TOWN PLANNING

MODULE 1
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Town planning –the arrangement of various components or units of

a town in such a way that the town as such attains the significance of
a living organism.
Knowledge of town planning helps in achieving the best possible
advantages of situation of town with respect to its land and the
surrounding environments.
The town planning is a science as well as art too.
The art lies in arranging the components of a town in such a way
that the result is in the form of a beautiful, convenient, economical
and efficient unit.
 THE OBJECTIVES OF TOWN
PLANNING
 To MAKE RIGHT USE OF THE LAND for the right purpose of zoning.
 To ensure. orderly development.
 To avoid encroachment of one zone over the other.
 To preserve the individuality of the town
 To preserve the AESTHETICS in the design of all the elements of a town or
a city plan.
 OBJECTS OF TOWN
PLANNING
A. BEAUTY
B. CONVENIENCE
C. ENVIRONMENT
D. HEALTH
 OBJECTS OF TOWN PLANNING:

A. BEAUTY
 The potential of the natural surroundings is exploited
and the architectural finishes are used to design
various components of the town.
 The trees, natural greenery are preserved.
 Architectural control is imposed on the public as well
as the semi-public buildings, ancient architectural
buildings, temples, churches, mosques, buildings of
cultural and historical significance etc.
 OBJECTS OF TOWN PLANNING:

B. CONVENIENCE
 It is important to take care that various economic, social and
recreational amenities are given to the public.
 These amenities include cheap power and electricity, proper
sites for industrial wastes, facilities to commercial units etc.
 Recreational spaces are very important to be designed and
appropriately located.
 Places of recreation include open spaces, parks, town halls,
playgrounds, cinema houses, community centers, stadiums
etc.
 OBJECTS OF TOWN PLANNING:
C. ENVIRONMENT
 Towns should be designed in such a
way that the environmental factors are
taken into consideration.
 People should be able to carry on with
their daily activities without much
effort.
 The problems evolved with the rise in
tiresome travel to work, long hours of
work, limited time spent within the
community etc.
 These mal-adjustments have tended
to destroy the vitality of urban living
and the town planning is mainly
concerned with bringing about a better
relation between man and his
environment
 OBJECTS OF TOWN PLANNING:

D.HEALTH
 Health of the citizens should never be compromised.
 This can be achieved by proper use of land by
dividing the land into zones such as residential,
commercial, industrial, recreational etc.
 Dividing the land into different zones prevents
encroachment of one zone upon other zone.
 Smooth and promotes orderly development of the
town in future
ELEMENTS OF TOWN PLANNING
:
Neighborhood Planning. Public Space
Great public spaces are the living room
of the city - the place where people
come together to enjoy the city and
each other. Public spaces make high
quality life in the city possible - they
form the stage and backdrop to the
drama of life.
 STREETS Transport
Streets are the connections between Transport systems connect the parts of cities
spaces and places, as well as being spaces and help shape them, and enable movement
themselves. They are defined by their throughout the city. They include road, rail,
physical dimension and character as well bicycle, and pedestrian networks, and together
as the size, scale, and character of the form the total movement system of a city.
buildings that line them.
•LANDSCAPE
•The landscape is the green part of the city that
weaves throughout - in the form of urban parks,
street trees, plants, flowers, and water in many
forms. The landscape helps define the character
and beauty of a city and creates soft, contrasting
spaces and elements.
PRINCIPLES OF TOWN PLANNING

 GREEN BELT
 HOUSING
 PUBLIC BUILDINGS
 RECREATION CENTERS
 ROAD SYSTEM
 TRANSPORT FACILITIES
 ZONING
 PRINCIPLES OF TOWN PLANNING
ZONING: the towns
are divided into
suitable zones such
as commercial zone,
industrial zone,
residential zone, and
certain rules and
regulations should be
implemented for
each zone.
GREEN-BELT:
Green belt is non-development zone on the
periphery of the town.
It prevents the haphazard sprawl of the town
restricting its size.
In essence, a green belt is an
Invisible line designating a
Border around a certain area,
Preventing development of the area and
allowing wildlife to return and be established.

Greenways and green wedges

Have a linear character and may
Run across the town and not
Around the town.
• HOUSING:
 Should be carefully designed to suit the local
population and care should be taken to make sure that
all the facilities are there inside the housing complex.
 Care should be taken to see that there is no
development of slums since it would be responsible
for degrading the life of the citizens.
 There are various types of housing styles.
 When a land use plan is made, zones for independent
housing, low rise, mid rise and high rise housings are
allocated.
4. Public buildings
Public buildings should be well grouped and distributed throughout the
town. Unnecessary concentration of public buildings should be avoided.
Factors such as parking facilities, road widths have to be taken into
consideration while allocating the space for public buildings.

5. Recreation centres
Recreation centers have to be given importance while designing a town.
They are necessary for the recreational activities of the general public.
They include parks for walking and cycling, amusement parks etc.
6. Road systems
Road network hierarchy is very important.
The efficiency of any town is measured by the layout of its roads.
A nicely designed road system puts a great impression in the minds
of people, especially the visitors to the town.
The provision of a faulty road system in the initial stages of town
formation proves to be too difficult and costly to repair or to re-
arrange in future.
7. Transport facilities
The town should be provided with suitable transport facilities so that
there is minimum loss of time from place of work to the place of
residence. Efficiency in transport facilities includes both public and
private networks.
Public transportation network includes access to buses, trains, trams
and metro. Efficiency in using the public transport will determine
the success of that town in terms of design.
 NECESSITY OF TOWN PLANNING
•Why is town planning important?
•Ans: to avoid evil situations within town.

•Evil situations are as follows:

1.Defective road system resulting in the formation of narrow streets and
lanes;
2.Development of slums and squatter settlements;
3.Heavy traffic congestion during the working hours of the day;
4.Inadequate open spaces for parks and playgrounds resulting in
unhealthy living conditions;
5.Lack of essential amenities like electricity, water supply and drainage;
6.Noisy atmosphere disturbing the peace of city dwellers;
7.Uncontrolled development of the town;
 ORIGINS OF TOWNS

Topographical features contributing to the origin of

towns:
i. Conditions favorable for industrial units,
ii. Hilly areas to achieve the objects of defense,
iii. Plain areas useful for business activities,
iv. River bank for domestic water, transport and fishing,
v. Sea or ocean fronts for fishing and transport.
 FUNCTIONAL ASPECTS
RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ORIGIN
OF TOWNS:

EDUCATION
HEALTH RESOURCE
POLITICAL
RELIGIOUS
SPECIFIC INDUSTRY
 GROWTH OF TOWNS
Growth of
town

According to According
origin to
Direction

Natural Planned Horizontal Vertica

Growth Growth l
Growth Growth

Concentric
Spread

Ribbon
development

Satellite
growth

Scattered
growth
 GROWTH ACCORDING TO
ORIGIN : NATURAL GROWTH
Natural growth –
characteristics:
 Developed as its own without
future planning
 Designed and developed as per
immediate comfort and convenience
 Provisions of public amenities are
in irregular way and not futuristic.
 A. CONCENTRIC SPREAD
 CONCENTRIC
SPREAD: Natural
tendency of people to
be as near as possible
to town hence town
CBD: Central business
develops in concentric
district
rings LIG: Low income group MIG:
 Many complicated Middle income group
problems such as HIG: High income group
 Traffic congestion
 Narrow streets
• Town grows radially
• Similar or functionally related
 Concentration of
activities will be at same
population
distance from center of town
A. CONCENTRIC SPREAD
B. RIBBON DEVELOPMENT
 Everyone like to build as near as
possible to main road
Buildings develop along the side of
the main road
 DISADVANTAGES OF RIBBON DEVELOPMENT

 Increase in cost of various More pedestrians on main road c a u s e s

utility services like water supply, traffic accidents/ traffic delays
power, telephone etc. Harms naturalness of country spoils
 Loose and scatter community – countryside, aesthetically faulty
lack of social life Measures to be taken:
 Costly and difficult future Land use zoning
improvement Regulation and control of traffic
 Houses face heavy traffic, noise, Removal of encroachments from road
dust side
 Interior portion left Planning road side amenities
undeveloped, wastage of land Expressway with complete controlled
access
 Traffic capacity and efficiency of
main road reduces
C. SATELLITE TOWN/ SATELLITE
GROWTH
Satellite growth:
Term Satellite is
Used to indicate a body
under the influence of a more
powerful body but
possessing its own identity
 FEATURES OF SATELLITE TOWN:
 Own local government
 It is town itself, but it depends to a certain extent upon parent city
 Well connected by local trains, buses etc
 Free to decide its economic, social and cultural activities
 Situated beyond green belt of parent city
 Its neither a village nor a suburb
 Mainly residential area with only local shops, schools for children
etc
 It need not have zoning regulations
 It can be even considered as part of market for goods and services
being produced in parent city
 Disadvantage:
 Necessity of the journey to work
 D. SCATTERED GROWTH

 Very irregular
 Traffic congestion
 Encroachment of industries on residential area
 Slums
 Lack of parks and playgrounds
 Complex problems become too difficult to be solved
in future.
 PLANNED GROWTH

 Growth is controlled by suitable rules & regulations

 Rational distribution of various blocks such as resi/
comm/ industrial
 Provision of various amenities like water supply,
drainage, parks etc is made to meet future
requirements
 Orderly growth avoids clashing of many activities of
normal town
GROWTH ACCORDING TO
DIRECTION
 E. Horizontal Growth
 F. Vertical Growth
 E. HORIZONTAL GROWTH

Town develops horizontally in all directions

It is possible where land is available in plenty at nominal cost
Advantages:
 Cost saving: buildings are generally 2/3 storeys
 High tech personnel not required
 Maximum possible use of natural light
 Restricted density of population
 Surrounding marginal space can be used to develop garden

Disadvantage:
 Requires more land, so can be uneconomical where land values are high
 Foundation cost per unit area will be more
 Absence of group living
HORIZONTAL GROWTH
 F. VERTICAL GROWTH
MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS
WHERE LAND IS LESS AND COSTLY

Disadvantages:
• Advantages:
 Use of common amenities,  Natural calamities, difficult to
sense of group living develops escape
 Foundation cost per unit area is  More population density
reasonable
 Higher level floor enjoys  Design of flats stereo-typed
natural sceneries such as river
view, sea view etc.  Have to tolerate evils of group
 Considerable saving in land living
 Economy in construction cost,  Failure of lift or water raising
repetition of typical floors pump will cause great
 Max use of modern inconvenience
construction techniques such  Wastage of floor space, as lifts,
as, fire proofing, sound supporting column etc. Have to
proofing, heat insulation. Air- be provided
conditioning, high speed lifts
VERTICAL GROWTH
• STAGES IN TOWN
DEVELOPMENT
 STAGES OF TOWN DEVELOPMENT ACCORDING TO
SIR PATRICK GEDDES
A town is classified into various categories
according to the different stages of
development.
Sir Patrick Geddes has given three such as
primary, secondary and tertiary.
The primary town is one which produces
human necessities such as agricultural village.
The secondary town is one which functions
as entry of exchange such as marketing town.
The tertiary town is one which provides
residential, educational and recreational facilities.
In reality, a town is a mixture of all the above
categories.
CLASSIFICATION BY HAROLD
MACLEAN LEWIS
According to, “harold maclean lewis the trends in urban growth can be
visualized through population estimates.
He classified the towns with relation to their population sizes.

According to his classification the town population begins from 2500 to

5000 persons. He further classified town in nine categories.
I) 2500 to 5000 persons may be termed as eopolis or infantile municipality
town
Ii) 5000 to 10000 persons may be termed as polis or juvenile town
Iii) 10000 to 25000 persons may be termed as mature trade/industrial town
Iv) 25000 to 50000 persons may be termed as metropolis or medium size
city
V) 50000 to 100000 persons may be termed as megalopolis intermediate
city
Vi) 100000 to 250000 persons may be termed as trade/industry/service
sector city
Vii) 250000 to 500000 persons may be termed as primate city
Viii) 500000 to 1000000 persons may be termed as tyranopolis or a
metropolitan city
Ix) 1000000 or more persons may be termed as senile city or mega city
 ACCORDING TO LEWIS MUMFORD,
The urban growth or town growth takes place in six stages with respect to their social order.
Each town may pass through these six stages, i.E. Eopolis, polis, metropolis, megalopolis,
tyranopolis and necropolis .
Eopolis: the Eopolis indicates the first stage of town as a village community whose
economic base is agriculture.
Polis: the Polis indicates and association of population with some mechanization and
specialization.
Metropolis: the Metropolis is a city or town which serves as a capital of a state or
region.
Megalopolis: the Megalopolis indicates the first stage of decline in town or city due to
mega problems & issues, or the reign of town or city shows the signs of decline and
deterioration.
Tyranopolis: the Tyranopolis is the town or city which shows drastic deteriorating
situation for example the trade depression or military powers may occur with different
war loads.
Necropolis: the Necropolis is the worst stage of town or city. For example the citizens
are shifting to other areas or hinter land or village due to war, disease or economic
break down. In that case the town may recover from it after a large internal of time.
 STAGES OF TOWN DEVELOPMENT ACCORDING TO GRIFFITH TAYLOR

• According to Mr. Griffith Taylor a town or city passes through

four stages, i.E. Infantile, Juvenile, Mature and Senile.
Infantile: this is the first stage of town in which a city is not yet divided in separate
zones. Or the city in which zoning regulations is not being prepared yet.

Juvenile: the Juvenile stage of town or city indicates that, shops are being
separated from the houses or residential area and there are some factories or an
industry has been established at a minimal level.

Mature: the Mature stage of town shows the divisions of residential zone,
commercial zone and industrial zone in the city. Or the land use and zoning
regulations in town shows the stage of mature city / town.

Senile: Finally the Senile stage of town indicates the physical decay in most of
the portions of the city. Or the physical, social & economic degradation is evident
in the built environment of town or city.
 SHAPES OF PLAN IN ACCORDANCE TO
ROAD NETWORKS.
Grid Iron-
Grid iron streets are
among the simplest to
design. Simply lay out a
series of streets at right
angles, forming either
square or rectangular
blocks. Often, but not
always, the blocks are all
the same size.

Le Corbusier’s Radiant
City
 Linear RADIAL GRID
• • Solution to the problem of radial planning.
plan-
The linear city was an urban plan for
an elongated urban formation. • Green wedges of agriculture field radiating
• The city would consist of a series of from the center.
functionally specialized parallel sectors. • Alternating with residential localities served
Generally, the city would run parallel to a by railway lines.
river and be built so that the dominant • Finger shaped plan
wind would blow from the residential areas • Power lines, telecom lines and mass rapid
to the industrial strip transit lines follow the bones, arteries, veins
and the nerves of the fingers.

NAVI MUMBAI City of

Palmanova