ABSTRACT
Many of the earliest planned cities in preindustrial-era settlements were also capital cities and the home of ruling elites. The simple act of planning a city with a geometric order was a demonstration of the power of the sponsors of the early settlements. The concentration of political and financial power in empires kept the number of capital cities small through long stretches of urban history. However, the fragmentation of these global empires in the late 19th and early 20th centuries increased the number of nation states and therefore the number of capitals. The urban planning movement emerged during this period, and many new nation-states sponsored plans for their new seats of government.
