The demise of the Roman Empire marked the entry of Europe into the Middle Ages of feudal society. During this period, Europe was divided into many small feudal kingdoms. Feudal separatism and constant wars have turned the center of economic and social life to the countryside, and handicrafts and commerce have been very depressed, and cities have declined.

In the middle ages, due to the separation of theocracy and secular feudal forces, some markets were formed around the church, which were subordinate to the management of the church and gradually formed cities. The church occupies the center of the city, and its heavy volume and towering spire become the dominant factors of urban space and skyline. In a large number of rural areas beyond the control of the church, in order to cope with the impact of war, some feudal lords built many castles with defensive functions and formed some cities around them.

On the whole, cities basically grow spontaneously, and few are built according to the plan; At the same time, because the city was formed for the needs of public activities, the speed of urban development was relatively slow, thus various urban facilities and narrow and irregular road network structures were formed around the public squares in the city, which constituted the unique beauty of medieval European cities.

Due to the frequent wars in the Middle Ages, the requirements for urban defense were raised to a high position, and some planning models based on urban defense came into being.

/kloc-after the 0/0 century, with the gradual rise and prosperity of handicrafts and commerce, the power of civic self-governing organizations such as guilds has been greatly developed, and many cities have begun to get rid of the rule of feudal lords and churches and gradually developed into autonomous cities. In these cities, public buildings such as city hall, customs hall and trade club have become important places for urban activities and occupy a dominant position in urban space.

At the same time, the social and economic status of the city has also been improved, the autonomy of the city has promoted the faster development of the city, and the city has been expanding outward. Florence, Italy, for example, broke through the city wall twice in 1 172 and 1284, and built a new city wall, which was later broken through by a new round of urban expansion.