The growing use of geophysical methods for around twenty years brought new sights on the spatial organization of archaeological sites. The results have been particularly spectacular in the case of the study of city planning which were known before by more or less extended excavations from which was extrapolated the rest of the plan. Despite the massive interest of such a new source of information, the use of the geophysical maps is most of the time still limited to the identification of the main characteristics of the city planning. The opportunity to have at our disposal the entire plan -or at least a significant part- opens interesting and innovative approaches taking in account the variability of the quality of the geophysical data.

The geophysical map brings interesting results to consider all aspects around the creation of a city planning, from its theoretical concept to its evolution through the occupation of the archaeological site. The identification of the streets network offers an innovative approach on the conditions of traffic inside the city, connections between different quarters and the position and access facilities of administrative, religious, cultural and commercial buildings. From a methodological point of view, different spatial analysing tools usually used for the study of modern cities are usable with geophysical data.

This paper will present different cases of city planning of ancient Near East from the Early Bronze Age until the Byzantine period. Different models of urban planning will presented and for each one we will consider its evolution from the theoretical concept to its adaptation to the historical and environmental context. The transition from medieval cities to modern is well known thanks to the preservation of buildings and streets networks but the study of urban dynamics of more ancient cities is more marginal due to the lack of documentation. The information brought by geophysical investigation provides a more detailed approach which integrates more accurately the most ancient towns in the field of urban studies.