URBAN PLANNING

Presentation by Ar. Dhanya Shaji

 WHY?
2050 Mid 20th Century

Source: World Population Prospects Study of 2018

 INCLUSIVE
HEALTHY
RESILIENT
SUSTAINABLE

URBAN PLANNING
 RURAL AND URBAN
AREAS

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Population/ Groups/ Shared Facilities/ Nature of Construction/ Density/ Administrative Differences/ Geographical Area/ Economic Aspects
Definition of CITY (UN, 2018):

“Cities are places where large numbers of people live

and work; they are hubs of government, commerce
and transportation.”
 CLASSIFICATION OF URBAN AREAS
IN
In India, the definitional parameters of an INDIA
urban area in India have undergone several changes and
modifications over the years. The main criterion for describing any area or settlement as urban was its
administrative set-up and size and not the economic characteristics.

1 2
Statutory Census
Towns Towns
CRITERIA 1:
All places with a:

• Municipality
• Corporation
• Cantonment Board
• Notified Town Area Committees
1
…are all Statutory Towns.
Notified under law by concerned State/ UT governments
Have local bodies like Municipal Corporation,
Municipalities, Municipal Committees.
CRITERIA 2:

All other places which satisfies the following criteria:

a) A minimum population of 5,000;

b) At least 75 percent of the male main working
population engaged in non agricultural pursuits
(industry/ manufacturing/ business, etc)
c) A density of population of at least 400 persons
2
per sq. km or 1000 persons per sq. mile.

Are known as Census Town.

Or non-statutory towns.
RURAL URBAN

URBANISATION
The transformation of Rural to Urban is Urbanisation.
 The demographic-spatial aspects of urbanisation
deal with shift of people from rural to urban areas,
population density in urban areas and change in
the pattern of land use from agriculture to non-
URBANISATION agricultural activities.
Economic aspects of urbanisation relate to the
Sociologists define urbanisation as the movement change from agricultural to non-agricultural
of people from villages to town/city where occupations. As cities have been the centers of
economic activities are centered around non- diverse economic opportunities, they attract people
agricultural occupations such as trade, from rural areas. This attraction pulls a significant
manufacturing, industry and management. section of the rural population to the urban areas.
Rural poverty, backwardness of agricultural
Urbanisation can be discussed in three aspects: economy and the destruction of cottage and small
industries also push villagers to urban areas. These
i) The demographic and spatial aspects pull and push factors of migration play an
ii) Economic aspects and important role in the process of urbanisation.
iii) Socio-cultural aspects The socio-cultural aspects of urbanisation highlight
the emerging heterogeneity in urban areas. The city
has generally been the meeting point of races and
cultures.
Urbanization in India
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
URBANISATION
1. Economic Development:

• Shift in demand – hence a reallocation of resources as land, labour and capital happens from agriculture to
manufacturing and services.
• Mainly seen through increase in per capita income.
• Level of Urbanisation is regarded as an index of economic development – with a positive relation.

2. Industrialization and Density: 3. Inequality and Urban Bias:

• Would portray economies of scale, availability of • Nature of the society is mainly dependent on the
skilled labor, repair services and cost of transport urban form. When there are inequalities in a society,
causes a concentration of production and people at a the urban structure will be unequal.
specific location. • When cities thrive with urban economies and hence
• High density of population - Because people like to causes higher income differences with the agricultural
live near their place of work. working groups.
• Hence, industrialization leads to urbanization as a • This causes a major rural-urban difference in their
wage laborer is better off migrating to bigger rather standard of living and hence, would cause a urban
than smaller cities where he will be fully employed. bias in terms of development strategy and policies.
Level of urbanization in India Major net migration flow Maharashtra with an urban population
percentage of 42 per cent (41 million), Gujarat
with 37 per cent (19 million) and Tamil Nadu
with 44 per cent (27 million) and the least
urbanised state, Assam with 13 per cent in
2001 indicate this inter-regional variation.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Level-of-urbanization-in-India-2001_fig1_228431591
TYPES OF URBANISATION
1. Over-urbanisation 2. Sub-urbanisation

• Towns or urban areas have certain limitations in • When towns get over-crowded by population, it may
accommodating population, providing civic result in sub-urbanisation.
amenities or catering to such needs as schooling, • Delhi is a typical example where suburbanization
hospitals etc. trend is taking place around it.
• Beyond certain optimum capacities, it becomes • Sub-urbanisation means urbanisation of rural areas
difficult for the town administration to provide around the towns characterised by the following
facilities for the increasing population. features:
• Mumbai and Kolkata are two such examples of a) a sharp increase in the urban (non-agricultural) uses
cities which have urban population growth of land
beyond their capacities to manage. This feature b) inclusion of surrounding areas of town within its
refers to over-urbanisation. municipal limits
c) intensive communication of all types between town
and its surrounding areas.
SOURCES OF URBAN GROWTH
(I) NATURAL INCREASE

• More people are born in the cities than the number

of deaths in the urban areas.

• The balance between the birth and death is affected,

where birth is based on the level of fertility and
death on life expectancy.

• But, it can be noted that fertility of the urban

women tend to be lower in comparison with
fertility of rural areas as they are more educated
and make informed choices/ modern methods of
family planning, but the birth rates are still higher
as urban areas show a lower mortality rate
because of the better access of health services.
SOURCES OF URBAN GROWTH
(II) MIGRATION

• Migration from rural areas, states, countries also

contributes to the growth of the cities.
• Especially when number of in-migrates exceeds
the number of out-migrants.
• Migrants are comparatively younger compared
to the population at origin/ destination.
• Hence, migration has a impact on the age
distribution of the sending and receiving
populations.
• Hence the increase average age at origin and
decrease the average age group at destinations.
SOURCES OF URBAN GROWTH
(III) RECLASSIFICATION

• Reclassification: Influences the growth of the

cities by enlarging the urban areas.

• When cities enlarge their boundaries by

incorporating neighboring settlements and
population which were formerly rural in their
panning boundary.

• Happens also when fringe population grows

will also result in reclassification.
 IMPACTS OF
URBANISATION
IMPACTS OF URBANISATION
• The impact of all this growth is taken on space, • Several studies have indicated large segments of
environment and quality of life. urban population do not have access to drinking
water, sanitation, basic health services and
• The provision of infrastructural facilities required education. These deficiencies have serious health
to support such large concentration of population is impacts particularly affecting the urban poor.
lagging far behind the pace of urbanisation. As a
consequence, the urban environment, particularly • Deteriorating infrastructure, weak municipal
in large cities, is deteriorating very rapidly. institutions and poor delivery systems have
constrained the urban economy and its ability to
• All cities have severe shortage of water supply, generate employment, incomes and services for
sewerage, developed land, housing, transportation the poor.
and other facilities.

• The level, quality and distribution of services have

been very poor.
(I) HOUSING

• In developing countries, about a third of urban

inhabitants live in impoverished slums and Slum areas typically suffer from:
squatter settlements (UN-Habitat, 2012).
• poor housing with small, overcrowded houses built
• Slums are urban areas that are heavily very close together using inadequate materials and
populated and have sub-standard housing with with uncertain electricity supply
very poor living conditions, creating several • restricted access to water supplies
problems. • little or no sanitation/latrine facilities and no solid
waste disposal, which leads to a polluted and
• Many low-income families gravitate to these degraded local environment
informal settlements that proliferate in and • inadequate health care facilities which, coupled with
around towns. the poor living conditions, increases sickness and
death rates
• Urban poverty degrades both the physical and • insecure living conditions – slum dwellers may be
social environment – making it difficult for forcibly removed by landowners or other authorities.
people to escape from poverty and they fall
victim to the ‘vicious cycle’.
Dharavi, Mumbai

Nochikuppam Slum, Chennai

 (II) WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION

• The increased demand for water from the growing

population can place added stress on already
stretched resources.
• Urban growth leads to increasing demand for
water for industrial and domestic use, which
conflicts with agricultural demands.
• Many people in these areas live without access to
safe drinking water and proper sanitation.
• Pit latrines and septic tanks are the usual methods
for human waste disposal but they have limited
capacity and are not always adequate to cope with
the quantity of waste produced by many people living
close together - overflowing latrines and septic tanks
contaminate surface water and create a serious
health risk.
• The lack of these essential services threatens not
only the health conditions but also the
environment.
 (III) WASTE AND POLLUTION

3(i) Water quality:

• Many rivers in urban areas are more like open

sewers.
• The lack of sanitation and sewerage systems has
a dramatic impact on urban watercourses - from
homes, industries and commercial businesses.
• Wastewater from human settlements contains
organic material and nutrients; industrial
wastewater contains many different types of toxic
pollutant.
• These make the water unsafe for humans to use
for drinking and irrigation, as well as harming the
fish and other animals and plants living in the
water.
• Any changes to the quality of surface water also
affects groundwater because they are linked by
the processes of the water cycle so pollutants from
the surface will infiltrate down and contaminate soil
and the groundwater.
(III) WASTE AND POLLUTION (Contd.)

3(ii) Solid waste 3(iii) Air quality

• Solid waste management means the proper • Air quality in towns and cities is frequently very
collection, transfer, recycling and disposal of all poor as a result of air pollution from many
the solid material we throw away (plastics, paper, different sources which include:
cardboard, food wastes, electrical waste and also • vehicle exhausts
industrial, hospital and institutional wastes - often • smoke from domestic fires
contain pathogens/ hazardous and toxic • outputs from factory chimneys
chemicals). • diesel-powered generators
• Urban waste often ends up in illegal dumps on • dust from construction works and city streets
streets, open spaces, wastelands, drains or rivers.
• Becomes a problem in peri-urban areas, which • Poor air quality has a significant impact on the
are convenient for dumping wastes because of health of many urban residents resulting in
the availability of open space and ease of access deathly health aliments.
from central urban areas. • Also leaving a damaging and unsightly layer of
• This can lead to the pollution of groundwater and dust on plants, buildings and other surfaces.
surface waters which may be used as a source
for drinking water.
(IV) HEALTH

• Even though urbanisation provides easier

access to hospitals, clinics and health services,
it cause various health aliments.
• Poor environment, housing and living
conditions are the main reasons for poor
health in urban areas.
• Contamination of water sources can cause
epidemics of waterborne disease.
• Close proximity to other people can make the
spread of many types of infectious disease
more likely.
• The polluted air can also cause respiratory
disease and contribute to premature deaths
among more vulnerable sections of the
population such as older people and children.
 (V) FOOD
• Population movements also put pressure on food
supplies and on food distribution.
• As people migrate to the cities, they tend to use
purchased food instead of their own crops and
this makes them more vulnerable to changes in
food prices.
• As the population grows and the demand for
water and land increases, it becomes difficult to
increase food production in a sustainable way.
The increase in urban demand, combined with a
loss of agricultural land, means more pressure on
food production.
• Urban centers often expand over their nation's
most productive agricultural land since most
urban centers grew there precisely because of
highly fertile soils.
• They draw on large and complex global supply
chains and have large ecological footprints,
drawing on ‘distant elsewheres’ for food, fuel and
carbon sinks.
 (VI) DISASTER

• Rapid growth in the number of people living in

urban areas is increasing the world’s susceptibility
to natural disasters.
• The movement of more and more people into less
resilient areas like coastal regions, flood plains
and earthquake-prone zones has been cited as
one of the factors responsible for more natural
disasters.
• Degradation of natural environment is another
reason for increasing calamities.
• The report cites unplanned expansion and
development in disaster-prone areas as another
reason for increased disasters.
• The risk, especially when urbanization is rapid,
poorly planned and occurring in a context of
widespread poverty.
• The recent flood fury in Uttarakhand in India as an
example.
URBAN PLANNING
https://vimeo.com/189438574
 INVOLVES:
• Urban planning is the design and regulation of the
uses of space that focus on the physical form,
economic functions, and social impacts of the
urban environment and on the location of different
activities within it.

• Urban planning is a technical and political process

concerned with the development and design of INTEGRATES:
land use and the built environment, including air,
water, and the infrastructure passing into and out
of urban areas, such as transportation,
communications, and distribution networks.

• Urban planning is a valuable force for city leaders to

achieve sustainable development.
• The National Commission on Urbanisation elaborated that physical or spatial planning covers various aspects of
development such as infrastructure, basic amenities, land uses development, physical environment, and citizen
participation in decision-making and plan implementation— the ultimate objective being improvement in the
quality of life for all sections of society.

• ‘Urban and regional planning’, is a professional practice and an academic study, which is focused on processes that
promote planned, economic, scientific, and artistic development of all sizes of settlements. This practice, ideally,
needs an understanding of multiple disciplines such as economics, finance, project management, architecture,
engineering, sociology, demography, mapping technology, consensus building, etc.

• Urban Planning is a cyclical process that involves “identification of goals and objectives, assessment of issues,
potentials, and priorities; evolution of alternative plans and their evaluation to select the most appropriate
concept; preparation of the plan based on the selected concept; implementation followed by feedback and
review to decide a future course of action”.

• It is evident that planning of settlements or regions is a continuous process, one that does not end with the
preparation of a plan or a detailed project report — and it needs multi-disciplinary teams as well as sustained
capacity to deliver its intended outcomes.
Types of Planning
1. Strategic Urban Planning: 2. Land-Use Planning :

Strategic urban planning focuses on setting Land-use planning largely concerns

high-level goals and determining desired legislation and policy, adopting planning
areas of growth for a city or metropolitan instruments like governmental statutes,
area. regulations, rules, codes, and policies
to influence land use.
The strategic plan’s goals may include
easing transportation throughout the city,
creating more community spaces,
improving citizens’ quality of life, or
encouraging people to visit or move to the
city.
Types of Planning
3. Master Planning: 4. Urban Revitalization:

Master planning is typically used for Urban revitalization focuses on

greenfield development projects, or improving areas that are in a state of
building on undeveloped land—instead decline.
of modifying pre-existing structures or
spaces, you’re starting from scratch.
The exact definition of a declining area
This type of urban planning envisions a will differ from city to city—for example,
future state for a given space, and what areas that have a troubling number of
it will take to achieve that vision. failing businesses or a stagnant or
decreasing population growth.
Types of Planning
5. Economic Development 6. Environmental Planning

Economic development is about Environmental planning is a type of

identifying areas of growth to foster strategic development that emphasizes
greater financial prosperity within the sustainability.
city, specifically by enticing companies
to build or move offices there. Includes air pollution, noise pollution,
wetlands, habitats of endangered
species, flood zone susceptibility, and
coastal zone erosion, along with a host
of other environmental factors dealing
with the relationship between natural
and human systems.
Types of Planning
7. Infrastructure Planning

Infrastructure planning deals with the

fundamental facilities and systems that
serve a city and its people, and how
those facilities can support goals laid
out in the strategic plan. This type of
urban planning covers:
• Public works infrastructure such as
water supply, sewage, electricity, and
telecommunications
• Community infrastructure such as
schools, hospitals, and parks
• Safety and transportation such as
roads, police, and fire facilities
Why Urban Planning?

• Urban planning is an important tool for city leaders to achieve sustainable

development.

• It helps to formulate medium- and long-term objectives that reconcile a

collective vision with the rational organization of the resources to achieve it.

• Planning makes the most of municipal budgets by informing infrastructure

and services investments, and balancing demands for growth with the need
to protect the environment.

• It also distributes economic development within a given area to reach

social objectives, and creates a framework for collaboration between local
governments, the private sector and the public at large.
 NEED FOR
PLANNED
DEVELOPMENT
• The basic objective of development must • Globally, the more urbanised countries
necessarily be to provide the all people the have higher levels of income and
opportunity to lead a good life. prosperity.
• Indian States also exhibit the same
• Especially in a country where the urban areas trend.
are getting urbanized it becomes of most • At the same time, urbanisation is also
concern to have planned development. perceived to be correlated with
pollution, congestion and inferior
• Planning for development is an envisioning quality of life.
process which requires a sound assessment of • This calls for developing a paradigm of
the ground realities and providing options for urban development that would bring in
sustainable development within the bounds higher levels of prosperity, but without
of the demographic, physical, socio-economic, the negative effects.
jurisdictional and financial aspects.
• The development should focus on sustainability in terms of:

• Social sustainability relates to inclusion - the project should provide benefit to all residents
in the influence zone equitably.

• Governance/ managerial sustainability would require the project to meet all the statutory
and regulatory requirements and also to have adequate capacities developed with the local
authorities concerned for maintaining the project effectively and efficiently throughout the
project lifecycle at reasonable costs.

• Environmental sustainability aims at improvement in the environment, rather than on

‘minimising the damage’. For instance, zero land-fill for solid waste management projects.

• Financial sustainability to enhance the economic stature of the influence zone and,
accordingly, the development activities in such influence zone should be subject to
development charges, computed to recover the capex over the project lifecycle.
PLANNING IN ANCIENT TIME
PERIOD
(i)
MESOPOTAMI
A

• Between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers sits a fertile land called
Mesopotamia - name comes from a Greek word meaning “between rivers”.
• Mesopotamia is one of the world's oldest urban cultures.
• Sumerians said to have been the first recorded civilization on Earth lived on
this land and exploited its rivers.
• Settlements in Mesopotamia started from the Paleolithic era in which
people started settling in circular houses and adopted agrarian culture.
• Known for its agriculture, livestock and fishing.
• The Sumerians were the first society to construct the city itself as a built and
advanced form with walls, streets, markets, temples, and gardens.
 RESIDENTIAL – grouped by profession
RELIGIOUS - core of the city was a high temple complex always sited slightly off of
CITY the geographical.
DISTRICTS NEAR GATES- had special religious and economic function.

MIXED USE - The city always included a belt of

irrigated agricultural land including small
hamlets.
TRANSPORTATION - A network of roads and
canals connected the city to this land. The canals
were more important than roads for good
transportation.

TRANSPORTATION NETWORK: Organized in

three tiers: wide processional streets, public
through streets, and private blind alleys. The
current estimate is 10% of the city area was
streets and 90% buildings.
(i) The City Walls

• The cities of Mesopotamia had their own government and

surrounded by huge fortified walls.

• Defense - They represented conflict and violence and also

implied the threat of warfare.

• They have specific dimension and thick structure. For

example, Uruk had city walls 7m tall with gates and
towers.

• The area inside the walls was densely yet non –

uniformly built.
(ii) Street Network & Open Spaces

• The two important factors for Mesopotamian streets

plan are dimension of the street and motion of the
sun.
• They preferred diagonal orientation: north – south
orientation and east – west orientation.
• This orientation provided even distribution of sun and
shade throughout the day.
• Majority of the streets had their corners oriented to a
cardinal point and their sides were along the main
orientation of the street.
• Three tier hierarchy for streets and alleys:

Thoroughfare for the Gods

For people
Dead –end alleys as exits
 (iii) Canals & Drains

• The Mesopotamian irrigation system was the basin

type canal, in which the opening is created by digging
a gap in the embankment and then closed by placing
mud back into the gap.

• In most cities that were not situated on the rivers like

Uruk, canals were observed to be running along the
road network. Babylon was bisected by Euphrates
and canals were built through them.

• The drainage system for the houses were individual responsibilities.

• Mesopotamians adopted soakaways for the purpose, a method in which shafts were dug into the
floor and then lined with hollow ceramic drums vertically laid one above the other.
• Another type of drains were the baked brick ones running through the base of the walls that drains
onto the streets.

• Rainwater drains were often equipped with vertical drains leading to an external pipe and then into a
sump on the adjacent street.
 (iv) Housing Structures (v) Palaces, Temples & Ziggurats

• Houses had flat roofs • Palaces of Mesopotamia: They were

which were accessible extensive with provisions for
through staircase or ladder.  ceremonial and administrative
• The size of houses varied functions.
from 100sq.m to 600sq.m.
• Houses built during the • Ziggurats: Polytheistic - Each city has
Ubaid Era adopted T a temple called ‘Ziggurats’, where
shaped plan with they worshipped the principal deity/
additional rooms along gods or goddesses, usually situated
the two longer sides. at the heart of the city. They had
• The earlier houses had multiple series of giant steps that
buildings that were side elevated them from ground. It had a
attached. pyramidal shape with a flat top, on
which the shrine was built. The stairs
that led to the top was only meant
for the priest and chambers were
built inside for religious needs.
THE CITY OF UR

Sumerians preferred elevated situations and possessed wall with gates at regular intervals, streets and canals were used as separation
for different areas of the city.
(ii) ANCIENT GREECE
• Many Greek cities were located near the coastline
of the Mediterranean Sea.
• The name for the city-state in Ancient Greece was
the "polis."
• In Ancient Greece, cities were planned out on a
grid system with streets and houses aligned to
take advantage of the winds, the sun and the local
scenery.
• The Greek architect, Hippodamos, from the
ancient city-state of Miletus is called the "father" of
city planning.
• He played a major role as a pioneer in the
development of city planning.  
 • Hippodamus first applied to his home city,
Miletus, the grid plan which he had developed
geometrically designed settlements and
HIPPODAMIAN later many cities were laid out according to
this plan.
PLAN
• Such that the winds from the mountains
• In the system he created, 10,000 citizens - the and the sea close to Miletus could flow
city and people were divided into three optimal through the city and provide a cooling
groups - artisans, soldiers, and farmers.   during the hot summer. 
• Next he divided the city into three parts - for
worshipping the gods, for the military and • The Hippodamian Plan is based on a grid of
property in which the common people lived. right angles and the allocation of public
and private space.
• His more major impact on city planning was
his block pattern.  He proposed that the • The center of the city hosts most important
more important buildings in cities such as civic public spaces, including the agora,
temples would take up more than one theatres and temples.
block and the whole city would be
surrounded by a wall to protect it from
invaders.  
Old cities as Athens had irregular street plans with organic development but new cities as Priene, Miletus had grid-iron street plan.
Common features were acropolis, agora and town.
 GREEK CITY STATES
Administration
GREEK TOWN Gods • Cities emerged as separated city states,
Dwelling House instead of a single unified nation.

• Town had fixed boundaries with fortification.

Craftsman
• Larger area devoted for public use.
CITY PLAN Soliders
• Site Planning and design was based on the
Workers
appreciation of building from outside as well.
• The Agora and Acropolis belonged to public
Hygiene while town is where people lived – domain of
CITY HIGHLIGHTS Defense women.
Circulation
• Because of their geography of valleys, plains
and plateaus, the arrangement included:
Acropolis, Enclosing city wall, Agora, • Urban nucleus
Residential districts, Religious precinct, • Surrounded by country side
Harbors, Ports, Industrial districts. • Surrounded by subordinated agricultural
village community
Temples: Theater:

• Temples to the gods situated around the agora and • Many Greek cities had a large open-air theater
in the Acropolis. where plays were held during festivals.
• Most cities had a single god called a patron god • Greek theater was a popular form of entertainment
that the city was dedicated to - have a special large - large enough to hold over 10,000 people.
area and temple for their patron god.
• Examples of patron gods include Athena for Athens, Stadium:
Ares and Artimis for Sparta, Zeus for Olympia, and
Poseidon for Corinth. • The Greeks also enjoyed sporting events and
contests.
Outside the Town: • They built large stadiums and had gymnasiums.

• Agricultural crops and ports. Walls and Defense:

• The dead were not buried inside the town. Typically
a cemetery was located somewhere down the road • Surrounding the city would be a tall stone wall to
outside the town. provide defense against invaders.
• Some towns also had a special sanctuary nearby - • Sometimes the walls extended down to the city's
where the sick could go to be healed and people sea port in order to allow for new supplies to enter
would go to hear prophesies about their future - the city during a siege.
dedicated to a god.
AGORA ACROPOLIS

• The agora was a central spot or open • Elevated temple district.

area in ancient Greek city-states. • The acropolis is the general term for the original defensive hilltop
• Council of city met to take decisions nucleus of the older Greek cities and the fortified citadel.
here: Assembly hall, Council hall, • City of temple for the gods.
Chamber hall. • Doric and Ionic orders in perfect composition in four buildings of
• The literal meaning was “gathering Propylea, Parthenon, Erechtheumn, Temple of Athena.
place” or assembly.
• The agora was the center of athletic,
artistic, spiritual and political life of the
city.
• Usually located on a flat ground for the
ease of access and communication.
• Bordered by temples, workshops,
vendors’ stalls and statues.

Separation of church and state was indicated

by the distance btw agora and acropolis.
Plan of Miletus
Plan of Priene

• Since the Hippodamian Plan is based on angles and • 400 dwellings with 4000 populations
measurements, it can be laid out uniformly over any kind • Agora surrounded by public and residential buildings
of terrain. • Residential block has 4-5 houses.
• In the city of Priene, the plan is laid out over a sloping • Board road approx. 23 ft wide
hillside, and the terrain is terraced to fit into the rational • Short road 10 ft wide
network of houses, streets, and public buildings.
(iii) ROME
• Ancient Rome was an urban culture whose city planning
traditions evolved through direct contact with the Greeks
and Etruscans. 

• As the Roman capital got overpopulated, new towns and

cities were founded for the purpose of military security,
administrative efficiency and economic exploitation.

• The most recognizable characteristic of a typically Roman-

planned town was the prevalence of orthogonal grid streets.

• The image of a neat, uniform city plan with two major

streets intersecting at right angles – making a crossroad as
focal point- is one which identifies as the classic conception
of Roman town planning.
Planning of the Cities:

• Similar to Greek planning practices, some basic

urban zoning was created by town planners.

• The largest fraction of a city’s surface area was

intended for domestic architecture.
• Insula – means island - a building area
surrounded by four streets or rectilinear
blocks framed by streets.

• Communal spaces were defined from the start,

such as streets, the forum and sanctuaries.
• Areas outside the city were reserved for
necropolises – cemeteries.
• Cities could develop to have areas dominated
by facilities for industrial production.
Road Layout: Town Fortification:

• The blueprint of the ‘Roman grid’ would start with • Cities has defenses – consisting of a wall with
two chief roadways which would be surveyed first. defendable gateways.

• The two primary streets were the cardo maximus • Walls varied in plan and construction but mostly
(usually orientated east-west) and the decumanus masonary walls with finished facing of small block
maximus (usually orientated north-south) which work.
would intersect in the center of the town and form
the principal road system. • Gateways were kept minimum with one per one side,
with internal towers on the perimeter of the wall.
• Augustus recommended that the decumanus
maximus have a width of 20 feet and the cardo • Gateways had single or double passageways for
maximus a width of 40 feet. vehicles, flanked by narrower passageways for
pedestrians.
• From this, several smaller roads would run, parallel
to the main roads - width of these subsidiary • The view that these orthogonal patterns served a
roadways to be between 12 and 8 feet. primarily organizational function - ‘sequential
viewing of public monuments’ - to create a visual
impact.
Factors influencing the choice of a new urban site: Site Selection:

(i) Protection: When no high ground was available, natural water • In a town situated on a terrain, often the highest
courses used to provide protection to a town’s perimeter. points were reserved for its most important
sanctuaries and sacral architecture.
(ii) Accessibility: Low-lying sites were chosen even when elevated
terrain was available - easy access to long-distance communications • If founded on more level ground, major temples
routes. could be placed near or on the forum instead.
(iii) Mobility: With the Romans’ habit of building public roads and
• Vitruvius recommends orientating the grid obliquely
their utilization of navigable rivers and natural harbors, towns
became nodes in the empire’s transport network. to the prevailing winds to avoid ill health among the
urban inhabitants.
(iv) Colonia: A “settlement of cultivators,” indicating that the
presence of adjacent land suitable for tilling was often a • Public buildings were expensive to erect and
prerequisite. depended upon available funds - Euergetism (public
benefaction) - driving force for the creation of public
(vi) Resources: Towns could also be sited in relation to the buildings, streets, aqueducts and other amenities in
commercial exploitation of other natural resources such as metals towns across the empire.
or building materials.
• A lack of vacant urban space is one of the
(vii) Freshwater: as basic requirement for a new town hence explanations why many large structures, such as
securing its supply would have influence the decision of where to
amphitheaters, were located on the edge of or just
locate it.
outside a town’s limits.
Forum:

• The focal point of the city was the forum.

• Functioned as the chief meeting place of the town.
• Usually situated at the intersection of the
crossroads – Cardo and Decumanus.

• Usually forum placed so that the main streets

running from the main gates would converge on it
but this did not always correlate with the town’s
geometric center.

• Elongated rectangular fora were the norm.

• Fora developed over time to have buildings related
to commerce and local government lining their • The political function of the forum is reflected in the
borders, usually with some religious foci. fact that it frequently possessed some form of political
• During republican times, some towns had uniquely assembly place, such as a curia - senate house and it
sized insulae placed along the edges of the forum has been argued that voting took place on their fora.
intended for its future public architecture.
• Often tabernae (shops) were built along a forum’s • Thus, the presence of a forum is taken to reflect
flanks. the ability of a community to run its own
affairs.
Aquileia - Partially reconstructed town plan
(iv) CARCASSONE -
MEDIEVAL
• In 1082, the Trencavel clan took possession of the city and
equipped the city with its first complete fortification.

• Later, in 1200s, under the domain of the King of France, a

second wall about a kilometer in length was added.

• Later, the king expelled almost all of the rebels -

inhabitants who had supported the Trencavels - from the Carcassonne was saved from
fortified city, allowing them to settle on the opposite bank demolition and restored to more than
of the Aude River. its original glory and officially
protected as a historic monument
• A new town was founded in 1262 on the le bank: the since 1862 under Viollet-le-Duc's over-
Bastide Saint-Louis with its characteristic grid pattern. fanciful restoration.

• While this new city overflowed with life and activity, the Hence, Carcassonne remains one of
fortified city continued as a royal fortress. the finest and most complete
examples of a fortified medieval city
• The use of new warfare techniques and a er the Treaty of anywhere in the world.
the Pyrenees in 1659 - border between France and Spain-
lost the fortified cityʼs strategic importance. In 1997, the old city's importance was
confirmed when it was listed by
• This peace treaty gradually led to its abandonment. UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
One of the largest surviving medieval walled cities in
Europe.

The historic town of Carcassonne - example of a

medieval fortified town whose massive defenses were
constructed on ramparts.

The fortifications of Carcassonne, the castle and

cathedral are the most important monuments that
reflect the image of this city.

The city had a double row of fortified walls which run

almost two miles long and accentuated by 56 imposing
watchtowers.

As a natural defensive spot beside the River Aude as it

connected the Mediterranean and Atlantic sea, the site
has been occupied and fortified since before Roman
times.
• The city of Carcassone had a irregular
pattern of planning composing of market
square, castle and church.

• The fortifications included 56 watch towers

consisting of two lines of walls with a length
of 3kms.

• The walled town of Carcassone is roughly

rectangular in shape with a length of 525
meters and width of 250m.

• The inner fortification is 1200m length with

29 towers while the outside fortification is
1500m long with 18 towers.
Castle:

• Shape and position with the need to be a safe,

fortified space and capable of receiving attacks
without succumbing to them.

• It is a fortress within a fortress that is the city itself,

since both have their own walls and watchtowers
and defense.

• A barbican with a walk and a parapet wall guarding

the entrance to the castle, just before the moat
surrounding the entire inner wall.

• The entrance to the castle, framed by two towers,

with Matacan, accessible only by a fixed bridge with
a stone, followed by a liftgate driven counterweights.
Church

Castle

Main entrance
The Legend of Dame Carcas

The Legend of Dame Carcas explains the supposed origin of the cityʼs name.
The story says that Charlemagne's army was besieging the city, which was in the hands of the Saracens at the time.
The Princess Carcas was at the head of the city a er the death of her husband. A er five years of enduring the siege,
famine raged among the last defenders. All that was le in the city was a little pig, and small amount of wheat. The
Princess had an idea: stuff the pig with the rest of the wheat and launch it over the wall. Upon seeing this,
Charlemagne and his men halted the siege and retreated, believing that the city overflowed with food to the point of
wasting a wheat-fed pig. Before the great army had dispersed, Dame Carcass rang all the bells in the city to
announce the good news. One of Charlemagneʼs men wrote : "Carcas sonne" (Carcas is ringing), thus creating the
name of the city.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjLQ2iJfktY
(V) RENAISSANCE
• Renaissance builders attempted to impose a formal classical order on the organic structure of
medieval cities - Renaissance architect planners of the 15th century favored simple geometry and
pure forms.

• Expansive plazas and straight roads with symmetrical compositions and strong axes were literally
carved out of the dense medieval urban maze.

• Renaissance Planners did not fully eradicate the cramped medieval urban fabric but rather juxtaposed
monumental squares and straight roads with the old irregular streets.

• Renaissance urbanity promoted and helped institutionalize the sciences and the arts, which
consequently created a multitude of crafts and professions that shaped the city's civic identity city.
 FLORENCE
• Florence is the capital of the Italian central region called
Tuscany, in-between Rome and Milan.
• One of the most important Italian artistic cities and as the
capital of the Italian Renaissance.

• Florence is often named as the birthplace of the Renaissance.

• The Medici family, which controlled Florence throughout

much of the Renaissance, played a large part in the
patronage of the arts and the political development of the
city.
• Florence was an early model of the new Renaissance urban planning, which took a star-shaped layout.

• Even though Florence was a creation of Renaissance era, it was originally a Roman typical garrison
town or castrum.

• Major elements were churches, monuments and museums – rising powers of the interplay of church
and state powers during the Renaissance altered the social structure of the Italian city.

• The churches and palaces - as representations of the real power of the Renaissance city.

• Which led to a citywide redesign of the street system to interconnect the major church buildings, with
a careful integration of old and new buildings.

• The conceptual view of the role of the fabric of the city to connect the major points of interest thus
revolved around the nodes of church and palace.

• The streets were often straight and laid out at right angles to one another and houses were
rectangular.

• The straight street and the balanced city plan were new inventions from the Renaissance.

• Took on a star-shaped layout because it was designed to resist canon fire.

• The street system was as such that it interconnected the major church buildings ,with a careful integration
of new and old buildings , throughout the renaissance

• The five great district churches, Santa Maria Novella, Santa Croce, II Carmen, Santissima Annunciata, and
Santa Espirito became the focal points around which the life of the city was organized.

• Also of great importance was the placement of monumental buildings, obelisks, and statues at the ends of
long, straight streets.

• On the basis of their traffic functions, Renaissance urban spaces can be grouped under three broad
headings:
(i) traffic space: forming part of the main urban route system and used by both pedestrians and horse drawn vehicles.
(ii) residential space: intended for local access traffic only and with a predominantly pedestrian recreational purpose.
(iii) pedestrian space: from which wheeled traffic was normally excluded.

• Ideology of God at the center of all things was reflected in the urban planning.

• Many shops were created on both sides of the piazza in order to adapt to the consumerist society due to
uprisings of capitalism.
• This demonstrated a strong desire on part of the city government for rational spaces within the city -
revealed how public spaces were implemented and designed solely for the public moving away from only
using the piazza for religious activities.
Riv
er
Ar
no
Piazza della Signoria in Florence

• The Piazza Signoria represented a

centralization of the city on a medieval
scale.

• The Piazza della Signoria is an open air

museum of the Florentine Renaissance.

• A world-famous square in the Tuscan

capital, which occupies an L-shaped area
in front of the fortress-like city hall, in the
heart of the city.

• It became the focal point of the brash

Florentine Republic - the center
of Renaissance art of the quattrocento
(15th century).
PALMANOVA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIjXt5xQdoY
• Vincenzo Scamozzi had designed the
Palmanova Town.

• It was for defense and resist canon fire.

• The town was in the shape of a nine-
pointed star, a moat surrounded the
town, and three large guarded gates are
the only ones that allowed entries.

• The planning started in the year 1930,

with the help of thousands of people, a
town with a circumference of 7
kilometers (4 miles), had finished after
30 years of work.
• The final castle also needs more than 9
guards and 18 knights.

• In 1960, Palmanova was declared as the

National Monument.
(VI) MANCHESTER
• Manchester was the world's first industrial city.

• With the invention of the steam-engine, factories no longer had

to be built by the side of fast-flowing rivers - mass-production
and a revolution in transportation brought about by the
railroads.

• Businessmen now tended to build factories where there was a

good supply of labor. The obvious place to build a factory was
therefore in a town.

• Manchester is a great example of how a town was changed by

the Industrial Revolution because of cotton and coal:

• In 1773 Manchester was a market-town with a population of

27,000.

• Businessmen began building factories in the town because of

Manchester's large population and local coal deposits.

• By 1802, Manchester had fifty-two textile factories and the

population had grown to 95,000.
• The town's demand for coal was the reason for the
construction of the world's first modern canal, the
Bridgewater Canal.

• Canals proved especially advantageous during this period -

Bridgewaters Canal (1761) - Ashdale Canal (1879) and the
Bolton and Rochdale Canals in 1808/09.

• Manchester grew at an astonishing rate, and its

booming economy attracted migrants from all over
Britain.

• Districts such as Hulme which had hardly troubled the

early census takers — there were only 30 houses in
1774 — boasted a population of more than 50,000 by
1851.

• The completion of the railroad line from Liverpool to

Manchester in 1829 significantly enhanced the
efficiency of the transport system.

• By about 1850, Manchester boasted a handful of

railway stations from which goods were shipped in all
• Further growth resulted in 300,000 population of
Manchester by 1851.
• According to the census of 1851, Manchester and
Salford, its neighbor to the west, had a population of
401,000.
• Over the decades, the demand for cheap labor had
risen to the point that it could not be met by English
citizens alone.
• The factories in Manchester also exerted a magnetic
attraction on people from other regions.
• Roughly one-fifth of the labour force was comprised of
workers from Scotland, Wales, Ireland and even from
the countries on the continent, such as Italy.
LESSONS FROM THE FIRST INDUSTRIAL
CITY Economic expansion and environmental deterioration.
Manchester was growing famous around the world for its booming textiles trade and into an industrial powerhouse – but
with fame, Manchester’s industrial transformation brought notoriety.
Manchester’s unplanned, unchecked growth led environmental conditions to rapidly degrade.
POOR INFRASTRUCTURE:

• At the heart of Manchester’s environmental problems was its woefully inadequate water and sanitation
infrastructure.
• In 1847, 11,000 of the 47,000 houses had a piped water supply.
• Rest drew their water from shallow wells or streams, which were often polluted.
• Privy middens, consisting of a wooden seat built over a pit - shared between up to 30 families and rarely emptied,
human waste seeped into watercourses and overflowed into the streets and into the town’s rivers.

HEALTH:

• Manchester gained a reputation as one of the most filthy, overcrowded and unhealthy places in Britain.
• Death rates soared and life expectancies plummeted - life expectancy of the city’s inhabitants, putting
the average age of death for the labouring population at just 17.
• Diseases like typhoid and dysentery spread rapidly and the town was badly hit by outbreaks of cholera.

HOUSING:

• The city centre was encircled by densely-packed working-class quarters under miserable hygiene
conditions.
• The result was rows and rows of back-to-back, terraced houses.
• The gaps between the rows were often as narrow as eight or nine feet.
INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION

Along with human waste, Manchester’s manufacturing industries dumped gallons of contaminated
water and tonnes of solid waste into the rivers.

Resulted in the city’s vulnerability to flooding - rising at a rate of about three inches a year followed by
Great Flood of 1872.

AIR POLLUTION

Coughs, stinging eyes and perpetual gloom became synonymous with industrial Manchester.
Manchester continued to have some of the most polluted air in the country until the 1956.

Residents and workers suffered the consequences of living with industrial air pollution, including dismal,
dark skies, dirty homes and clothes, and respiratory disease and increased mortality. This urban air
pollution was known at the time as ‘the smoke nuisance.’

By the mid-1840s, there were about 500 smoking industrial chimneys on Manchester’s skyline and the
number was constantly increasing.
INDUS VALLEY
CIVILIZATION
Town Planning in Ancient & Medieval India
TOWN PLANNING IN VEDIC
PERIOD
TOWN PLANNING IN VEDIC PERIOD
• Traditional Vaastu treatise contain verses on all these aspects:
the planning of towns, villages, the design of temples, halls,
pavilions, etc.

• It also has information on soil study, climate, topography,

orientation and layout of towns. And also about material
specifications, brickwork, joinery and carpentry.

• Thus, they can be considered as equivalent to the present

day’s town and architectural planning/design guidelines or
practices.
 ANCIENT TOWN CLASSIFICATION
Based on the shape and purpose, the towns are
divided into eight types:

1. Dandaka
2. Nandyavarta
3. Sarvatobhadra
4. Swastika
5. Prastara
Vedic Civilization (1000 – 3000 BC) 6. Padmaka
• Layout of principal streets. 7. Karmukha
• Division into hypothetical rings of Brahma, Daivika, 8. Chaturmukha
Manushaya and Paisacha.
• Division in wards by means of branches roads,
erection of outer wall, gates and the moat.
• Erection of various edifices based on site-planning
and folk-planning principles.
 1 DANDAKA
• Settlement has four gates at four sides
• Streets are straight and cross eachother at right angles at the center
• Rectangular/ square
• Width of the street varies from 1-5 danda
• 2 transverse street at the extremities have single row of houses
• This type of town considered auspicious for Brahmins – may contain 12/
24/ 50/ 108 or 300 brahmin families.
 2 SARVATOBHADR
• A to this plan, whole town should be fully occupied by houses
According
of different descriptions and inhabited by all classes of people.
• Temple dominates this type of village.
• Literally means bliss full for all.
• Oblong/ square divided into interlineal chambers.
• Center temple dedicate to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
• Tanks/ reservoirs constructed in south or intermediate quarters.
• Huts of chandalas/ outcastes in outer proximity.
• Drapers/ weavers between west and south west.
• Hamlets for Vaisayas and Shudras allotted to south.
• Town secured by a wall and a ditch with four large gates on the sides and many gates at corners.
• Applicable to larger villages and towns which are to be constructed on square sites.
 3 NANDYAVARTA
• Commonly used for the construction of towns and not villages.
• Adopted for sites either circular or square in shape for 3000-4000
houses.
• Streets run parallel to the central by adjoining streets with a temple of
the presiding deity in the center of town.
• Name is a flower, the form which is followed by this layout.
• Vithis – streets lined with houses; Margas – streets without houses.
• Four large streets along the sides.
• Usually streets are 3, 4 or 5 dandas wide.
4 PADMAKA
• Practices for building of the towns with fortress all around.
• Pattern resembles the petals of a lotus radiating outwards from the
center
• City used to be practically an island, surrounded by water but with no
scope for expansion.
 5 SWASTIKA
• This type of plan contemplates some diagonal streets dividing the site
into certain rectangular plots.
• Site need not be marked out into a square or rectangle – can be of any
shape.
• Rampart wall surrounds the town with a moat at the foot filled with
water.
• Two main streets cross each other at center running south to north and
west to east.
• Temple at center.
• Outer most road line with single row of houses while other streets have
double row of houses.
• Based on mystic figure of swastika.
 6 PRASTARA
• Site may be either square or rectangular but not triangular or circular.
• Divided into 4, 9 or 16 wards by network of streets.
• Site set apart for poor, middle class, rich and the very rich.
• Size of plot increasing according to the capacity of each class to
purchase or build upon.
• Main roads are much wider compared to other patterns.
• Town may or may not be surrounded by a fort.
• Streets vary from 6, 7, 8, 9 or 11 dandas.
 7 KARMUKA
• Mostly applied for towns on seashores and riverbanks.
• Suitable for a place where the site for the town is in the form of a bow
or semi-circular or parabolic.
• Main streets of the town run from north to south or east to west.
• Cross streets run at right angles to them – dividing the whole area into
blocks.
• Presiding deity – mostly a female deity is placed in a temple at a
convenient location.
• Means bow.
 8 CHATURMUKHA
• Applicable to all towns starting from the largest town to smallest village.
• Either square or rectangular having four faces, laying east – west.
• Town is laid out, east to west lengthwise with four main streets.
• Two large streets cross at right angles in the center dividing the whole
site into four blocks of wards.
• Four principal gates with two highways and number of supplementary
gates at corner.
• South eastern ward allotted for Brahmins, South west for ruling class,
North eastern and north western for traders.
• Sudras and artisans and labor classes were relegated to extreme
borders.
• Temple of the presiding deity will always be at the center.
Traders Traders

Ruling Class Brahmins

 JAIPUR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oUwtT7W3rU
• The original plan of the city of Jaipur was prepared by Sawai Jai Singh II himself with the assistance of
his ministers in 1727.
• Though, the merit of design and execution of the city is assigned to Vidyadhar Bhattacharya. He was
the chief architect and engineer for the buildings, both state and private.
• Declared as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.
Reasons for Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh to change his capital from Amber to Jaipur:

Two significant facts responsible for the

origin of the city and its subsequent
layout:

1. The need of a new capital for 18th

century kingdom of Dhoondhar, as the
earlier one of Amber built on a hill was
getting congested.

2. Sawai Raja Jai Singh’s vision of the new

capital as a strong political statement at
par with Mughal cities and as a thriving
trade and commerce hub for the region.

Hence, site chosen 11kms from Amer with defense in the North, East and South with the existing hilly terrain.
 CONCEPTUAL PRASTARA PLAN

• It is a model of Vedic town planning - the first planned city in India.

• It is based on the principles prescribed in the Shilpa-shastra, an ancient

Indian treatise on architecture.

• According to this shastra the site should be divided into grids or

mandalas ranging from 2x 2 to 10 x 10.

• The plan of Jaipur is a grid of 3×3 with gridlines being the city’s main
streets.
 Mandala couldn’t
completed
because of the hill

Hence added an
additional block at SE.

Based on Vaastu Shastra and Shilpa Shastra.

• But by building the western boundary of the city right up to the hill’s
southern apex, it provided a continuous line of defense.
• The mandala could not be completed in the NW due to the presence of
the hills.
• On the other hand in the SE an extra square has been added that
plugged the gap between the city and the eastern hills.
• The town has around it a masonry wall, 25ft. high & 9ft. thick, with
eight gates.
• A road cutting the plain
from N to S linking Amber,
the capital to Sanganer,
the principal trading town.
• A second road ran E to W
between the Mughal cities
of Agra and Ajmer and
placing the new city on this
already established
communication line would
help secure its economic
success.
• The intersection of the axes
to define the Badi Chaupar
(City Square).
• The ends of the roads
marked by Gates in the City
Wall.
• The layout of the city of Jaipur wonderfully links the • The central axis of the town was laid from
concept of a Shastric city with the practicalities of East to West between the gates of the Sun
the chosen site. (Suraj pol) and the moon (Chandpol).
• City fortified by city walls.
• Streets laid according to Shilpa Shastra. • This was crossed by two roads at right angles
dividing the town into nine almost square,
almost equally sized blocks, which were
further sub divided by lanes and alleys all at
right angles.
• Jaipur’s road network follows a definite hierarchy.
The major east-west and north-south road, form the
sector boundaries and are called Rajmarg as they
lead to the city gates.

• South of the main road were four almost equal

rectangles.

• The rectangle opposite the palace has been broken

up into two equal and smaller rectangles by the
Chaura Rasta (Wide Market).

• Thus altogether there are now five rectangles on the

south of the main road called Chowkris.

• The principal bazaar leads from the western gate in

the city wall, the Chandpole, to the eastern city gate,
the Surajpole.
 • The city planning extended to the socio-cultural domains
which is what is reflected in the eight residential
Chowkris (blocks) for the ease of administration.

• These residential neighborhoods were demarcated by

the main market streets.

• Each cluster had a hierarchical placement of dwelling

units with the havelis or houses of the courtiers or
merchants lining the first layer of the bazaars regularly
punctuated by temples.

• These market streets were connected with the interior

Bazaars neighborhood through subsidiary streets called as
Raastas, which were named after the associated trade or
some important person or community residing in the
same vicinity.

• 1362 shops constructed for accommodating the traders,

merchants, bankers and artisans.
• The city’s division into nine wards was also in • To the NW of this lay the Jai Niwas Garden. Because
conformity with the Hindu caste system, which of its royal association, it had to be within the palace
necessitated the segregation of people belonging to compound.
different communities and ranks. The serving
class occupied the peripheral areas. • Indeed, given the wish to locate the palace centrally,
the position of the brahmasthana was also
• Following the directions of the Hindu Shilpa shastra, established with a wall surrounding the palace
width of the main streets & other lanes were fixed. buildings.

• Thus the main streets of the city were 111ft. wide, • Another constraint was the position of the lake,
secondary streets 55 ft. wide & the smaller ones which formed a part of the pleasure garden. In the
27ft. wide. original design it fell outside the main block of the city;
but due to Jai Singh’s wish to include the old garden
in the city, the lake was made the tank of palace
garden.
 Chaupars: Bazaars:

• It’s a square that occurs at the intersection of • Originally only four bazaars were planned for
east west roads with three north south roads. the city.
• Each chaupar is around 100m x 100m.
• Were used for public gathering on festive • On the main streets strict control was
occasions. exercised on the street façade, along which
• The distance between two chaupars is about 700m were located shops and arcades.
which is ideal for pedestrian movement.
• It has controlled façade treatment enveloping it. • One storey high, but beyond the frontage the
• The chaupars were outlets for intense social use buildings could be of any height or any shape.
with water structures connected by underground
aqueducts, supplying numerous sources of
drinking water at street level.

Badi Chaupar Choti Chaupar

SHAJAHANABAD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tEJATxcqPI
SHAJAHANABAD
• Shajahanabad is the imperial capital city of the Mughal empire
built by Shahjahan.
• 7 th planned city of Delhi as the Mughal emperors shifted their
capital from Delhi to Agra.
• City of Red fort and its 14 gates, stands along with the Jama
Masjid and Chandni Chowk.
• The city overs an area of 1500 acres enclosed by a city wall
with these 14 gates.
• The plan of Shahjahanabad reflects both Hindu and Islamic
influences.
• It seems to have followed a design from Manasara - a
semielliptical design called Karmuka or bow for a site fronting
a river or seashore.
• There was, a variation devised in it that on the most
auspicious spot i.e. the juncture of the two main streets, the
place was occupied by the palace-fortress.
• In the original Karmuka plan the most auspicious place in a
settlement was to be occupied by a temple.
• The selection of Karmuka plan symbolically suggests the
power of the king.
• The planning of Shahjahanabad also reflects the traditional
Islamic city plan.
• According to it the concept of the city lies between the two
poles – man and universe – and that incorporates the
symbolic principles of both.
• Red fort and Jama Masjid were thorough fares that • The city was encircled with a wall with 14 gates,
framed the city. from where Shahjahanabad gets its sobriquet of
Walled City - with five gates surviving.
• The city was laid down to emulate a human
anatomy with the palace-fortress as its head. • By 1656, the Jama Masjid was constructed on an
elevated site near the fort; it still remains Delhi’s
• As per the shastras, the site was placed on a high
biggest mosque.
land and was Karmukha or bow shaped which
ensured prosperity. • Two main boulevards, Chandni Chowk and Faiz
Bazar (in present-day Daryaganj) are famous,
• Arm of the archer was Chandni Chowk
crowded markets.
• String was Yamuna
• The royal planners constructed things such as walls,
• For more than 30 years, Shahjahanabad thrived, gates, the major avenues and laid down certain
not only as the capital of the Mughal empire, but as rules for example, the facades of shops in the
a center of culture, where art, poetry, music, Chandni Chowk bazaar looked the same – but the
artisanship all flourished. design of houses, katras and mohallas was left to
individual choice.
PLANNING CONCEPT & HIGHLIGHTS :

• The new Mughal capital and the fort were designed as an ideal city and a paradise on
Earth.
• The design and planning methods were geometric and provided for green areas
(gardens) and water facilities.
• Principal elements in the town planning were the fort, the Jama Masjid, two major
streets, city wall and gates, the Bagh, the Idgah and the Karawan Sarai.
• The Red fort was designed as a symbol of Muslim power and as an ideal living space
on a formal geometrical plan.
• The Jama Masjid was designed as a symbol of Muslim power and of the capital.
• Two major streets were developed as the central axis and as processional routes and
they were new elements in the capital.
• Planning in the capital did not provide planning of residential areas.
• Urban forms and patterns developed on there own in response to the emperor's basic
need and idea and little attention was paid to the social planning.
The city was designed with the
infrastructure as:

• The Red Fort

• The Friday – Jama - mosque
• Other major mosques
• Two main boulevards
• Bazaars around the Friday mosque
• Elaborate system of water channels
• Major gardens and city wall
STREETSCAPES:

• Streets were designed to be wide and straight in

contrast to the olden Mughal cities.

• There is a hierarchy of streets in the layout of this

city - Two major roads and secondary streets.

• Secondary streets originate from the masjid,

which are perpendicular till a point, then organic.

• Secondary streets also includes streets which are

parallel to the city walls forming a concentric ring
in the southern part of the city.

• They then intermingle at the chowks with third

layering of streets, perpendicular to the Jama
Masjid.
MAJOR STREETS:

• East – west street is called Chandni Chowk which

connected the Lahori Darwaza of the fort. It ran in a
straight line forming a wide street with a broad vista.
• Chandni Chowk is 1.4km in length and jogged at
Fatehpuri Begum Mosque. This was built as the central
axis of the city.
• So as that the fort is seen from any place on the street.
• This perspective view marked a new concept of town
planning for the Mughal capital cities.
MAJOR STREETS:

• Another main street is the Faiz Bazaar/ Akkaradi Bazaar – now known as
Daryaganj.
• Connected the Delhi gate of the fort with city walls – 1km in length.
• These two major streets developed as processional routes and as commercial
arteries.
• Developed as spines of major activities and commercial in nature.
• Other street were less significant and were mainly built as access roads to
residential areas.
The Palace-fortress: The City Walls and Gates:

• The Palace-fortress of Shahjahan was an • The city was fortified on three sides by a
overpowering structure is built on a larger scale strong wall and the fourth – on the eastern
than any other of its kind. side – partly by the Fort and partly by the wall.
• It was the residence of the emperor, and also the • It was encircled by a massive wall more than 8
seat of the governmental as well as cultural metre high and 3.5 metres wide.
activities, and contained a variety of buildings, • The total length of the walls exceeded 9
thus forming a city within city. kilometers. The wall was surmounted by
• In all there were 32 buildings in the palace-fortress. twenty-seven towers and interspersed with a
• The extent of the wall of the palace-fortress comes number of big gates and entryways at regular
to about 3 kilometers, and it encloses an area of intervals.
about 124 acres. • The layout of the city walls was based on a
geometrical planning - polygonal plan.
Bagh: • The four main gates were Delhi Darwaza on
south, the Ajmeri Darwaza on the south-west,
• The north area of Chandni Chowk was occupied by the Lahori Darwaza on the west and the
a bagh called the Jahanara Begumi's Garden. Kashmiri Darwaza on the north.
MAHALLA KATRA: HAVELIS:

• There was a tendency of the cities' population • The members of the imperial household who
to settle by ethnic affiliations and to live in the lived outside the fort/ palace built large
same neighborhoods. mansions (havellis) on the model of the
• The urban community and the Mughal capital imperial design of the red fort.
was formed by such districts or wards, known • As a rule these city palaces accommodated not
as mahallas and katras. only the owner and his family, but also their
• These homogeneous units also define cultural numerous followers, servants, and craftsmen
as well as socio-economic activities. with their workshops.
• There were 36 mahallas in the walled city. • The internal organization of the space within
• Each katra had an enclosed space created the havellis was therefore also based on the
between residential and commercial buildings strict distinction between the public, semi
having entry to a katra made through a gate. private and private spaces.
• With courtyards which were environmentally • Interior courtyard of a Haveli in the walled city
sound and acted as main ventilation shafts in designed as spill out spaces of day to day
a hot and arid climate. activities in the courtyard - thus typology was
not only suited climatically but also enhanced
the living.