Simon Stevin's (1548–1620) treatises had an influence on the construction of settlements in Southeast Asia as well as on the settlement of Malacca. In the treatise ‘Ideal Plan for a City’, published in 1649, Stevin developed a city design in which he was influenced by ideas of an ideal town according to the principles of the Italian Renaissance (fourteenth century until the sixteenth century). This treatise had an influence on the development of settlements in Southeast Asia. The settlement of Malacca was influenced, apart from the Dutch, by Portuguese design and architecture. The influence of Simon Stevin's treatise was also noticable on the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (United East Indies Company – VOC) settlement of Jayakarta (Batavia). VOC architecture and town planning in general was influenced by the ideas of Simon Stevin. The findings are that the three requirements, defence, agriculture and location, are met as mentioned by Stevin in ‘Ideal Plan for a City’. The other requirements of design (as mentioned in his treatise Vande Oirdeningh der Steden of 1599) – arithmetic, symmetry, placement of buildings and a system of streets – are not met.

Figure 4. The subdivision of a settlement into four bands, in their turn divided into symmetrical parts by special elements
Figure 4. The subdivision of a settlement into four bands, in their turn divided into symmetrical parts by special elements For social functions (churches, college, poorhouse and public spaces, i.e. markets) © The Royal Library, The Hague, the Netherlands