As the city grows, the frame extends its sphere of influence over more and more territory. A complex interlacing takes place between the earlier established connections and the new ones. In this process, the frame assumes the character of its functions. Some of its elements which belong to the earlier stages of the town remain active in the inner realms. Others, that are primarily linked to the new network of communications and areas spread their influence in the periphery of the city. The junctions of these interlacings becomes the nodes of support for the further development of the entire system. Such a "bifurcation" of the frame gets accentuated with each cyclical movement in the development of the town. This leaves behind traces in its history, like the annual rings across the trunk of a tree. For this reason, every old city which is still active today, carries "information" about the historical development of the system. Its frame thus contains the significant historical and genetical peculiarities. It is this complexity and coding that reveals the key to the understanding of the uniqueness of a particular city. Epiogue or Prologue ? A general theory about the development of the city is still in its formative stage. It is still incomplete in many ways. The theory however is not about form, but starts from the base, the very essence of the initial and traditional concept of a city. Today, when we are on the threshold of the 21st century, many of our existing urban ideals are being seriously doubted. More and more conclusions confirm the negative aspects of urban civilisation such as environmental pollusion, noise, dangers of transport, alienation from nature and the loss of human scale. More and more voices are joining in and calling for cities that are closer both to nature and man. It is, in a sense, an ecological approach. The inspirations for this call are universal and cultural and this is easy to understand in our technological age. However, this subject requires a separate discussion to enumerate the philosophical, architectural and technical aspects. What we need to remember is that the ecological issues are much larger than those concerned with the density of construction and accessibility to transport These ecological issues have not been evaluated fully and hence the theory about the city seems incomplete. One can solve the problems of formulating a general theory about the development of a city only by using it on a composite interdisciplinary study of the city. The reason for this is not that one cannot ignore other disciplines but because the entire approach of seeing the city as a highly organised and dynamic unit is rooted in such disciplines. Journal of Arts and Ideas 73