Leta 1748 je italijanski arhitekt in zemljemerec Giambatista Nolli izdelal sloviti zemljevid Rima, na katerem je na revolu- cionaren način prikazal odnos med javnim odprtim in zaprtim prostorom, danes bi rekli zasebnim prostorom. Ta zemljevid je navdihnil tudi Colina Roweja in Freda Koetterja za urbanistične analize, ki so zasnovane na razmerju med figuro in ozadjem v prostoru mesta (ground/figure plan), posebej pomemben pa je zaradi predstave o javnem prostoru, ki pripada tako eksterierju kot interierju. Medtem ko so bloki zasebnih hiš narisani kot "polno zaprto", so namreč kot "prazno-odprto" narisane ulice, trgi in notranja dvorišča in, kar je najpomembnejše, notranjost cerkva kot mesta, ki nedvoumno pripadajo vsem prebivalcem, izenačenim v pravici do Božje milosti in zaščite. Nolli je mesto opazoval kot porozen organizem, v katerem zidovi in vrata ne predstavljajo vedno dobesedne meje med javno in zasebno sfero. V njegovem času je bil javni pomen notranjosti cerkve jasen odraz predstave o svetu, v katerem je bila identiteta posameznika in skupnosti prežeta s skupno vero in je bil ravno prostor vere prostor normirane, toda kljub vsemu zagotovljene enakosti in socialne 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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