, located in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region and named after the river Aude (river), Aude. The departmental council also calls it "Ca ...

)'', published in the Revue geographic des Pyrénées et du Sud-Ouest in 1931.

Pawlowski's thesis

According to Krzysztof Pawlowski, an architect of Polish extraction working for the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

patrimony section, a medieval circular village is a village whose circle is the basis of all or part of the organization of the parcel system. The essential element of the system called "circulade" would be the succession of rings regularly arranged around the central core in the form of ribbons of terraced houses. Until now, the bastides of the Southwest, cities based on the rectangular pattern, were considered to be the first manifestations of urban creation in the Middle Ages. However, for Krzysztof Pawlowski, in Languedoc the circular model would have formed two centuries before the country houses and would thus have marked the birth of European town planning.

Operation

From 1993, in

Hérault Hérault (; oc, Erau, ) is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault River, its prefecture is Montpellier. It had a population of 1,175,623 in 2019.Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; oc, Lengadòc-Rosselhon ; ca, Llenguadoc-Rosselló) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania. It comprised five departments, and ...

.Dominique Baudreu
''« Circulades » ou la naissance d'une fiction historique''
dans ''Le CERCE'', n°4, printemps 2002.

Pictures of a ''circulades''

File:Alairac2.JPG, View of

Alairac Alairac () is a commune in the Aude department in the Occitanie region of southern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Alairacois'', or ''Alairacoises''. Geography The commune is in the urban area of Carcassonne and is located ...

's circulade File:Caux (Herault) hospice.JPG, Street in Caux's circulade File:Ruelle puéchabonaise.JPG, Houses in Puéchabon's circulade

Notes

{{Reflist, 2

Origin of the term

Pawlowski's thesis

Operation

Pictures of a ''circulades''

Notes

Further reading