Etruscan city planning was on a rigid planning system as determined by the disciplina etrusca. Houses were laid out in streets with sewage lines located under the roads. Early Rome as founded by the Etruscans was laid out in a similar fashion. Following the invasion of Rome by the Celts during the days of the Early republic, the local population begrudgingly rebuilt the city, but the final result was a more hap-hazard street pattern with housing built above sewer lines in many cases, resulting in disease epidemics.

While the Romans are admired for their magnificent aquaducts, the Etruscans reticulated water by means of underground water pipes and pressure boxes- a technology which was not passed on to the Romans. A form of underfloor heating was used, which continued on with the Romans in later years.

The pillars used by the Etruscans to support Temples and other public works complied with defined ratios, and computer models show that in terms of Engineering, they were an improvement on the Greek Corinthian, Doric and Ionian orders.

Arches, unknown in Classical Greece, were originally used in Mesopotamia, and were introduced to Italy by the Etruscans. They were used to good effect by the Romans in later years.

The residences of the Etruscan ruling classes were typically characterised by a wide central courtyard entered from an "Atrium Tuscanicum" as the Romans called it. The word Atrium itself comes from the Etruscan word for entrance or harbour, as in the Etruscan port of Atrii which gave its name to the Adriatic sea.. Several other rooms led off from this central courtyard. The Etruscan villa was the precursor to the later Roman Villa.

The buildings were single storey and were built with blocks of stone as a foundation. The walls were constructed with frames of wood and clay plastering.

The typical shape of the roof was eaved, but terraced roofs were also built. The exterior and interior walls of the houses were frescoed with geometric patterns or with moulded terracotta. Painted scenes adorned the interiors. As in Roman times, it was common to have painted pictures in frame like sections giving an overall effect of pictures hanging on a wall.

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