TOWN PLANNING

A city should be built to give its inhabitants security

and happiness” – Aristotle

“A place where men had a common life for a noble

end” – Plato
Town planning:

The art and science of ordering the use of land and siting of
buildings and communication routes so as to secure the maximum
practicable degree of economy, convenience, and beauty.

An art of shaping and guiding the physical growth of the town creat
ing buildings and environments to meet the various needs such as
social, cultural, economic and recreational etc. and to
provide healthy conditions for both rich and poor to live, to work,
and to play or relax, thus bringing about the social and economic
well-being for the majority of mankind
What do planners do?

To help communities cope with this steady growth,

change, and renewal in ways that will maintain-and
improve-the community's quality of life.
PRICIPLES OF TOWN PLANNING

1. Green Belt
2. Housing
3. Public Buildings
4. Recreation Centre’s
5. Road Systems
6. Transport Facilities
7. Zoning
SHAPES OF CITY/TOWN ACCORDING TO ROAD
PATTERN
1. Rectangular/Block Pattern (Grid Iron Pattern)
2. Radial Pattern
3. Organic City
GRID IRON PATTERN

• Streets run at right angles to

each other, forming a grid
• Typical for cities built after
the industrial revolution –
emphasis on economic
activity.
• Facilitates the movement of
people and product
throughout the city.
GRID IRON PATTERN

ADVANTAGE
• Good for pedestrians because there are many different ways to travel from A to B.
• Grids are good for retail stores because they offer a lot of corner plot.
• Navigating a grid is fairly straightforward.

DISADVANTAGE
• Have a lot of intersections and therefore many potential conflicts points.
• Encourages people to use residential streets as shortcuts.
• Poor fit for cities with a lot of hills because they lead to unnecessarily steep streets.
• An inconsistent or incomplete grid can easily result in traffic chaos.
RADIAL PATTERN

• Based on star layout.

• Inner outer ring roads linked by radiating
roads.
• Core has the business area.
• Industrial area interspersed within the
residential.
RADIAL PATTERN

ADVANTAGE
• Less risky compared to a rectangular pattern.
• It reduces the level of congestion at a primary bottleneck location.
• If one radial road is blocked then another can be used as an alternative.

DISADVANTAGE
1.Providing good curve is quite challenging.
2.It affects the driving ability (mainly old drivers face this problem due to a decrease in vision).
3.It is necessary for the proper provision of the traffic signal, road markings and lighting to alert
the drivers.
ORGANIC CITY LAYOUT

• Amoebic pattern.
• Roads placed wherever necessary.
• Lack of acute pointed angles.
• Parabolic in nature.
 TOWN PLANNING IN ANCIENT INDIA

• Some of the principles and theories of town planning are contained in the literature of
ancient times such as Rig Veda, Atharva Veda, Yajur Veda, Puranas, Niti-shashtras, etc
• The nature and growth of towns and cities were governed by the site conditions.
• The town were generally situated on river banks, by the sea shore or by the side of a big
lake.
• It is written in Vishwakarmaprakash that ‘First lay out the towns and then plan out the
houses.
• In Mansara Shilpa-shastra some of the aspects of the aspects of town planning like study
of soil, climatic conditions, topography, etc. are mentioned.
 TOWN PLANNING IN ANCIENT INDIA

VEDIC CIVILIZATION (10000 – 3000B.C.)

• India is country which passes huge ancient knowledge in the form of Vedas. “Vedas” means
knowledge. They describes the study of basic meaning, type and form of our ancient knowledge and
wisdom. There are four Vedas in ancient wisdom.
• Rig-Veda- Termed as stuti of gods.
• Samavda- Describes about how to pronounce mantras.
• Yujurveda- It describes how to perform Yagya.
• Arthaveda- It describes art of living.. Vedas are further divided in various branches and Vastu Shastra
is one of them. It comes from Sthapatya Veda- where stapthya means to establish and veda means
knowledge therefore.
• “ Vastu can be defined as knowledge of establishment” Evolution
 TOWN PLANNING IN ANCIENT INDIA

Evolution THE CASTE SYSTEM

• There are lots of ancient texts related to different fields right from language, grammar, drama, play, poetry,
art and various branches of science, physics, chemistry, medical, engineering, vaastu, geology etc.
• Cosmic: Related with creation of universe, heavenly bodies, sun, moon, stars, constellation etc. It is also
termed as astronomy.
• Astrology - Effect of cosmic bodies on human
• Geology - It deals with character of soil.
• Geography - It deals with basic physical structures of earth like hills, rivers.
• Sociology - It deals with social aspects of society.
• Brahmins- Intellectual Administrator-
• Kshtriyas Businessman-
• Vaishyas Shudras-Servants
 TOWN PLANNING IN ANCIENT INDIA

VARIOUS FACTORS INVOLVED IN EVOLUTION OF VEDIC CIVILIZATION

A. Physiographic character
• Temperature was moderate, around Northern and southern part of Vindhyas.
• There was no earthquake and land was plain.
• Wild life was abundant in foothills.
• Cultivation was easy and no need for irrigation. Supply of snow-fed water.
• Land between Hindukush, Suleman Hills, the Himalayas and the seas to the south were secured.
• The Gangetic plains were probably a marshy land.
B. Power and Politics
• No need to defence against other communities or invasion.
• Hence, communities were small, little need for political or economic leadership
 TOWN PLANNING IN ANCIENT INDIA

VARIOUS FACTORS INVOLVED IN EVOLUTION OF VEDIC CIVILIZATION

A. Socio- Cultural Milieu
• Little or no social stratification. • There was no need for any division of labour for
production, defence administration and storages. • Agriculture gave surplus and spare
time to spend. So Art, Philosophy, Science, Ethics and religion developed. • Religious life
was influenced by saints and sages. • Philosophic thinking nurtured. • Science developed :
Astronomy, integers and zero was invented.
B. Economic • The economy was principally agriculture: security of life did not need to
develop storage of food grains. • No specific economic leadership.
C. Technology • No industries, no need of defence, hence no major construction • Little
need of heavy transport. • No need of utilities and services as the settlement were closer to
water bodies Culture
 TOWN PLANNING IN ANCIENT INDIA

VARIOUS FACTORS INVOLVED IN EVOLUTION OF VEDIC CIVILIZATION

A. POWER AND ADMINISTRATION ASPECTS
People around his area were more aggressive and had repeated invasions
Political leadership was the focal point.
Insecurity in life increased the importance of religion- belief and looking towards the divine for security.
B. SOCIAL ASPECTS
The invasion led to social stratification – conqueror and the defeated.
The defeated as captives and slaves were put into agricultural works and clustered around religious centers.
The conqueror were higher castes and not into agriculture
One leader – political cum storage in charge – at some central location – surrounded by higher caste people
engaged in defense in administration
Another leader – Religious leader – another central location-surrounded by priests and people of higher castes.
 TOWN PLANNING IN ANCIENT INDIA

VARIOUS FACTORS INVOLVED IN EVOLUTION OF VEDIC CIVILIZATION

A. ECONOMIC ASPECTS
Economy was principally agricultural
Agriculture is space extensive
Granary and storage was important – This space needed protection hence was located near the defense leader’s
area at the centre.
B TECHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS
Hardly any industrial activity
Impact of straight and parallel lines were derived by the terracing of agricultural land and the dams which was the
origin of the ziggurats.
Transportation was on foot . Inter settlement transportation was on water.
Level of water In the rivers change and hence special protection wall were needed.
The river and the spine of transportation divided the settlement into two parts..
 TOWN PLANNING IN ANCIENT INDIA

• Some of the principles and theories of town planning are contained in the literature of
ancient times such as Rig Veda, Atharva Veda, Yajur Veda, Puranas, Niti-shashtras, etc
• The nature and growth of towns and cities were governed by the site conditions.
• The town were generally situated on river banks, by the sea shore or by the side of a big
lake.
• It is written in Vishwakarmaprakash that ‘First lay out the towns and then plan out the
houses.
• In Mansara Shilpa-shastra some of the aspects of the aspects of town planning like study
of soil, climatic conditions, topography, etc. are mentioned.
 TOWN PLANNING IN ANCIENT INDIA

• In all the types of town plans, the main street i.e Rajmarg were oriented East-West.
• All the sub-lanes were kept North-South.
• One road was kept running around the town for the use of priest only and this road was
known as mangal vithi.
• The authentic description of ancient Indian cities and town can also be obtained from the
writings and records of great foreign travellers and historians (Magasthenese, Huen Tsang,
Fahein, etc.)
 DANDAKA TYPE TOWN PLAN

• It is usually a rectangular or square.

• Its streets are straight and cross each other at right angles.
• No. of streets vary from one to five running parallel to each
other.
• Streets at extremes have single row of houses and streets at
center are lined with double row of houses. •
• Town offices and panchayats are located in the eastern portion
of the town.
• This type of town is considered auspicious for Brahmins. It may
contain 12,24,50,108,or 300 Brahmin families
 SWASTIKA TYPE TOWN PLAN

• Swastika type of plan contemplates some diagonal streets

dividing the site into certain rectangular plots.
• The site need not be marked out into a square or rectangle and
it may be of any shape.
• A rampart wall surrounds the town, with a moat at its foot filled
with water.
• Two main streets cross each other at the center, running south
to north and west to east
 PADMAKA TYPE TOWN PLAN

• This type of plan was practiced for building of the

towns with fortress all round.
• The pattern of the plan resembles the petals of
lotus radiating outwards from the center.
• The city used to be practically an island
surrounded by water, having no scope for
expansion
 NANDYAVARTA TYPE TOWN PLAN

• This plan is commonly used for the construction

of towns and not for villages.
• It is generally adopted for the sites either circular
or square in shape, 3000 – 4000 HOUSES
• The streets run parallel to the central adjoining
streets with the temple of the presiding deity in
the center of the town.
• “Nandyavarta” is the name of a flower, the form
of which is followed in this layout.
 PRASTARA TYPE TOWN PLAN

• The characteristic feature of this plan is that

the site may be either square or rectangular
but not triangular or circular.
• The sites are set apart for the poor, the
middle class, the rich and the very rich, the
sizes of the sites increasing according to the
capacity of each to purchase or build upon.
• The main roads are much wider compared to
those of other patterns.
• The town may or may not be surrounded by a
fort
 CHATURMUKHA TYPE TOWN PLAN

• Chaturmukha type of plan is applicable to all

towns starting from the largest town to the
smallest village.
• The site may be either square or rectangular
having four faces.
• The town is laid out east to west lengthwise,
with four main streets.
• The temple of the presiding deity will be
always at the center
 KARMUKHA TYPE TOWN PLAN

• This plan is suitable for the place where the

site of the town is in the form of a bow or
semi-circular or parabolic and mostly applied
for towns located on the seashore or
riverbanks.
• The main streets of the town run from north
to south or east to west and the cross streets
run at right-angles to them, dividing the
whole area into blocks.
• The presiding deity, commonly a female
deity, is installed in the temple build in any
convenient place
 SAVATOBHADRA TYPE TOWN PLAN

• SARVATOBHADRA- Literally means bliss full for all.

• It is oblong or square and divided into interlineal chambers.
• In center temple dedicated to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva is located.
• No. of car streets varies form one to five with a boulevard going around
the village.
• Pavillions, Rest houses, colleges halls at several corners.
• Town is secured by a wall and a ditch with four large gates on the sides
and many gates at corners.
• Hamlets for vaisyas and shudras should be allotted towards the south.
• Drapers and weavers have their quarters in between west and the south
west.
• Blacksmits are to be quartered between varuna and vayu and further
opposite to them are fishermen and the butchers.
• Physicians are to assigned between Vayu and Soma.
• By the side of eastern wall temple of chamunda is erected.
• Huts of chandalas and outcastes in the further outer proximity.
• Tanks and reservoirs should be constructed either in south or in the
 TOWNS WOTH MENTIONING- AYODHYA

• Wide, symmetrically and planned streets.

• No chances for traffic congestion.
• Town contained many theatres and town hall and special apartments for ladies.
• It contained wide roads with drainage line on either side. Each house had an open
place and one or more bathrooms.
• It remained obscure for a long period and enjoyed the status of the capital of Oudh
in the 18th century.
• Saadat Khan was the last ruler of Oudh who had his capital at Ayodhya.
• After, the capital was shifted to Faizabad.
• At present, Ayodhya has no separate identity and is located at a distance of about
6.50km north-east of city of Faizabad.
TOWNS WOTH MENTIONING- PATLIPUTRA

• Patna of present time

• Was the capital of Mourya Empire.
• Lenth 15km, breadth 3km
TOWNS WOTH MENTIONING- TAKSHILA

• Wide,
INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

• Wide,