The notion of planning entire communities prior to their construction is an ancient one. In fact, one of the earliest such cities on record is Miletus, Greece, which was built in tne 4th century BC. Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, various planned communities (both theoretical and actual) were conceived.
Leonardo da Vinci designed several cities that were never constructed. Following the Great Fire of London in 1666, the architect Christopher Wren created a new master plan for the city that incorporated park land and urban space. Several 18th-century cities, including Washington D.C., New York City, and St. Petersburg, Russia, were built according to comprehensive planning.