The lecture investigates the morphology of Iranian cities and the parallels with Europe and India from the pre-Achaemenid period to 17th century Isfahan.  Through a case study of the 14th century city of Tughluqabad (near Delhi) the lecture examines how Iranian and Middle-Eastern traditional urban forms influenced the design of later cities, including two in the 20th century: Sir Edwin Lutyens's and Sir Herbert Baker's New Delhi (1916) and Le Corbusier's Chandigarh (1951).  Middle-Eastern, Indian and European concepts of ideal urban forms will be discussed and it will be demonstrated that a pragmatic design, based on defence, the essential needs of a city and the basic requirements of the inhabitants put a virtual end to the forms based on ideals: in the Orient the city as an image of the cosmos or an earthy paradise, and in the Renascence an image of the concept of civilised society and its institutions.