Planning History Notes
Planning History Notes
If some may like to debate whether Ur exhibited signs of urban planning, therecan be no doubt with the Harappan cities
in the Indian subcontinent 21541864B.C. The lower cities all had a gridiron street pattern. For Morris, the evidence
that convinces him that the Harappan cities were the earliest planned cities (according to his narrow definition) is the
striking similarities of their layouts, even though separated by vast distances. The reason for the similarities is that 'one
highly significant aspect of this new civilisation is the evolution of a theoretical and practical basis of urban planning,
according to strictly applied religious principles, which involved the selection and application of a suitable predetermined
plan-form, the term for which is mandala (1972: 18). Harappan cities had their entire urban form planned, based on the
predetermined patterns of the mandala.
INDUS VALLEY
MOHENJODARO: 3000 B.C.
GREEK CIVILIZATION
1. Concept of democracy and planning was introduced by Greeks.
2. Concept of democratic independence - polis or city states.
3. According to hippodampus 10,000 populations is a good size for town.
4. Cities or Greek empire formed by the process of synoecism.
MILETUS: 700 B.C. AND 500 B.C
A large number of colonial cities were established with confederacy of Miletus as the centre
Destroyed in 16th century by Persians who occupied Greece
Main features :
1. Extensive regularized form of chess-board planning, an outstanding event in town building history
2. Skill and imagination extraordinarily applied in its adaptation to a peninsular site
3. Two main divisions of the city.
4. Agora was a plan disposition, an example of dignity and coherence of arrangement.
5. The community zone had: markets, temples, council house, sota(gym), shops, colonnade.
6. Importance attached to placing and planning of dwelling houses
ROMAN PLANNING
RENAISSANCE
Specialization of labour
Great inventions.
Powerful church influenced the life of people mostly.
Art lead to science.
Ecological view point developed.
Space concept of centric nature.
Big fortification walls, with parapet at corners
Open spaces and parks became prominent elements.
Church and palace were prominent buildings.
New designs with rationalism and clarity.
Main Street connected to vital places of city and lead city to develop around this frame work.
Size of town varied up to 500,000.
No underground sewage line, poor urban sanitation.
Geometric designs for cities. Military view point also taken into account.
Frame work for future growth of city was done.
BAROQUE
Interconnected to renaissance.
Openness in city (contrary to renaissance).
Principal axis aligned to principal landscape feature like park and palace.
Gradual slope toward palace.
Relates large number of places to single axis to make it comprehendible for viewer.
Trees were cut to suit and meet geometrical structure of city.
MEDIEVAL PERIOD
INDIAN
DANDAK
4 gate
Street at right angle
Each house has a measurement with danda of 6 ft and has specified dimension
Length of house should be 2-3 times width
1800-2000 sq ft per house
Vishnu temple in west and shiv temple in east
Reservoirs south east and north west
Design suitable for three hundred families
Design is modular
Brahmin suited village
PADMAK
Circulation major factor
Radial form
It can be quadrangle, octagon, hexagon
Divine temple in middle with 4 gate
Can be occupied by Brahmins and others
Rules for who should live where
SWASTIK
Resemblance to baroque
It means bow
Suitable for seashore or river as main street runs parallel to it
ISLAMIC
Concept of privacy.
Greenery and garden were given preference.
Strong sense of similarity between different cities.
Organic city.
Streets radiating from mosque.
Hierarchy of mosque.
Axis and orientation in reference to mosque.
Types of streets (a) Through fare (b) dead end street
Design reflects social needs.
SHAJAHANABAD
NEW TOWNS
Self supporting
A large central open space for public buildings
Surrounding dwelling were large garden
Surrounding the centre were dwelling
Main roads encircle the entire compound
Factories and workshops outside the community
These were planed to de congest existing big cities.
New towns were small in size with lot of greenery.
Emphasis was on fast movement of traffic.
Self-sufficient unit with public and commercial buildings, churches and recreational places.
Each self-contained unit surrounded by open country.
Planning is done in terms of whole neighborly area known as super block.
Super blocks enclosed by main roads which in turn enclose the narrow lanes.
One community park spread throughout the area evenly.
Single family dwellings were grouped within them about cul-de- secs.
LINEAR CITY
It was proposed by Soria Y.Mata. The city would consist of a series of functionally specialized parallel sectors.
Generally, the city would run parallel to a river and be built so that the dominant wind would blow from the
residential areas to the industrial strip.
A purely segregated zone for railway lines.
A zone of production and communal enterprises, with related scientific, technical and educational institutions.
A green belt or buffer zone with major highway.
A residential zone, including a band of social institutions and residential.
A continuous link or artery between two existing cities.
The city is to expand along the spine of communication - the highway.
Emphasis was laid on vehicular or technological scale.
GARDEN CITY
The garden city movement is an approach to urban planning that was founded in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard. Garden cities
were intended to be planned, self-contained, communities surrounded by greenbelts, containing carefully balanced areas of
residences, industry, and agriculture.
Residences would be constructed for people in all the income brackets.
His idealized garden city would house 32,000 people on a site of 6,000 acres (24,000,000 m2).
Emphasis on providing maximum greenery to the resident.
Healthy living in industrial world.
Single ownership of land in the community or held in trust for the community.
Large Central Park with public buildings around.
Central park and shopping street are surrounded by dwellings in all directions.
Outer circle of factories and industries
surrounded by green belt of 5000 acres.
The surrounding area of the Garden City is used for agriculture and recreation.
The Garden City consists for different zones, street types and green.
The cities are well connected through a railway system to exchange goods.