Chang'an during the Tang Dynasty (particularly 710 CE) was a massive gridded city with six major avenues of varying widths, from 82 feet at the narrowest to 492 feet for the Imperial Way, which facilitated fire containment and connected the southern gates to the northern palace complex. The city's hierarchical layout reflected cosmological principles and imperial authority, with nested districts (outer walls, imperial district, and palace district) oriented toward the south to receive foreign dignitaries.
Loren V. Cowin's 2026 dissertation examines the medieval city of Merv using cartographic analysis and urban morphological theory. The work applies GIS and archaeological methods to study Islamic urbanism and early medieval cities along the Silk Road in Central Asia.