HUMAN SETTLEMENTS PLANNING

UNIT 2
FORMS OF HUMAN SETTEMENTS
CONTENTS:

• Structure and form of Human settlements

• Case Studies

• Factors influencing the growth and decay of human

settlements.
Structure and Form of Settlements:

• Linear
• Circular
 Radial (star)
 Hexagonal
• Grid
• Grid iron
• Organic
• Radial
Linear

• Linear settlement patterns can be considered special cases of point pattern

distributions that vary in one dimension as points along a line.
• Linear settlement patterns are generally associated with linear features,
either natural or human built.
• Linear feature in nature that may influence settlement patterns include
water courses- Shorelines, canyons, ridge-tops and boundaries
between environmental zones.
• Built of defined linear features associated with linear settlement patterns
including roads and rails, canals and even political boundaries.
• Development and expansion of linear settlement patterns is not restricted to
points directly on or adjacent to linear feature.
The sectors of a linear city would be:
• a purely segregated zone for railway lines,
• a zone of production and communal enterprises, with related scientific,
technical and educational institutions,
• a green belt or buffer zone with major highway,
• a residential zone, including a band of social institutions, a band of
residential buildings and a "children's band",
• a park zone, and
• An agricultural zone with gardens and state-run farms (sovkhozy in
the Soviet Union).

• As the city expanded, additional sectors would be added to the end of

each band, so that the city would become ever longer, without growing
wider.
• The linear city design was first developed by Arturo Soriay
Mata in Madrid, Spain during the 19th century.
• Promoted by the Soviet planner Nikolay Alexandrovich Milyutin in the late
1920s.
• The linear city has no central core around which the city grows, The city
grows along a transport line or parallel transport lines.
• The city is characterized by High-density settlements on either side of the
transport line and especially near transport stops.
• Behind the Dense settlements is a band of medium dense development with
the rural area or green area immediately behind this medium dense
settlement.
• The kinds of development near the transport stops and along the transport
lines are mixed use settlements comprising of residential, commercial,
production and services.

Arturo Soriay Mata linear city in Madrid, Spain

ADVANTAGES:

• High accessibility
• Adaptability to linear growth
• Useful along the limited edge

DISADVANTAGES:

• Very sensitive to blockage requires control of growth

• lacks focus,
• The choice of connection or of direction of movement are much less.
 Radial (circular)

Radial Pattern:
In this type, a number of streets converge on one center which may be a source
of water (pond, well), a temple or mosque, a center of commercial activity or
simply an open space. Thus, the streets seem to be radiating from a common
center.
Rural Examples are settlements near Gurushikar, Mount Abu in Rajasthan,
Vindhyachal in Uttar Pradesh, etc.
Examples- Amsterdam, Washington DC, etc.
Advantages:
A direct line of travel for centrally directed flows
Economics of a single centralized terminal or origin point.

Disadvantages:
Central congestion
Local flow problems.
Difficult building sites.
 Grid

• An organization of streets that lie perpendicular to one another, the grid is

among the most controlled of settlement patterns.
• The square or rectangular plots which the grid defines exercise a discipline
upon the form of buildings within its compass.
• Grid plans are rarely the result of social imperatives within the vernacular
cultures, but are almost invariable imposed.
• Uniform ‘modules’ of plots and buildings on grid plans have been traced in
the Indus valley from the 3rd millennium B.C.
• Grid plans have extensively adopted by planners to regularized and contain
the world’s squatter settlements of the late-20th century.
• Efficiency in the use of public land, minimizing of street lengths, the provision
of sites and services, sewage disposal and electricity supply are among the
economic arguments of modern grid planning policies.
Examples-
Chandigarh, Newyork, etc.
ADVANTAGES:
High accessibility
minimum distribution of flow
expansiion flexibility
excellent physco logical orientation
adaptability to level or moderately terrain

Disadvantages:
Requires flow hierarchies.
Limied in its adpatabilty to the terrain.
Potentially monotonous.
 Advantages:

• Optional locations for focal

activities and system
terminals
• Good psychological
orientation
• Adaptability to existing
conditions.

Disadvantages:

• Depends on stability to key

point.
• Potential accessibility
problems.
Examples- Rome, • Tendency to dilute focal
activities.
 URBAN GROWTH

• Urbanization occurs naturally from individual and corporate efforts to reduce

time and expense in commuting and transportation while improving
opportunities for jobs, education, housing, and transportation.
• Living in cities permits individuals and families to take advantage of the
opportunities of proximity, diversity, and marketplace competition.
• People move into cities to seek economic opportunities.
• A major contributing factor is known as "rural flight". In rural areas, often on
small family farms, it is difficult to improve one's standard of living beyond
basic sustenance.
• Farm living is dependent on unpredictable environmental conditions, and in
times of drought, flood or pestilence, survival becomes extremely
problematic.
• In modern times, industrialization of agriculture has negatively affected the
economy of small and middle-sized farms and strongly reduced the size of
the rural labor market.
• Cities, in contrast, are known to be places where money, services and
wealth are centralized. Cities are where fortunes are made and where
social mobility is possible.
• Businesses, which generate jobs and capital, are usually located in urban
areas. Whether the source is trade or tourism, it is also through the cities
that foreign money flows into a country. It is easy to see why someone living
on a farm might wish to take their chance moving to the city and trying to
make enough money to send back home to their struggling family.
• There are better basic services as well as other specialist services that aren't
found in rural areas.
• There are more job opportunities and a greater variety of jobs. Health is
another major factor.
• People, especially the elderly are often forced to move to cities where there
are doctors and hospitals that can cater for their health needs. Other factors
include a greater variety of entertainment (restaurants, movie theaters,
theme parks, etc.) and a better quality of education, namely universities.
• Due to their high populations, urban areas can also have much more diverse
social communities allowing others to find people like them when they might
not be able to in rural areas.
• These conditions are heightened during times of change from a pre-
industrial society to an industrial one.
• It is at this time that many new commercial enterprises are made possible,
thus creating new jobs in cities. It is also a result of industrialization that
farms become more mechanized,putting many labourers out of work. This is
currently occurring fastest in India
Urban Problems - Urban Decay

• The deterioration of the urban environment. It occurs when urban

infrastructure falls into disrepair and buildings are left empty for long
periods of time.
• Urban decay is when parts of the city become run down and
undesirable to live in. It causes economic (money), social (people) and
environmental (our surroundings) problems. Examples of urban decay
are -
 Slum housing - with outside toilets, overcrowding, no hot water or
central heating
 Many buildings have been poorly built and now have leaking roofs,
draughty windows and crumbling stonework
 Empty buildings are vandalised; gap sites where buildings have been
knocked down turn into derelict land
 As the factories and housing have been in the same areas air, noise
and water pollution have been common

There have been a number of schemes to reduce the problems of urban

decay. They have had mixed success.
The Doughnut effect

• Development occurs around a central location, (CBD of city) and then

is surrounded by residential, industrial. etc\
• Industry and jobs move to the suburbs leaving disused land in the
CBD and that creates a hole.
• the hole is an area of urban decay

The doughnut effect is the name given to the

increasing movement of retail from the C.B.D. (Central
Business District) to the outskirts (rural-urban
fringe) of the cities. Obviously, cars have been the
factor that have fueled this process, as well as, the
attraction of an out-of-town site for retail.
Comprehensive Redevelopment

This is when you knock down all the buildings and start from scratch. It
was felt to be needed in some places as the problems were so bad. In
Kingston and the Gorbals in Glasgow, for example, the old tenements
were knocked down and replaced by new flats and multi-storey high
rise buildings.
Unfortunately, many of the new buildings were poorly built and have
also been knocked down. This approach has also been criticised as it
destroyed the social fabric of the area - people no longer knew their
neighbours and they were moved away from their friends and relations.

High rise flats built when older tenements

were knocked down
Urban Regeneration
Another idea was to renovate the existing housing and improve the
environment and economy. This Involves
 New roofs
 Secure entry-phone systems on tenement closes
 The outsides of tenements were cleaned by sand-blasting
 Combining two small flats into a larger one
 Improving the environment by landscaping
 Building or improving the social facilities such as clubs and medical
centres
 Encouraging new business and industry to set up in the areas with
grants and loans
This has proved more popular as people
have been able to stay in their own area.

Cleaned and renovated tenements

'Urban growth:
Contemporary challenges„
 Unprecedented urban growth:
A global challenge

1950-2006: The urban population of the world has increased from

739 million to 3.2 billion. By 2025 around 65 per cent of the
world’s population is projected to live in cities. By 2010 more than
75 per cent of the world’s urban population will live in poorer
countries (State of the World 2007).

More than 40 per cent of the world children are estimated to be

living in polluted cities of developing world (WHO).

A billion more will be added over the next three decades in Asia –
almost adding a whole new India. More than half of them will be
living in cities

What about India?

Huge numbers …. But sluggish
trends
The classical view: Agrarian crisis accelerates urban growth – leads to
exodus from villages. Exponential annual growth rate in urban
population during 1940s, 50s and 70s …
But growth rate drops thereafter – from 3.8% in the 70s to 2.7% in 90s.
Share of urban population increased slowly from 17.3%in 1951 to
27.78% in 2001.
Overall mobility of migrants stagnates. 2001: Share of total migrants in the
country has increased slightly from 27% to 29% during the 90s but this
is less than 31% in 1961.
The share of migrants in the total incremental urban population dropped
from 21.7% in 80s to 21.0% in the 90s. This co-relates well with drop in
the rate of urbanisation during the nineties.
The total urban population is still as big as 287.56 million which is almost
equal to the total population of the United States.
The trend may accelerate. Urban population may double by 2021
 Problem of skewed growth
Top heavy growth: Class I are growing faster than the smaller cities –
growth is not evenly distributed. Only large cities have integrated
effectively with markets. Attracted more migrants.
Asymmetrical growth: Total towns have increased from 1827 in 1901 to
4368 in 2001. Million plus cities have increased from 24 in 1901 to
393 in 2001. Share of urban population in these cities have
increased from 26% in 1901 to 69% in 2001. The remaining 30% are
distributed in the remaining 3979 towns and cities.
Stagnation at the bottom: The transformation of rural settlement as
urban centres is not so pronounced. Lower rung towns largely
stagnating. Some have grown due to infrastructure investments and
rural to urban migration.
Shadow growth: Top rung cities have grown due to in-migration and
aerial expansion. Strong influence on suburbanisation.
Concerns
Skewed growth leads to inequity, and serious social and
environmental imbalances
• Big cities have not been able to absorb labor and investments
within the formal sector of economy leading to problem of slums
and informal economy. 21% of urban population live in slums.
Nearly 40-50 per cent of people live in slums of Mumbai.
• About 25.7% of the urban population live below the poverty line.
While in class I cities 12 per cent of the households are below
poverty line, in medium towns it is 23% -- even higher than rural
areas.
• Urban planning has tried density control through physical
planning but failed to check in-migration or address the issue of
basic services.
• Social and environmental impacts of these trends are severe as
there is also high level of inequity in the provision of basic
services in cities. Poor are pushed to periphery.
The challenge of mega cities

If cities grow big its scale and density also make

waste treatment, recycling facilities, and public
transport more efficient. But they also exceed their
ecological limits. But efficiency gains are limited in
Indian cities due to poor urban governance.
Growing pollution and toxification:
new struggles in cities

• Cities in grip of toxic model of growth: Intensive

use of energy and materials leading to huge
amounts of waste -- pollution.

• Major health impacts – toxic air causes one death

per hour, dirty water is the biggest killer of babies
till date…

Poor and Polluted. Deadly combination.

Where will the future growth take us? It all
depends on the choices we make
How are we going to manage this growth?
The issue is not about growth but about distribution, equity and
urban governance
Air pollution and mobility crisis: Cities are being built for a small group of
car owners, disregarding the mobility needs of the majority of urban
population. Pollution and congestion costs high.
Solid waste and hazardous waste: 120,000 tonnes of garbage everyday in
Indian cities. But very limited disposal, re-use and recycling
capacities. Waste to energy remains a non-starter. Colonisation of
land for waste disposal is leading to conflicts.
Water and waste water: Per capita water supply ranges from 9 lpcd(Litres
per Capita per Day)to 584 lpcd across urban India. Only 72 cities have
partial sewerage facilities and 17 have some primary treatment
facilities and …..
Energy crisis: Wide gap in demand and supply, wastage. One third of
India living in cities consumes 87% of nation’s electricity. Remains
energy inefficient. But heavily built cities like Tokyo and New York use
less energy per capita than rural residents.
Land constraints: Urban sprawl and inefficiencies
 The Gas Chamber: Poor people more vulnerable to air
pollution related diseases

WHO estimates 0.8 million deaths and 4.6 million lost life years every year
globally. Two-third of this occurs in Asia.
Premature Deaths Due to Outdoor Air Pollution

35% Rest
of the
world

65% Asia
 Cars lead to most inequitous use of urban
land
Cities are being built for urban minority

• Parking is one of the most wasteful uses of cars: Out of 8760

hours in a year the total steering time of an average car is 400 hours.
For about 90 to 95 per cent of the time a car is parked.
• Insatiable demand for land: If demand for land for an average car is
computed on the basis of the average size of the car and one parking
space per car -- the total cars already uses up 3% of the city’s
urbanised area; or 10.8% extra land available for urbanisation. The
forest cover in Delhi is 11.5 %.
• Inequitous use of land: A car is allotted 23 sq m for parking. Under
low cost housing scheme. The car owning minority using up more
and more road space and urban space.
Land is limited. Where will cities find more land to park cars?
 Strike at the very root….
Restrain personal vehicle usage.

Build public transport

International Energy Agency estimates 100 per cent difference in oil use
in a future scenario dominated by high quality bus system as opposed to
that dominated by personal vehicles in Delhi

ADB study projects that in Bangalore an increase in public transport

share from 62 per cent to 80 per cent can save 21 per cent of fuel
consumption.
 Poor mobility management
By 2021 there will be a shortfall of nine million trips per day

31
Cities must be built on public transport

32
 Urban crisis and urban protest

33
Public campaigns
 34
Targeting the Legislators
December 2002 -- Battle won:
CNG programme established

The current tally:

l 10,600 buses
l 52,623 Three-wheelers
l 10,350 private cars
l 4,497 mini buses
l 5,043 taxis
l 5,909 light commercial vehicles
l 689 Other commercial vehicles
Building public opinion
 The message: Leapfrog
Avoid the polluting pathways of the West.
Adopt an alternative path that is precautionary and preventive

Business As Usual

37
Alternative Path Of
Progress
Pollution

“The Kuznets Curve” Per-Capita GDP

GROWTH AND DECAY OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS - GENERAL

• Primitive man lived in caves, tree-holes and treetops and fed himself on
plants, fruits roots, animals and water, directly collected from nature, without
much effort on his part.
• When his number increased and his food requirements became enormous he
came out of the forests to live in the plains, to cultivate and make more food
materials. Availability of water was the main criterion for selecting land for
cultivation and habitation.
• This happened according to scientist, about 10,000 years back and that was
the beginning of human settlements, when man made houses to live in and
worked for his food. Thus it was a transition from cave to village. Protection
from the vagaries of climate and wild animals was the main purpose of a
house, rightly called a shelter. He built houses with whatever materials were
available near about him, like mud, wood, reeds boughs, leaves and what not.
For better protection and mutual help he used to live in groups, surrounded by
the cultivated lands, which invariably were selected where water was available
throughout the seasons.
• This gave rise to villages or small human settlements, all of them near
perennial fresh water sources like rivers, and lakes. Villages were
also located on sites offering natural protection of elevated hills &
terrains, islands and peninsulas. Wherever natural protection was
lacking barricades and moats surrounded them. Later, when
transportation of men and materials became necessary, seacoasts
and riverbanks were selected for settlements. As we learn from
history, early civilization spread along the fertile valleys of the Nile,
tigres, Euphrates, Indus rivers etc. where water, food and
transportation were at hand.
• In all settlements, there were both natural and man-made elements
like hills, valleys – buildings, roads etc. each settlement had its own
definite boundaries. They were scattered throughout, especially along
riverbanks and in plains, fed by rivers. Inter – relations and inter -
actions between settlements, both near and far off, developed
gradually and it gave rise to social, cultural, political, economic and
many other institutions
• Conflict between men and environment started when man began to
change the environment for better convenience and better comfort.
This conflict is a continuous process, and is continuing with all its
ramifications supported by science and technology.
• Man being aggressive in nature, did not easily adjust himself to
be part of a self-disciplined community. Personal and group
rivalries flared up within settlements. Survival of the fittest was
the order of the day. The winner assumed the role of a leader
and maintained discipline. When the leader gained more and
more power and strength, several settlements came under him.
He himself assumed titles of king or emperor. To protect himself
and his kingdom, he wanted an army and a safe place to live.
For this he established non-agricultural settlements, exclusively
for himself, his army and the people around him. Such
settlements were fortified and moats built all around, for
additional protection from attacking enemies.
• People from the villages, whose main occupation was
agriculture, began to migrate to such urban centers, to get better
employment and better wages. Further, the developments came
out of the forts and moats, to accommodate more people and
this gave rise to bigger settlements, what we call towns and
cities.
• Socio-economic and socio-cultural changes, as well as
developments in science and technology influenced the life
styles of the people and their quality of life. In the process, some
settlements, perished, may be by war, floods or drying up of
water sources and some other prospered becoming larger and
larger, like our present day giant cities which we call metropolis,
• The fundamental human needs, wherever one lives and whichever
natural environment one has, are food, clothing and shelter apart from air
& water. Shelter use to get the lowest priority from the very beginning of
man’s existence. Till the recent past, shelter, especially in small
settlements, was not a serious problem as the shelter requirements were
quite simple and limited. There was no difficulty in getting a piece of land,
either owned or rented.
• They constructed their own houses with mutual help, making use of
locally available materials and using their own houses with mutual help,
making use of locally available materials and using their own labour.
The harmful impact of intensive urbanization, consequent to the industrial
revolution, accelerated deterioration of the living environment. But in spite of
all the efforts to improve the living environment in human settlements, the
challenge of poverty, congestion and insanitation still remains in cities
throughout the world. Man had made unprecedented progress during the
current century in the fields of industry, Education, Health, Communication,
Transportation etc. as a result of spectacular achievements in science and
technology. But it is a paradox that the majority of the world’s population still
does not have a shelter providing minimum privacy, and protection against
the elements. The struggle for shelter still continues. A significant reason, for
this lag is the population explosion followed by urban explosion.
Like many cities in the United States, Australian cities have been subjected
to the "doughnut effect": the city centre becomes "hollow" as population
moves from inner suburbs to the outer suburbs in search of newer, larger or
more affordable houses.
Urban Decay and
renewal
Urban Decay
• The deterioration of the urban
environment. It occurs when
urban infrastructure falls into
disrepair and buildings are left
empty for long periods of time.
The demographic, technological, economic
and cultural factors making inner city
living popular again

Technological Factors
Major technological advances were required to break the
association between the inner city and manufacturing
and warehousing. These included:
• Changes in factory production technology
• The development of major urban freeway networks
• Cost reductions in short distance trucking operations
Factors
Demographic Factors
• Changes in family size affecting the need for room for the
family (families are getting smaller)
• Age that people are getting married and having children
has risen (average age of having children has increased
from 24 yrs of age to 32 yrs of age in the last 3-4
decades)
• Change from women staying at home rearing the
children to women joining the workforce and not being
at home
Economic Factors
Economic Factors
• Most manufacturing operations such as textiles,
footwear and clothing, required frequent contact with
local buyers and other firms, remained in the inner city
well into the 1960s
• Mid 1970s its impacts were felt most keenly in the
manufacturing sector. Industries such as footwear,
textiles and clothing were most affected. Many were
forced to close down, with the greatest impacts on inner-
city manufacturing land uses.
Cultural Factors
Cultural factors
• change from spending time in the home to spending
time elsewhere
• Domestic chores/duties are being outsourced.
- eating out more
- child care not done in home
- informal activities at home to formal
organised sports and cultural activities.
• Environmental concerns of living in larger houses.
Features of the inner city lifestyle
• Close to business/ shops
• Close to entertainment (opera,
concerts, theater, cinemas,
races)
• Restaurants (world class
restaurants and family style
restaurants)
• Sporting activities (Olympic
activities)
• Shopping
• Work location
Urban Decay and renewal
Sydney (Pyrmont/ultimo)
• 19 century terrace houses
• The farmers wool storehouse being
converted to offices and apartments
• Unit development in park land space
• Sydney and the NSW department of
planning and development are trying to
revitalise and old, superbly located part
of inner Sydney.
• Building heights vary from 4-12 storeys
high.
Examples in Wagga
Wagga
• Flour mill being knocked down and replaced by new
apartments which are located in a prime spot
• The Home base