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I want to know how big a large medieval city would be, considering a population of roughly 20.000. And by size I mean in terms of area or average diameter.

The real catch comes when the city is build in 5 layers on top of each other, so I'd assume roughly 1/5th of the size of a real medieval city here.

^ this was the actual question, more context on the situation below

It's a fantasy world in a custom D&D 5e world, comparable to medieval England~Germany around the high middle ages. Magic isn't rare here, it's rare enough that not every commoner has it, but common enough that magical beasts are used at war, or as pets of the rich.

The city in question is the capital city of the elves, and one of the largest, if not the largest, city on the mapped continent. It's the city of scholars, magic and, as far goes, science. Back to the catch: It's built between 7 large and ancient trees of 140~150 metres tall, the city is built:

  1. On seven silver bridges, where the royals live
  2. On a layer of wooden bridges, where most of schooling and art is done as well as military training
  3. On a second layer of wooden bridges, where most of the work-force happens (guilds, shops, etc)
  4. On a third layer of wooden bridges, where most of the commoners live
  5. On the forest floors, where the farmers live and a portion of the commoners.

I assume the agricultural level to be larger than the rest, but how large would this city span in terms of area / avg diameter otherwise?

Fons
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    Medieval cities were not built on wooden bridges between the branches of ancient trees hundreds of meters tall. Your fantasy has nothing in common with the Western European Middle Ages, and, as far as I know, with nothing medieval on this green Earth. And please, farmers do not live in cities -- in fact, the opposition between farmers and city-folk is as old as the oldest cities. You may also want to allocate some effort in thinking out how such a layered city may work, mechanically -- how does water climb to the top layer, how is pluvial water evacuated, how do sewers work, ... – AlexP Jun 09 '17 at 20:24
  • As AlexP pointed out I think your main problem is assuming the best analogue for fantasy will always be medieval. A better bet for this might be ancient Roman tenements or even more modern cities-- but in the end it may be easiest to do a quick breakdown of your population and calculate square footage requirements of families by social class. – Random Jun 09 '17 at 21:37
  • Ah, so not realistic or historically backed at all...here's a link to everything you might need for building into a game demographics-wise: http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/demog.htm – Erin Thursby Jun 10 '17 at 03:38
  • @AlexP Well, if the farmers are on the ground, I would not actually say that they are "in the city" and they would not be behind defenses, but instead would go up to achieve what a wall would elsewhere. I would not actually count their population as part of the city--more as the surrounding countryside of the city. – Erin Thursby Jun 10 '17 at 03:40
  • Fons, see my comment to AlexP, and do not count your farmers in with the population of your city--don't make them part of the 20,000 or so. – Erin Thursby Jun 10 '17 at 03:43

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