Yes. Google Maps are great as they have that keen Satelite View.

Look in Europe at old sections of Cities, and you will see the city streets are tightly packed buildings.

Also check out these pictures:

http://www.worldofstock.com/slides/TEP2445.jpg

Columbia: http://www.everyculture.com/images/ctc_01_img0249.jpg

http://photos.liveauctioneers.com/ho.../0115_1_lg.jpg

http://images.statelibrary.tas.gov.a...1125646406.jpg

http://photos.igougo.com/images/p102...ly_streets.jpg

Prague: http://www.f1point4.com/f1point4/ima...ue_street2.jpg


In addition to what Jfrazierjr was saying, as a city grows from a village, not only is is easier (and cheaper) to build only three walls instead of four, especally in a walled city, you only have so much room to build. Further if one was building outside the city walls, you would likely be buidling as close as possible to the city walls.

Another reason, buildings were built as what I am coming to term SUPERbuildings, is due to the nature of families. When a son married another man's daughter, they would need somewhere to live. Likely the easiest way to accomplish this increase in familial size was not to take away valuable crop land, but rather to just build an addition to the house (that three wall instead of four thing again), and maybe eventually if needed, just wall up the old doorway to close it off into a seperate structure/room.