Research Group C-IV is dedicated to the investigation of urban spaces of the Roman Empire and the Late Antiquity. With focus on the ancient cities of Alexandria, Antioch, Milan, and Rome both the material form respectively design of urban spaces, the functional structures of inherent performative acts and reception of urban spaces in the arts and literature is to be analyzed. Within a diachronic as well as synchronic approach several archaeological, historical and philological studies are to be carried out to compare different urban spaces and to reconstruct their evolution.