JAIPUR, FIGURE-GROUND OF CITY SECTORS AND BLOCKS

Vastu Shilpa Foundation

Jaipur is considered by many urbanisms to be one of the best planned cities in India. The city was established in 1729
by Maharaja Jai Singh as the new capital of Kachwaha dynasty. In the 19th century the city grew rapidly and became
prosperous. By 1900 it had a population of 1,60,000. The city’s wide boulevards were paved and lit with gas. Jaipur
was painted pink by Maharaja Man Singh when Prince of Wales, later Edward vii, visited Jaipur in the royal heritage
of Jaipur lives in its architecture and culture.

A city sector, figure-ground with religious and public Jaipur, figure-ground of city sectors and blocks.
buildings marked in black.

Raja Jai Singh planned the city keeping in mind Vastu

Shastra. City was divided into 9 squares. Occurrence of
a hillside changed. The placement of one of the
squares. The central square comprise of the palace.

Residential neighbourhood planning concept was

mohalla which act as module for urban growth. Safe,
secure, living environment is created where individuals
have their own horizon to flourish and grow.

REGULATIONS AND GUIDELINES:

Only main roads and major public spaces are

controlled. Interior of sector offers enough
flexibility to individual with freedom to express with
moderate control. There are larger buildings on the
periphery and smaller ones in the interiors.
Structures always built in proportion to the roads
widths.

JAIPUR, FIGURE GROUND STUDY | BHAKTI GANATRA | 29B | SEM 9 | 25.07.20

ROAD NETWORK:

Gridiron system is used for road network for procession paths,

which is relevant today for vehicular traffic. Further in present
system of hierarchy of roads problems related to traffic are
minimum. Iternal road network have hierarchy in terms of access
and privacy, hence at the same time safe neighborhood is created.
All the streets have certain character that creates every street
identifiable.

BUILT FORM AND PLOT:

Jaipur is an example of dictatorial planning and design. Plots are always kept in proportion with respect to hierarchy
of roads. It has achieved a regular size and shape of plot followed by uniform built form, hence plot size and shape,
location gives coherence. Subdivision of subplots with control on size and shape is required. The structure of city is
dense yet porous in nature. Compact built form with plot edge- to-edge construction with courtyard is logical in hot
climate.

PATTERN, PLACEMENT AND JUXTAPOSITION OF ROADS, AMENITIES AND OR OPEN SPACE:

“Pattern” is formed when all the sectors come together.

Further there is coherence between different sectors having
enough variety. There are binding elements like road pattern,
road hierarchy, built form and open space system. These
strong elements create a whole. Open spaces are distributed,
located, allocated as per,

 Hierarchy
 User group
 Serving area
 Sense of enclosure

Components of a larger system started getting segregated in their function, use and hence derived individual
closed system leading to fragmentation.

CONCLUSION:
The foundation of the new capital city of Jaipur could be justified by two plausible factors - the political
dominance which the State of Amber had already acquired in erstwhile Rajputana under the patronage of the
Mughal rulers, and the need for an environment that would be suitable as the new capital of the State.
Nomenclature of the localities in the city suggests that Jai Singh and his architects used names prevalent in the
contemporary Rajasthan and Shahjahanabad. The names of Chowks or the squares are indicative of the Mughal
planning system inspired from the palatial structures of Shahjahanabad.

JAIPUR, FIGURE GROUND STUDY | BHAKTI GANATRA | 29B | SEM 9 | 25.07.20