Godine 1748. talijanski arhitekt i zemljomjer Giambatista Nolli izradio je znamenitu kartu Rima u kojoj je na revolucionaran način prikazan odnos javnog i zatvorenog, danas bismo rekli privatnog prostora. Ta karta je inspirirala i Colina Rowea i Freda Koettera za urbanističke analize bazirane na planu figure i pozadine (ground/figure plan), no njen posebni značaj je predodžba o javnom prostoru koji jednako pripada i eksterijeru i interijeru. Naime, dok su kao "puno-zatvoreno" crtani blokovi privatnih kuća, kao "prazno-otvoreno" su crtane ulice, trgovi i unutarnja dvorišta, te, što je najvažnije, unutrašnjosti crkava kao mjesta koja nedvosmisleno pripadaju svim građanima izjednačenim u pravu na Božju milost i zaštitu. Nolli je grad promatrao kao porozni organizam u kojem zidovi i vrata ne predstavljaju uvijek doslovnu granicu između javne i privatne sfere. U vrijeme Nollija javni karakter unutrašnjosti crkve bio je jasan odraz predodžbe o svijetu u kojem je identitet pojedinca i zajednice bio prožet zajedničkom vjerom i upravo je prostor vjere i Crkve bio prostor normirane, ali ipak zajamčene jednakosti i socijalne inkluzivnosti.
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In 1748 Italian architect and surveyor Giambattista Nolli made a famous map of Rome which in a revolutionary way represented the relation between open public space and closed space, today referred to as private space. That map has also inspired Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter to make an urbanistic analysis based on ground/figure plan, but its special meaning lies in the perception of public space which belongs both to exterior and interior. As a matter of fact, while blocks of private houses were depicted in "full tone – closed", streets, squares and courtyards were left "blank – open", as well as, and more importantly, the interiors of churches as places which by equal right to God’s grace and protection unambiguously belong to all citizens. In the eyes of Nolli, the city is a porous organism in which walls and doors do not always represent a literal border between public and private spheres. In Nolli’s time, the public character of church interiors was a clear reflection of an image of the world in which the identities of an individual and of the community were imbued by mutual beliefs which made this space of faith and of Church an area regulated by norms, but also by warranted equality and social inclusiveness.
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