URBAN PLANNING

• ‘It 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 concerns itself with both the development of open land (greenfield sites) and the
revitalization of existing parts of the city, thereby involving goal setting, data collection and analysis,
forecasting, design, strategic thinking, and public consultation.

AIMS OF PLANNING
• Planning has both social and economic aims.
• Socially successful planning tends to make people’s lives happier, because it results in physical environment
which conduces health. A proper spatial relationship between the communities in a region the constituent
parts of a town. Compactness of development and efficient arrangements of communication routes –all
help to increase wealth.
OBJECTIVES OF PLANNING
• Convenience : To understand the form of various economic, social and recreational amenities.
• Beauty : To take most possible advantage of natural condition surrounding.
• Environment : Moulded with least amount of strains.
• Health : Right use of land for right purpose.
• Economy : Consider the economic value of land.

NECESSITY OF PLANNING
• Comfort and convenience to public.
• To avoid uneven and Chaotic development – contrasting urban scenario.
• Efficient and effective use of land.
• Balance the springing land uses.
• Ensure environment which is functional, efficient, healthy and aesthetically satisfying for human
activity.
ASPECTS OF URBAN PLANNING
• Physical aspects – Deals with Built environment. It includes its location climate and proximity to
sources of food and water.
• Social aspects –Deals with Mans interrelationship and behaviour
• Cultural aspects – Deals with Spiritual Environment
• Economic aspects – Deals with Financial Environment
• Political aspects– Deals with Ideological environment
• Ecological aspects – Deals with Natural Environment
RESPONSIBILITIES OF AN URBAN PLANNER
Land use planning
• Urban planners specializing in land use planning are predominantly concerned with the regulation
of land use, development and subdivision, with the intent of achieving the desired urban planning
outcome.
Strategic urban planning
• In order to plan effectively for long term development and growth, an urban planner will be
responsible for the preparation of a strategic plan (also known in different jurisdictions by names
such as development plan, core strategy, comprehensive plan, planning strategy, structure plan,
etc.).
Regional planning
• Regional planning deals with the planning of land use, infrastructure and settlement growth over a
geographical area which extends to a whole city or beyond. In this sense, the urban planner's role is to
consider urban planning at a macro scale.
Heritage and conservation
• An urban planner may be responsible for identifying, protecting and conserving / restoring buildings and
places which are identified by a community as having cultural heritage significance. This may include the task
of compiling and maintaining a heritage register, finding and making available incentives for encouraging
conservation works, and the consideration of proposals to redevelop or use a heritage-listed place.
Urban Revitalization
• As urban areas decline, an urban planner may be tasked with preparing a plan for the redevelopment of an
urban area. Such plans are not limited to an individual development site, but rather encompass a locality or
district over which an urban redevelopment plan is prepared.
Master planning
• A master plan will be prepared for many greenfield development projects. The purpose of a master plan is to
plan for the ultimate spatial layout of the land uses for a future development area. A master plan will consider
the required infrastructure to service the development and determine the need and location of urban
amenities including commercial and industrial land, community facilities, schools, parks, public transport,
major roads, and land uses, both within and outside the master plan area, and consider the staging of
development of a master planned area.
Transportation planning
• An urban planner may be responsible for planning for transport facilities and infrastructure in urban and inter-
regional areas.
Economic development
• An urban planner's responsibility may extend to economic development. In this sense, an urban planner may be
responsible for identifying opportunities for economic growth, and encourage investment in an area.
Environmental planning
• An urban planner may be concerned with the impact of land use, development and subdivision on the natural
environment including land, water, flora, and fauna, to achieve sustainable outcomes.
Urban design
• An urban planner will develop the design of public spaces (streets, squares, parks, etc.) and the relationship
between built form and public spaces. Depending on the country and planner's training they may work with
other design professionals such as civil engineers, architects or landscape architects to complete and construct
the design.
Infrastructure planning
• An urban planner may be required to plan for the future provision of public works infrastructure such
as water supply, sewerage, electricity, telecommunications, and transport infrastructure, and
community infrastructure including schools, hospitals and parks.
RURAL SETTLEMENT
• Any settlement in which most of the people are en­gaged in agriculture, forestry, mining and fishery is
known as rural settlement. It is often called as agri­cultural workshop.
• There are various factors and conditions responsible for having different types of rural settlements
in India. These include:
(1) physical features – nature of terrain, altitude, climate and availability of water
(2) cultural and ethnic factors – social structure, caste and religion
(3) security factors – defense against thefts and robberies.
RURAL SETTLEMENTS IN INDIA
• Clustered, agglomerated or nucleated: It is a compact or closely built up area of houses. In this type of
village the general living area is distinct and separated from the surrounding farms, barns and pastures.
• Semi-clustered or fragmented: These types of settlements may result from tendency of clustering in a
restricted area of dispersed settlement. More often such a pattern may also result from segregation or
fragmentation of a large compact village.
• Hamleted: Sometimes settlement is fragmented into several units physically separated from each other
bearing a common name. These units are locally called panna, para, palli, nagla, dhani, etc. in various
parts of the country. This segmentation of a large village is often motivated by social and ethnic factors.
• Dispersed or isolated: This pattern of settlement appears in the form of isolated huts or hamlets
of few huts in remote jungles, or on small hills with farms or pasture on the slopes. Extreme
dispersion of settlement is often caused by extremely fragmented nature of the terrain and land
resource base of habitable areas.
PATTERNS
• Pattern of settlement is defined as the relationship between one house or building to another. It
can be identified by reading and observing a local scale map. The patterns of settlement deals
with compact and semi-compact only, as dispersed has its own shape. The socio cultural factors
like caste structure or a func­tional need of people has a close bearing on its shape and size.
• Linear Pattern : It is commonly found along main roads, railways, streams, etc. It may have a
single row of houses arranged along the main artery.
For example rural settlements found along the sea coast, river valley, mountain ranges etc.
• Rectangular Pattern : This is a very common type which develops around the rectangular shape
of agricultural fields as it is common to find a system of land measurement based on square units.
Village paths and cart tracks also confirm to the rectangular field patterns and run through the
village in north-south and east-west directions. Accessibility to farms and fields and connectivity
to other settlements lead to rectangular shape of settlements. The settlements of coastal
Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and either side of Aravali hills, etc. are the examples.
• Square Pattern: This is basically a variant of rectangular type. Such a pattern is associated with
villages lying at the crossing of cart tracks or roads and also related to features restricting the
extension of the village outside a square space. These features may include an old boundary wall,
thick orchards, a road or a pond.
• Circular Pattern : In the upper Doab and Trans – Yamuna districts, Malwa region, Punjab and
Gujarat, large villages are characterized by a very high degree of compactness. The outer walls of
dwellings adjoin each other and present a continuous front so that when viewed from outside,
the villages look like a walled and fortified enclosure pierced by a few openings. The round form
was a natural outcome of maximum aggregation for the purpose of defence during the past.
• Radial Pattern : In this type, a number of streets converge on one centre which may be a source
of water (pond, well), a temple or mosque, a centre of commercial activity or simply an open
space. Thus, the streets seem to be radiating from a common centre. Examples are settlements
near Gurushikar, Mount Abu in Rajasthan, Vindhyachal in Uttar Pradesh, etc
URBAN SETTLEMENTS
• Urban settlements are generally compact and larger in size and engaged in a variety of non-agricultural,
economic and administrative functions.  
EVOLUTION OF TOWNS IN INDIA
• Since prehistoric times, towns flourished in India. During the  time of Indus valley civilization, towns like Harappa
and Mohenjo-Daro were in existed. The following period has witnessed evolution of towns. It continued with
periodic ups and downs until the arrival of Europeans in India in the eighteenth century. On the basis of their
evolution in different periods, Indian towns may be classified as:
• Ancient Towns: There are number of towns in India having historical background spanning over 2000 years. Most
of them developed as religious and cultural centers. Varanasi is one of the important towns among these. Prayag
(Allahabad), Pataliputra (Patna), Madurai are some other examples of ancient towns in the country.
• Medieval Towns: About 100 of the existing towns have their roots in the medieval period. Most of them
developed as headquarters of principalities and kingdoms. These are fort towns which came up on the ruins of
ancient towns. Important among them are Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Agra and Nagpur.
• Modern Towns: The British and other Europeans have developed a number of towns in India. Starting their
foothold on coastal locations, they first developed some trading ports such as Surat, Daman, Goa, Pondicherry,
etc. The British later consolidated their hold around three principal nodes – Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai
(Madras), and Kolkata (Calcutta) – and built them in the British style. Rapidly extending their domination either
directly or through control over the princely states, they established their administrative centers, hill towns as
summer resorts, and added new civil administrative and military areas to them. Towns based on modern
industries also evolved after 1850. Jamshedpur can be cited as an example.
CLASSIFICATION OF URBAN SETTLEMENTS
• Some of the common bases of classification are size of:
• Population
• Occupational structure and
• Administrative setup.
TOWN GROUPS
• Town groups emerged in 2 types:
• Town groups which were made up of a cluster of neighboring municipalities only
• Town groups which were made up of municipal and non municipal localities.
TOWNS
• Statutory towns: All places which have been noticed under the Karnataka municipal act and have local bodies like
municipal corporation, city municipal council, town municipal council, town panchayat etc.., irrespective of their
demographic characteristics will be considered as "urban units”.
• Non statutory towns: All rural units which satisfy the demographic criterion have been identified as urban units on 2001
census data. For census purposes these places are treated as urban units and are called “non municipal census towns”.
• District/taluk headquarters: A district/taluk headquarter which is not a statutory town and fails to satisfy the
demographic criterion, is treated as”rural unit” only.
TYPES OF URBAN SETTLEMENTS
• Types of Urban Settlements Depending on the size and the services available and functions
rendered, urban centers are designated as town, city, million city, conurbation, megalopolis.
Town
• The concept of ‘town’ can best be understood with reference to ‘village’. Population size is not the
only criterion. Functional contrasts between towns and villages may not always be clear-cut, but
specific functions such as, manufacturing, retail and wholesale trade, and professional services
exist in towns.
City
• A city may be regarded as a leading town, which has outstripped its local or regional rivals. In the
words of Lewis Mumford, “ the city is in fact the physical form of the highest and most complex
type of associative life”. Cities are much larger than towns and have a greater number of
economic functions. They tend to have transport terminals, major financial institutions and
regional administrative offices. When the population crosses the one million mark it is designated
as a million city.
Conurbation
• The term conurbation was coined by Patrick Geddes in 1915 and applied to a large area of urban
development that resulted from the merging of originally separate towns or cities. Greater
London, Manchester, Chicago and Tokyo are examples. Can you find out an example from India?
Megalopolis
• This Greek word meaning “great city”, was popularised by Jean Gottman (1957) and signifies ‘super- metropolitan’
region extending, as union of conurbations. The urban landscape stretching from Boston in the north to south of
Washington in U.S.A. is the best known example of a megalopolis. Million City The number of million cities in the world
has been increasing as never before. London reached the million mark in 1800, followed by Paris in 1850, New York in
1860, and by 1950 there were around 80 such cities. The rate of increase in the number of million cities has been three-
fold in every three decades – around 160 in 1975 to around 438 in 2005.
PROBLEMS OF URBAN SETTLEMENTS
• Economic Problems The decreasing employment opportunities in the rural as well as smaller urban areas of the
developing countries consistently push the population to the urban areas. The enormous migrant population generates
a pool of unskilled and semi-skilled labour force, which is already saturated in urban areas.
• Socio-cultural Problems Cities in the developing countries suffer from several social ills. Insufficient financial resources
fail to create adequate social infrastructure catering to the basic needs of the huge population. The available
educational and health facilities remain beyond the reach of the urban poor. Health indices also, present a gloomy
picture in cities of developing countries. Lack of employment and education tends to aggravate the crime rates. Male
selective migration to the urban areas distorts the sex ratio in these cities.
• Environmental Problems The large urban population in developing countries not only uses but also disposes off a huge
quantity of water and all types of waste materials. Many cities of the developing countries even find it extremely
difficult to provide the minimum required quantity of potable water and water for domestic and industrial uses. An
improper sewerage system creates unhealthy conditions. Massive use of traditional fuel in the domestic as well as the
industrial sector severely pollutes the air. The domestic and industrial wastes are either let into the general sewerages
or dumped without treatment at unspecified locations. Huge concrete structures erected to accommodate the
population and economic play a very conducive role to create heat islands.
PLANNING IN HISTORICAL TOWNS

MAIN FEATURES OF TOWN PLANNING IN INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION(HARAPPAN
CIVILIZATION)
• The main features of town planning in Indus Valley Civilization are as follows :-
• Streets in perfect grid patterns in both Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.
• World's first sanitation system.
• Individual wells and separate covered drains along the streets for waste water.
• Houses opened to inner courtyards and smaller lanes.
• Impressive dockyards ,granaries, warehouses, brick platforms and protective walls.
• Massive citadels protected the city from floods and attackers.
• City dwellers were mainly traders and artisans.
• All the houses had access to water and drainage facilities
TOWN PLANNING IN MOHENJODARO
•  No fortification.
• Major streets In North South direction.
• Intersection at right angles.
• Streets within built up areas were narrow.
• Distinct zoning for different groups
Construction techniques in Mohenjo-Daro
• Buildings-masonry construction by sun dried bricks.
• Ranging from 2 rooms to mansions with many rooms.
• Underground sewerage and drainage from houses.
• Helical pumps for pumping water in great bath.
• Principal buildings- monastery and bath- indicating religious culture.
Great bath-Mohenjo-Daro
• The main features of Great Bath are as follows :-
• 12x7x3 m in dimensions.
• Earliest public water tank in ancient world.
• Ledge extends for the entire width of pool.
• Watertight floor
•  thick layer of bitumen.
• Floor slopes in south west corner with a small outlet connecting to a brick drain.
• Rooms located in the east.
MOHENJODARO :GRANARY
• 50x40 m in dimension, 4.5 m tall
• Massive mud brick foundation
• 2 rows of six rooms along a central passageway [7m wide & paved with baked bricks].
• Each room 15.2x6.1 m has 3 steeper walls with airspace between.
• A wooden superstructure supported in some places by large columns would
have been built on top of the brick foundations, with stairs leading up from the central passage
area.
• Small triangular openings
•  air ducts for fresh air beneath hollow floors
TOWN PLANNING IN HARAPPA
•Citadel mound and lower town surrounded by a massive brick wall.
•Citadel had square towers and bastions.
•Large open areas inside the gateway may have been used as a market or check point for taxing goods coming into the
city.
•Outside the city walls a cluster of houses may represent temporary rest stops for travelers and caravans.
•No division of the society is reflected in the layout of the city. Since large public buildings, market areas, large and
small houses as well as craft workshops have been found in the same neighborhood.
•Barrack-like group of single-roomed tenements were for the poorer classes.
•Basic house plans
•Single room tenements
•Houses with courtyards
•Houses - rooms on 3 sides opening into a central courtyard
• Nearly all large houses had private wells.
•Hearths ( brick- or stone-lined fireplace or oven often used for cooking and/or heating)common in rooms.
•Bathrooms in every house with chutes leading to drainage channels.
•First floor bathrooms also built.
•Brick stairways provided access to the upper floors.
•Houses built with a perimeter wall and adjacent houses were separated by a narrow space of land.
•Granary with areas for threshing grains.
HARAPPA’SDRAINAGE SYSTEM :-
•Wells and reservoirs - drinking and bathing.
•Wells were lined with specially-made wedge shaped Bricks to form a structurally sound Cylinder. 
•Ropes were used to lift the water out, probably with leather or wooden buckets.
•Some neighborhoods had communal wells.
•Bathing platforms with water tight floor & drains [open Out to larger drains in streets ] provided in
rooms adjacent to the wells.
•Drains and water chutes in the upper storeys were often built inside the wall with an exit opening just
above the street drains.
•Tapered terracotta drainpipes were used to direct water out to the street.
•Many houses had distinct toilets, separate from the bath areas.
•Commodes were large jars or sump pots sunk into the floors and many of them contained a small jar.
•Drains covered with baked bricks or dressed stone blocks. Garbage bins were provided along the
major Streets.
INDO –  ARYAN TOWN PLANNING
• The subject of indo  aryan town planning is treated  particularly in the silpa sastras and incidentally in
the puranas, the two great epics of India,
treatises on astronomy and astrology, the niti sastras and smrti sastras i.e. Works of society in its widest sense.  
• Vastu vidya or vastu sastra science of residence or abode, forms a subdivision of the silpa sastra.Manasara defines,
“the place where men and god reside is called “ vastu” ( from the sanskrit word ‘ vas’ to
reside,to sit).These include ground, building, conveyance, couch. Mayamata, manasara, vishvakarma,vastushastra,
samaranganasutra, shilparatnam etc. are treatise on architecture based on Vedic hymns.
• Traditionally, the city called Nagar was the place for the meeting. Temples
were the link between Cosmic and humans. Civic urban institutional were of great
significance. Kautliyas Arthashastra outlined the image of a Nagar as being well planned. Heterogeneous where
people of diverse occupations lived in access with a prescribed code of urban area.
City provided the setting the pursuit and fulfillment of the four aims of life Dharam, Karma, Purasharthas,
Artha.Special allocation based on Varna :- Brahman, Kshatriyas,Vashyas, Sudras. 
• NAGARA VIDHANA :- 
• Grid –  iron pattern : main street.
• Primary secondary and tertiary street layout.
• Street with green plant borders.
• Pedestrian footpath between street and green belt. 
• Junction of main axis :- Brahmastaha 
• Public space –  public accessibility.
• Public building.
• Discard land that has depression in the middle area corresponding to Brahmastana.
• Mixed use on main street i.e.. residences above commercial / office.
• The street that run around the layout can have buildings on one side. These buildings can relate
to schools, colleges, public libraries, building offices, guest houses etc.
• The smaller street can have residential buildings on both sides. Each segment or block can have
houses that are uniform in height and appearance.
• SAMARANGANA SUTRADHARA:-
• Recommends 34 roads in a model town running east west and north south.
• Importance of gardens.
• MANASARA :-
• Towns based on plans ranging from Pechaka ( plan of 4 squares) to Asana.
• ( plan of 100 squares).
• It Speaks of the street that is on the border of the street ( Mangalaveedhi) and thestreet that surrounds the
Brahmasthana (Brahmaveedhi).
• Laying out should start in the NE ( Tasanya).

TOWN PLANNING IN MEDIEVAL PERIOD 

• Medieval period in India was a transitional time and it was not possible under the unstable political conditions for
the planned and systematic urban growth. Only fortress towns under the patronage of chieftains and petty rulers
could grow.
• Towns along the main routes of travel, and by the river-side had trade in food grains, cloth, swords, carpets,
perfumes and several other handicraft articles.
• Small urban centres was the ‘rule’, and only capitals were having busy life. Jaunpur was the capital city under the
rule of Firozshah.
• It was only under the rule of Akbar that the disturbed urban life was reconstituted and redeveloped. All
centres – ‘dasturs’ (districts) as well as ‘parganas’ (tehsils) beside capitals in nature were also ‘garrison towns’
where armies were invariably stationed for protection.
• Medieval towns, whether in India or anywhere else, were walled, encircled by an outside moat. The town
resembled “an island when its gates were locked at sundown”.
• Medieval town used to have its first nucleus often as a fortress of walled property of a landlord, its internal roads
being controlled to connect the market place lying directly before the gate of the castle or place of
worship. Nucleus of the town was “the stage on which were enacted the daily drama of buying and selling,
religious pageant, tournament and procession”.
PLANNING OF SAHAJAHANABAD:-
• The city was planned according to hindu planning principles of shilpashastra from vastushastra.
• The site was placed on a high land as in the shastra and was karmukha or bow shaped, for this ensured
its prosperity.
• The arm of the archer was Chandni Chowk.
• The string was Yamuna river.
• The junction of the two main axes is the most auspicious point in the whole region and was therefore the red
fort.
THE CITY FORM MORPHOLOGY ELEMENTS :-
•  The urban infrastructure was laid out in a geometric pattern.
• Shows traces of both Persian and Hindu traditions of town planning and architecture with the Persian influence
largely accounting for the formalism and symmetry of the palaces gardens and boulevards.
The designed infrastructure of Shahjahanabad comprised‐
• The fort
• The Friday mosque.
• The other major mosques, including the corresponding waqf properties.
• The two main boulevards.
• The bazaars around the Friday mosque.
• The elaborate system of water channels.
• The major gardens and the city wall.
• The arrangement of these planned elements was influenced by certain site features,
which precluded absolute geometry.

FATEHPUR SIKRI
• Founded in 1569 by Mughal emperor Akbar

• Planned walled city – shifting of capital from Agra

• Revival of splendors of Persian court

• All buildings were of red sandstone – Sikri sandstone

• Number of independent pavilions arranged in formal geometry on a piece of level ground –
pattern inspired from Arab tent camps
• Abandoned in 1585, due to paucity of water and proximity with Rajputana areas in NW
• Indigenous craftsmen were employed – influence of Indian principles.
GREEK TOWN
PRIENE
• Agora – occupies the geographical center. Around it are the temple shrines, public
buildings and shops
• Emphasis on orientation of the dwelling units

• Main streets connected the gate

• Agora was generally placed such that ‘beasts of burden’ and ‘carts’ could traverse easily
• Grid-iron pattern superimposed within a hill
• Excellent example of hill-side terracing