0.9 ARC 7.

3 30 August 2017
PHYSICAL PLANNING

Explain the characteristics of the Central Business District of Indian cities. What are the
planning efforts made in India during the British Period?

Ali Abrar Bin Sajid

1DT13AT007
7 Semester
SOA DSATM

The CBD or Central Business District is the focal point of a city. It

is the commercial, office, retail, and cultural center of the city and usually is the center point for
transportation networks.
The CBD developed as the market square in ancient cities. On
market days, farmers, merchants, and consumers would gather in the center of the city to exchange, buy,
and sell goods. This ancient market is the forerunner to the CBD. As cities grew and developed,
CBDs became a fixed location where retail and commerce took place.The CBD is typically at or near
the oldest part of the city and is often near a major transportation route that provided the site for the city's
location, such as a river, railroad, or highway.Over time, the CBD developed into a center of finance
and control or government as well as office space.
In the early 1900s, European and American cities had CBDs that
featured primarily retail and commercial cores. In the mid-20th century, the CBD expanded to include
office space and commercial businesses while retail took a back seat. The growth of the skyscraper
occurred in CBDs, making them more and more dense.
By the beginning of the 21st century, the CBD had become a diverse
region of the metropolitan area and included residential, retail, commercial, universities,
entertainment, government, financial institutions, medical centers, and culture.The experts of the
city are often located at workplaces or institutions in the CBDlawyers, doctors, academics,
government officials and bureaucrats, entertainers, directors, and financiers.In recent decades, the
combination of gentrification (residential expansion) and development of shopping malls as
entertainment centers have given the CBD new life.
The term CBD was used to describe the downtown of American
Cities, where the term originated in the industrial towns during 19th century (1) but was implied in the
western world in the coming decades. The CBD is quite difficult to define as usually there is no
boundary demarcating or indicating the CBD area, the CBD area is delineated based on a number of
factors if any documentation is required. Hence, CBD cannot be defined in technical terms for it is
more of a spatial identity in planning terminology, and often, there is no quantitative definition which
can be used to describe CBDs.
Definitions are qualitative such as the CBD is the nucleus of an urban
area that contains the main concentration of commercial land use (2) or a unique area of massive
concentration of activities and focus for thepolarizationofcapital,economicandfinancial activities in
cities (3).
The idea of CBDs never existed in the Indian scenario, the city centre
became the commercial core and it was identified as the centre for Trade and Commerce as well. The
Urban Sprawl generated a wave of transportation corridors and hence, there was a need to establish
designated CBDs with all the public amenities at one place, commerce, institution and services. After
partition of India in 1947, cities grew rapidly as there was an immediate need to accommodate the
refugees from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Hence, Delhi and its nearby areas witness rapid growth.
Gradually, the concept of District centers soaked in, and various district centers emerged all
overdeveloping cities.
Commonly in India, an average size of city does not have a distinct CBD
resembling the cities of USA and Western Europe. One may identify a compact CBD in the
metropolises of Kolkata (Chowringhee), Mumbai (Kalba Devi-Tank Rd.), Bangalore (M.G. Road),
Delhi (Old Chandni Chowk), New Delhi (Connaught Place), etc.There may not be a single compact
area. But in our cities, being multiple nuclei in structure, there may be small central areas developed on
and around different nuclei.
 One good example of this transition phase is Delhi, where Chandni
Chowk in Old Delhi was once the commercial centre, and then Lutyens Delhi and Connaught
place was developed, eventually, various district centers like Nehru Place, Bhikaji Cama place
were built, changing the face and skyline of New Delhi.
The CBD's in India are home to the Peak Land Value Intersection.
The Peak Land Value Intersection is the intersection with the most valuable real estate in the
city. This intersection is the core of the CBD and thus the core of the metropolitan area. One
would not typically find a vacant lot at the Peak Land Value Intersection but instead one would
typically find one of the city's tallest and most valuable skyscrapers.
The multi-storeyed buildings are generally occupied by commerce
and business offices.The buildings are rarely used for residential purposes because of intensity
and density of business uses. However, in the cities of the developing areas, the central
business area is also occupied sporadically by residences, and in some cases upper storeys are
used for residences. In Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata more than 25 per cent upper storeys of the
multi-storeyed buildings are used for residential purpose. But the case of the Western world is
different.
Besides this, although manufacturing does not form an attribute of
CBD, yet newspaper and book publication are found centrally located in many cities. This is
perhaps because of the facility of their sale and circulation including convenience of transport
and communication.
The CBD does not necessarily occupy the geographic centre of a
city. It may be away from it where specialization of land uses develops to make the point of
space a business-area of central order catering all sorts of people for all sorts of goods from all
parts of a city. The shape of CBD depends upon nature of a city, its population, areal extent and
above all, land uses. It has also its relations with the social and cultural institutions.The shape
and size of the CBD do not evenly spread on all directions. Near its edge, zone of neglect or
discard may distort its regular shape. Similarly, zone of assimilation also affects the shape by
residences over its edge occupied by business community.
Unplanned cities of India possess CB areas of distorted shape and
may not be like quadrate cross. Another distinction which makes CB areas of India different
in nature from their western counterpart is their residential use. Most of the central areas in
India are occupied by semi-residential buildings and possess high density of population which
is an uncommon feature in the Western Central areas.CB areas of Indian cities are considerably
flanked by haphazard retail marketing stores, narrow and tortuous roads, traffic congestion, in
sanitary conditions, absence of footpaths and parking space, and above all, slums and squatters.
These possess an unhealthy look and movement within the central business areas. An example
of the edge of CBD being notoriously occupied by slums and blight areas can be seen in the
Capitol city. In Delhi, old CBD including Sadar Bazar and Chandni Chowk are inflected by
slums and blights.
Business dominated central areas of a city in India should not be
misunderstood as homogeneous in its aspect of urban land uses. It is characterized by internal
specialization of mixed-uses regarding retailing. There one may find ready made dresses,
utensils, general merchandise, footwears, electronic goods, medical stores, tailoring and outfit,
confectionery, watches, restaurants and fashionable ladies wear, ornaments, etc. The
competition for the central location has increased with diversification of shopping and with
specialization.
With the sprawling of cities and coming up of the residential
sectors in different parts far and wide, the metropolises like Delhi, Kanpur, Hyderabad-
Secunderabad in India are disintegrated into subsidiary retail business areas.
The significance of the primary CBD has been minimized because
people do not prefer to reach the downtown under traffic-tension and uneasy movement out of
their own residential sector. The outlying business district fulfills nearly all needs social,
cultural and economic of the residents who are living about ten to twenty kilometers off the
main city centre.
Lastly but most importantly Indian CBDs are often the centers of a
metropolitan area's transportation system. Public transit, as well as highways, converge on the
CBD, making it a very accessible to those who live throughout the metropolitan area.

On the other hand, the convergence of road networks in the CBD often creates overwhelming
traffic jams as commuters from the suburbs attempt to converge on the CBD in the morning
and return home at the end of the work day.Recently, there has been a danger that the central
function of the city might break down completely because they are becoming painfully
inaccessible. Traffic breakdown has become a common phenomenon, especially in the
metropolises of India. This must be channelized by planning arterial roads and indicating places
for disallowing traffic movement. Parking spaces should be provided on all sides at least one-
to-two furlongs off the PLVI. In the absence of parking facility there is always insecurity and
danger for pedestrians.
For example Kolkata has the largest volume of pedestrian traffic
and the problem in the CBD area is being enhanced by encroachments by vendors. Thois was
solved with the Calcutta Urban Development Project (CUDP) constructing underground
parking plazas in the CBD. Usurpation of road-frontage and unauthorized occupation of
footpaths are strictly prohibited.

After 1858, India became officially a British colony as British crown
took control of India from East India Company. The British crown put a Secretary of State for
India in change of India. Indian Council who had only advisory powers aided him. India was
divided into three administrative zones (Bengal, Madras and Bombay). A number of
administrative and architectural changes were introduced.
During the colonial era, up to the early 20th century, cities were
consciously laid out for military and political dominance. The concerns of public health and
sanitation, spatial and social segregation, colonial dominance, and control were the underlying
ideas of colonial planning in India. The establishment of town planning institutions and a
knowledgeable edifice complete with the establishment of civil works departments and
engineering colleges and the use of statistics, census and surveys institutionalized the planning
process in colonial India. The underlying philosophy that cities are important centers of
economic productivity informed the colonial urban planning process.
The rise of urban planning in Europe and America was driven by the
search for a rational city the idea of a city as a perfectly disciplined spatial order (4).
Segregation was the basis of urban planning in colonial India. The native town where the
indigenous population resided was clearly demarcated from the areas inhabited by the
European population (5). The British modified the urban landscape of earlier times
substantially with the introduction of what were known as civil lines and cantonments, both of
which existed as adjuncts to the native city to accommodate the British civilian and military
personnel (6). The civil lines housed the administrative offices, courts and residences of British
officers, clearly demarcated from the native town where Indians lived. The latter were
invariably overcrowded and lacked civic amenities.
Cantonments were often built around large cities, originally for
housing British officers and armed personnel. Indian soldiers resided in separate quarters
within the cantonment. Spatial segregation in the cantonments was strictly maintained by
hierarchy and rank, both within the British and Indian barracks.
Civil lines and cantonments, unlike the rest of the native town were
distinguished by large open spaces, planned roads, and administrative buildings located at the
centre. The health and security of British elites were prime concerns. The residential spaces of
the British (for the officials living in civil lines, army officers living in cantonment areas,
administrative staff and engineers living in railway colonies, managers living in tea
plantations) were designed accordingly. The residential spaces of Europeans expatriates were
typically large housing plots with lavish recreation facilities and low densities, complete with
the availability of motorised transport, telephone connections and cheap native labour(7).
During the British colonial rule, urban areas were defined as
including every municipality, every cantonment, all civil lines (residential areas of
officials) not included in municipal limits; and every collection of houses permanently
inhabited by not less than 5,000 persons and of an urban character, though not under
municipal government (8). This definition, which continued until 1951, left scope for state
census superintendents to apply their judgments in declaring settlements as urban.
 Colonial planning was inspired by British planning ideas that
dominated in early 20th century, namely the garden city movement. Garden city ideas were in
turn a reaction to the 19th century industrial city and its pathologies(9). The pathologies
included congestion, pollution, crowded spaces, crime and illness. The techniques and goals
of planning underlying the garden city principles were therefore orderly development,
easing traffic flows, promoting healthy environments, reduced densities, planned
residential areas, zoning of industrial and residential units, and segregation of
populations.
At the heart of each of the rst British cities in India Madras (1644),
Bombay (1661) and Calcutta (1690), cities which the British largely created themselves from
the ground up was a fort area dominated, designed, and occupied by the British. They lived
mostly inside the fort area, and in the strongly fortied and controlled area around it,
sometimes called the civil lines. Here they built their homes, shops, and churches as well as
their commercial and administrative headquarters. Their armed forces were accommodated
nearby in an area called the cantonment or camp. The much larger Indian area that sprang
up around the British core was usually referred to as the native or black town.
As British control extended across India in the 18th and 19th centuries, and
encompassed many already existing cities, these patterns of spatial separation by nationality
and race were repeated. In some cities, where British presence was extensive, very large areas
of cantonment and civil lines were established alongside pre-existing Indian cities. New Delhi,
Bangalore, and Secunderabad (adjoining Hyderabad) are examples. In the capitals of Indias
large princely states, regions that the British left for local rulers to administer, and in the centre
of regions with numerous smaller princely states, the British built residency areas to
headquarter their local administration and to garrison their troops adjacent to the existing native
cities.
Since the health and well-being of British officials were of great concern,
the British also developed hill stations in an attempt to replicate the British countryside
complete with schools, hospitals, clubs and hotels. Access to these spaces was restricted to the
British elites. Thus segregation was as much social as it was spatial.The hill stations catered
exclusively to the needs of Europeans and helped them recuperate from the heat of the plains
during summers. The first hill stations were established in 1815, and by 1870, there were over
80 hill stations in and around the four metropolitan cities of Calcutta, Madras, Delhi and
Bombay. These were: Simla-Mussourie-Nainital near Delhi, Darjeeling-Shillong near Calcutta,
Mahabaleshwar near Bombay and the Nilgiri Kodaikanal area in Tamil Nadu(9).The national
capital was shifted from Delhi to Shimla for six months of the year to avoid the soaring
temperatures of the plains in summers.
It was often led to believe that urban planning ideas and forms reproduced
the assumptions of the colonial core generated through the processes of capitalistic
industrialization. Planning based on the above mentioned was evident in the development of
colonial towns like Bombay in the 1860s (11) and Lucknow (12).
However New Delhi developed as a capital city to concentrate political and
administrative purposes with little attempt at industrial development (13). In 1911, the capital
of the British empire was shifted from Calcutta to New Delhi.Completed in 1935,New Delhi
was designed by the architect Edwin Lutyens. It was an imposing city symbolic of British
colonial dominance. The design was complete with modern buildings, a magnificent
administrative complex, bungalows with large compounds, wide streets lined with trees,
reminiscent of British landscape.
An institutional edifice comprising legislations and municipal controls,
police, judiciary, army, informal, para-judicial policing, was developed to give shape to urban
planning. State regulation through bylaw planning, building regulation, sanitary inspection,
centralised control by British administration was put in place.
Piped water supply, street lighting, sewerage, modern shopping areas like the
Hogue market in Calcutta and the Crawford market in Bombay, parks and playgrounds were
established in the major metropolitan cities and in the civil and cantonment areas, industrial
towns and hill stations. Municipalities were concerned with collection of local taxes,
maintenance of roads, removal of garbage, and primary health and education.

Conscious efforts of conservation or preservation of places of historical significance were part
and parcel of city building. British officials in India contributed a great deal in building
museums, libraries and town halls.
The administrative centres of cities like the Dalhousie Square in Calcutta
and the Fort St George in Madras were European in their design and layout. The metropolitan
cities of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay were also leading administrative and commercial
centres. European style buildings, housing, major banks and headquarters of commercial and
industrial houses, numerous streets and bylanes, chief commercial areas, markets, tram cars and
buses accorded a new character to the cities,in contrast to their traditional form.
The colonial cities were also the centres of western culture spread
through spaces of leisure, education and learning like clubs, schools, colleges, universities,
restaurants and libraries. These spaces created a new urban elite comprising Europeans and
wealthy Indians.
Lastly an attendant knowledge edifice was also created to support and
implement urban planning principles. A new class of engineers were educated at the current
Indian Institute of Technology at Roorkee, among others. Public works department (PWD)
surveyors and civil engineers began to be attached to municipalities.Early urban planners and
officials in colonial India, including Patrick Geddes, Lutyens, Herbert Baker, and HV
Lanchester used data collection techniques like the census. The use of statistics and systems of
inspection was established (14). Modern sewage systems replaced older arrangements.
Experts were brought in from England to take up official positions for town planners and
provide the much needed channel through which urban planning was going to be effectively
directed. Following the report of a committee on scientific urban planning of the area, A E
Miriamswas made the consulting surveyor to the Government of India and he recommended
the passing of a Town Planning Act which in its revised version is still in use to date.
In conclusion the institutionalization of planning through the establishment
of town planning institutions and a knowledge edifice complete with the establishment of civil
works departments and engineering colleges and the use of statistics, census and surveys were
indeed the legacy of the British. However one cannot ignore the fact that the rationale behind
colonial planning essentially came from the fears of disease, social disorder and most
importantly the use of urban planning as a medium of asserting colonial domination. (15)

REFERENCES

(1)Pitzl,2004
(2)McColl,2005, p. 158
(3) Pitzl,2004
(4) McColl,2005, p. 159
(5) Drozdz and Appert, 2010,p.2
(6) Boyer1983
(7) Spodek 2012
(8) Census of India 1911:15
(9) Ramachandran 1989:65
(10) King 1990
(11) Dossal 1991
(12) Oldenburg, 1984
(13) Ramachandran 1989: 64
(14) Ramachandran 1989
(15) Parpiani, 2012