... relied on manual labour, particularly slaves. Roman cities tended to be laid out in a grid pattern, much as the Greeks had laid out their own colonies centuries earlier. Any changes to buildings which may have impinged onto the communal space were not permitted unless specifically approved by the authorities-almost a precursor of modern planning restrictions, per say. However, this is in contrast with how the cities of the Islamic-influenced areas came to regard the family as the primary driver and allowed an almost "anything-goes" approach to buildings being extended into the streets. There can be little doubt that the use of concrete by the Romans allowed for significant strides to be taken with buildings, since they were able to build higher than they could with the existing technology and employ arches in a manner that had hitherto been unseen. Simple physics meant that a concrete arch acted in a similar manner ...

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