Abstract
The sedentary lifestyle necessitated a series of behavioral and conceptual forms that were largely uniformly structured. This also involved the access and structuring of space by humans. This paper uses a plethora of ethnographic and historical examples to illustrate recurrent elements of this spatial design. The symbolic and spatial center of the traditional settlement topography is the agora, around which the village space is concentrically arranged, with its various symbolic and activity zones. Outside the actual settlement area shielded by boundary markers is a peripheral zone, the home of the socially marginalized. Still farther away is an ordered natural environment that reflects the spatial relations of the village space. Taken together, these establish a nostrocentric topographical system in the particular community.