Subject of Urban Tissue Continuity in Different Urbanisation Periods in Europe. Selected Aspects

21^st century cities, owing to their size, concentration of capital, advanced services and production, are the main centres of the global economy. It is not, however, the domain of exclusively postmodern times. For centuries, cities have played a key role in the development of civilisation, and the processes taking place within them have had an effect on the functioning of entire societies. The urban form we deal with today is a resultant of many determining factors and transformations. This paper presents selected aspects of the urbanisation processes that took place in the past, which even today have their effect on the physical form of towns and cities in Europe. Special attention shall be paid to phenomena, which may influence the coherence of form and the creation of barriers within the urban tissue in a different way.