Neighborhood Planning in Chandigarh

10. Uluslararası Sinan Sempozyumu, 27 – 28 Nisan 2017
Trakya Üniversitesi, EDİRNE
10th
International Sinan Symposium, April 27 – 28th
2017
Trakya University, EDİRNE
Trakya University / Edirne 2017 Name Surname, Name Surname, aligned right
Neighborhood Planning in Capital City of Chandigarh- An Appraisal
Prof. Jit Kumar Gupta1
, Dr. Rashmi Ashtt2
1
Former Director, College of Architecture, IET Bhaddal, 344/40-A, Chandigarh, India
2
Principal, Hindu College of Architecture, Sonepat, Haryana, India
1
jit.kumar1944@gmail.com, 2
ashtt888@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Neighborhood as an idea, concept, option and strategy has been extensively used globally by Architects
and Urban Planners to plan and decentralize cities, create cities within cities, promote self-contained
communities and to make cities more humane, safe and socially interactive. Accordingly, large typologies
of neighborhood planning and designing with varying shapes, sizes and contents have emerged in the
urban context with Americans using superblock and French using Sector for the neighborhood planning.
Despite high degree of relevance, neighborhood planning has not been able to deliver the envisioned
objectives. Cities in the process have been socially and physically fragmented, leading to clear division
into different communities with little physical and social connectivity. Variance of planning and designing
norms followed at neighborhood and sub-neighborhood levels have promoted more dichotomy and
contradictions with varying quality of life. Differential population and infrastructures have divided the city
into high and low end neighborhoods. City fabric in large cases has emerged as distinct social map of
communities graded on the area/location basis with neighborhood planning emerging as instrument of
social segregation/division. Neighborhood has been used in the planning of capital city of Chandigarh
(India) with entire city fabric woven around Sector as the basic unit. In order to understand the
neighborhood planning in the context of Chandigarh, paper would aim at looking, critically and
objectively, entire context of sector planning with focus on basic philosophy and approach followed by
eminent Architect Le Corbusier and his team in all three phases of city development, bringing out the
issues, efficacy and efficiency of Neighborhood unit and its impact on growth and development of the
Chandigarh in the present context.
Keywords: Neighborhood, communities, urban planning, decentralization
1. INTRODUCTION
Neighborhood ,as a geographically localized community within large city, town, suburb having
considerable face-to-face interaction among members, has been promoted as a concept,
approach, strategy and option for ensuring safety of children and elders, walking to schools and
playgrounds in industrial cities of early nineteenth century in America. Clarence Perry
envisioned neighborhood as a model for residential development in metropolitan areas, to plan
safer cities and safer communities against the uncontrolled and unregulated vehicular traffic.
Neighborhood was designed to provide a framework for urban planners attempting to design
functional, self-contained and desirable neighborhoods in industrializing cities besides creating
new residential communities which satisfies social, administrative and service requirements for
satisfactory urban existence. However, over a period of time concept evolved to serve the
broader purpose of providing a distinct identity to communities besides offering designers a
framework for disseminating the city into smaller suburbs. Concept which had its origin in USA,
with variable degree and variable contours, over the years has been used extensively, both
locally and globally, by planners and architects to provide a framework and model for
developing residential communities and to promote healthy social and physical relationship
besides creating functional, self-contained and desirable units with appropriate quality of life.
The concept of the neighborhood unit has been used extensively and forms a notable aspect of
designs of the new town movement. However despite variations used in creating neighborhood
units, the basic concept and variety of institutional, social and physical design principles of
neighborhood planning enunciated by Perry remain universal. These principles provide specific
guidelines for the spatial distribution of residences, open spaces, community services, streets
and businesses involving well defined boundaries, safety from vehicular traffic, promoting
pedestrianisation, keeping vehicular traffic on fringe, providing assured level of open spaces,

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community facilities based on defined norms for a defined population with primary school as
the focus of community. William E. Drummond - a central architect in Frank Lloyd Wright’s
studio advocated neighborhood unit to be the organizing basis of the whole city; to be regarded
as a unit in the social and political structure of the city. Accordingly, the neighborhood unit, as
a model for residential environments containing community facilities, parks, local shopping and
housing, has revolutionized the basic approach to city planning promoting decentralization,
minimizing travel, rationalizing traffic and equitable distribution of community facilities and
amenities based on population . Concept has made urban planning more objective and
inclusive, promising assured quality of life to all residents of the city. The neighborhood unit, as
a comprehensive physical planning tool, has also helped in promoting community centric life,
away from the pollution, smoke and ugliness of industrial plants. However despite distinct
advantages neighborhood has also promoted fragmentation of cities promoting dichotomy and
contradictions in their planning, development and management. Looking at the variations in the
growth and development of cities one can visualize that neighborhood has also been used as a
planning tool to promote discrimination and differential quality of life for the various income
groups in the cities. This calls for looking at the concept both critically and objectively in order
to make it more rational.
2. PRINCIPLES GOVERNING NEIGHBOURHOOD
2.1 Human Scale
Looking at the entire context, Perry tried to put in place a clear agenda for defining and planning
of the neighbourhood unit. Considering the context of safety, he stressed the need of adopting
human scale based on walkability in order to fix the size of neighbourhood. Based on the
observations and data available, he concluded that a child could walk about one-quarter of a
mile and no more than one half mile within a time span of 10 minutes without being stressed.
This distance, he found sufficient for excluding the major arterial street in the planning. Making
school as the fulcrum of the community, the size of NH unit was placed at 160 acres. This area,
based on a density of ten units per acre, could easily house a population of 5000 to 9000,
sufficient to support the provision of a school and other amenities which could also be used by
the community for neighbourhood meetings and activities. Perry envisioned to make
neighbourhood, school centric based on the human scale with mobility leveraged by walking.
2.2 Exclusion
Perry critically considered the role and importance of mobility in the communities and came to
the conclusion that if the neighbourhood unit is to be made safe, healthy, free from the curse of
noise and pollution, then it will be essential to exclude vehicles from invading the community
area. Accordingly, he suggested the adoption of approach based on,’ Planning for people and
not for vehicles’, which called for excluding heavy and fast vehicular movement from the
neighbourhood unit. ’
2.3 Edges
Based on the principle of exclusion, the third principle enunciated for defining neighbourhood
was to place arterial streets along the perimeter so as to eliminate unwanted through-traffic from
the neighbourhood. In this way, major arterial roads became the definers of the neighbourhood
unit rather than its divider.
2.4 Mobility
Perry advocated the need for adopting a well-defined pattern of road network for the internal
mobility in order to make it safe. He focussed on the reduction of the number of vehicles moving
within the neighbourhood besides limiting their speed. To achieve this he suggested the
adoption of narrow and curvilinear street design for both safety and aesthetic purposes. Such
streets, by design, would discourage unwanted through traffic and enhance the safety of
pedestrians by rationalising their speed.
2.5 Shopping
For stopping and excluding non-local traffic, Perry proposed that local shopping area should be

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placed on the perimeter or to the main entrance of the neighbourhood. Locating shopping on
the fringe will not only stop the entry of vehicles but will also eliminate the need for providing
parking vehicles coming for shopping.
2.6 Open Spaces
Perry considered open spaces vital for promoting community living and to promote the
environment and ecology of the area. He also considered these spaces vital for promoting
social interaction between the residents and community. He suggested the open area should be
distributed within the community and the residential blocks for their optimisation. Keeping in
view the role and importance of these spaces, at least 10 percent of the neighbourhood area is
to be dedicated to parks and open space, creating places for play and community interaction
3. PLANNING CHANDIGARH
Chandigarh a city of crisis, was the product of partition of India in 1947, when state of Punjab
was left without a capital, with Lahore going to Pakistan. Search soon began to find a
permanent seat of capital with state government opting for a new city on a new site unfettered
by the traditions of the past. City was conceived to serve as a role model of planning and
architecture for the future new cities to come in the country. Capital city of Chandigarh was
established on a distinct terrain and a secure site encompassed by natural features defining its
edges on three sides with great Himalayas to the north, and two rivulets flowing approximately
7-8 km apart on western and eastern margins. With vacuum existing in the field of architecture
and planning at that time in the country, Albert Mayer, an American architect, was invited to
prepare a Master Plan for the city in 1949. He along with Matthew Nowicki prepared the master
plan and other details for the city. However, the death of Matthew Nowicki, responsible for
architectural control and supervisory work of the Plan, in an air crash in August 1950 forced
Mayer to express his inability to continue with the project. Le Corbusier, the world fame French
architect, along with three other architects was then invited to implement the plan and make
capital city a reality. Present city is the product of Master Plan and architectural details prepared
by the second team.
3.1 Mayer Plan
Figure 1. Albert Mayer plan for Chandigarh
The plan prepared by Mayer visualized a fan shaped layout, set between the two seasonal
streams which defined the location of four critical functions of the city. The Capitol Complex was
placed at the head, the Civic Centre in the middle, the University campus on the western edge,
and the Light Industrial area to the east, adjacent to the Kalka-Ambala railway line. The plan
was broadly based on principles involving use of neighbourhood or superblocks as the basic
planning unit in order to separate residential areas from rapid vehicular traffic, and facilitate the
accessibility to and efficiency of urban amenities and services; and use of the location and
topography of the site to determine the overall character of the city. The basic neighbourhood
planning unit was to be the superblock. Three such blocks, accommodating 3500 families, were
to be grouped together. The superblock covered an area of 500 x 1000 m, and was graded

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according to population density representing three income groups-low (75 persons/acre),
medium (50 persons/acre) and upper (25 persons/acre). The residential areas were placed at
the edge of the superblocks, while facilities and amenities (schools, parks, community centres
etc.) were located in the centre. Land was also reserved in the superblocks for undetermined
future needs. The house design included an inner courtyard, a characteristic feature of a
traditional Indian house. The road network was adapted to the terrain. A curvilinear network of
main roads was to surround the superblocks with separate interior roads planned for
pedestrians, cyclists and animal-drawn traffic. The plan provided for two large parks extending
east-west through the city. It also proposed a series of dams on Sukhna Choe to create a
permanent water basin around the Capitol Complex. Proposed plan, based on 'humane ideals',
was meant to create a peaceful city, not one where complications were to be counteracted by
complications.
Matthew Nowicki, entrusted with the preparation of the architectural design of the city, the
detailed plans for the Capitol Complex, civic centre and market area, and the supervision of the
construction work in Mayer's absence, suggested the following modifications in the Mayer’s
plan:
 a leaf-like basic plan, instead of the proposed fan shape, with the stem of leaf as the
commercial axis and a vein like system of arteries flowing from it:
 a continuous park system, and
 Design of the Capitol Complex with Indian elements.
3.2 Le Corbusier Plan
Figure 2. Le Corbusier’s plan for Chandigarh
Master Plan evolved by Le-Corbusier defined Chandigarh as a Horizontal city, on the pattern of
a garden city, considering the economy, socio-economic conditions and living habits of people
which ruled out vertical planning. City was planned for a population of 0.5 million to be realized
in two distinct stages of development. Stage-I (S1) from Sector 1 to 30, covering 3642 hectares
for housing150000 population was envisioned to be a low density development of 41.12
persons per hectare with high order of infrastructure and amenities. Land was to be allotted on
free hold basis. Stage-II (S2), from Sector 31 to 47 covering 2428 hectares for 350000
population, was designed to be a high density development of 144.15 persons per hectare (3.5
times of stage 1) with differential order of infrastructure and amenities. Land was to be allotted
on lease hold. Stage-III (S3) Re-densification of Stage-I (S1), was also proposed to
accommodate additional population of city, when it exceeds 0.5 million, without compromising
with the quality of life. Thus Master Plan envisioned a stratified density pattern for the capital
city in different statges of development. The Master Plan of the city, re-drawn by Le-Corbusier
in four hectic days of inspired activity in February 1951, was largely based on the Plan prepared
by Albert Mayer. It, however, changed the shape of the city from a leaf to a rectangle, reducing
its size in the process. The basic unit of planning was changed from a super-block to sector
keeping intact the neighbourhood concept i.e. city within a city,. The life of the future
inhabitants of the city was compartmentalized and put into air-tight containers of working, living,
care of body and spirit, known as sectors .The entire network of sectors was woven in an
efficient system of traffic and transportation governed by the rule of 7 Vs (later changed to
8Vs). . The industrial area was placed on the southeast of the city to eliminate any possibility of

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heavy traffic entering the city. A 500 feet wide green belt was provided to function as sink for
industrial fumes and noise. Educational area occupied the northwest side with work centers in
the Capitol Complex, City Centre, and Sub-city Centre and along the major axis. Corbusier
Master Plan focused on four major functions, which were fundamental to the harmonious
existence of a city, namely, living, work, recreation and circulation. Planned on a rectangular
gridiron pattern of roads, half a mile apart in the east-west direction and three-quarters of a mile
in the north-south direction, the Chandigarh plan promised basic amenities of life even to the
poorest of the poor to lead a dignified life. Safe from traffic , within easy reach of all needs of
material, mental and moral sustenance and growth, surrounded by nature in an intimate
community and yet part of a real city, was what the visionaries and planners dreamt for half a
million inhabitants, to be brought into the city in two phases of development. A distinct quality of
life was accordingly assured to a distinct class of people to be housed in the capital city.
3.3 Sector
Figure 3. Typical Sector Layout in Chandigarh
Sector, as a container of life, was defined by Le-Corbusier to be rectangular in shape, on the
analogy of neighbourhood unit to be self- contained and self-sufficient in day to day needs in
terms of local shopping, high/higher secondary school, hospital/health, bank, post office and
leisure. Considering the role and importance of Sector, planning of capital city of Chandigarh
was structured around 46 sectors out of which 41 were residential and 5 institutional/
commercial besides industrial Area. Size of the sector was based on the human scale with
dimensions fixed on a walking time of 10 minutes to access any area of the sector. Restricting
traffic in the sector was to be achieved through providing only four entries, one from each side.
Sector planning was made introvert with no door opening on to V2 and V3 fast traffic
roads. . The size and shape of the sector was so designed as to enhance the quality of life.
Each sector measured 800 meters by 1,200 meters, enclosed by roads allocated to fast
mechanized transport and sealed to direct access from the houses, catering to the daily needs
of its inhabitants, which was to vary from 5,000 to 25,000 and has a green strip oriented
longitudinally stretching centrally along the sector in the direction of the mountains. The green
strip was mandated to stay uninterrupted and accommodate schools, sports fields, walks and
recreational facilities for the sector Vehicular traffic is completely forbidden in the green strips,
where tranquility shall reign and the curse of noise shall not penetrate For linking with Greater
Himalayas, a continuous green belt stretching North-East to South-West provided in the centre
of Sector. Green belt was to house Education, Cultural, Religious and Community Buildings.
Most of the houses grouped around a central open space. All houses have setback (open area)
in front and rear. Though plans of different Sectors not identical, but they followed the same
planning principles. Each Sector has a central green bisected by shopping street (V4). A loop
road was to distribute the traffic in the interior (V5) intersecting the shopping street. Individual
houses derive approach from V6 branching out of the loop road. Grouping of houses and
density pattern derived on the basis of income. High income Sectors have low density and a
pattern of detached houses. For achieving higher densities, low income groups are provided
with terrace housing on smaller plots. Sectors 7 & 8 are exception, planned on the Mayer’s
concept of Super Blocks. Centre of focus of Sector was envisioned to be V4 shopping street, a
curved road to slow down traffic with shops on one side (South-West) and a verandah to
provide shade to shoppers and to eliminate crossing of streets. Market were linked with

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adjoining Sectors, forming a continuous ribbon. Variety of shops provided ranged from smaller
booths to larger Shop-Cum-.Flats. Larger shops designed as three storeyed buildings with
shops on the ground floor and residence for owners on upper floors, as per the preference of
the shop owners. Continuous verandahs running in front of shops was to protect shoppers not
only from rain and sun but also to provide a shaded walkway. Safe from traffic and in close
proximity to the nature, sector constitutes an attempt to create city within a city which provides
for all the basic day to day material and social needs of the citizens in easy reach of the home,
but at the same time linked to the larger scale of the city in terms of transport and services as
well as architectural meaning. Sector 22 was the first sector to be planned in the city by Jane B
Drew, which has been followed in the planning of subsequent sectors with minor variations in
planning for housing clusters but without changing the basic principles.
Figure 4. Layout of Sector 22, Chandigarh
4. ISSUES & OPTIONS
With history spanning over six decades, Chandigarh planned and designed as the capital city of
state of Punjab, has given a new theme, direction and meaning to the art and science of
Architecture, Town Planning and Landscaping in the Indian sub-continent. Chandigarh also has
the distinction of achieving the mile-stones of achieving its projected and targeted population of
5 lakh and creating awareness about the importance of planned growth and to prove good
urbanism makes good money. These mile-stones have been achieved despite tremendous
population and developmental pressures which the city was able to cope effectively and
efficiently in the face of unforeseen developments emerging out of changes in geo-political
situation of the region in 1966. The city in the recent past has started showing signs of
enormous stress due to ever increasing population pressure, rapidly transforming urban form,
fast changing class-structure and ever increasing unplanned and unforeseen physical and
economical activities. There is an urgent need of quantifying these stresses and suggesting
appropriate strategies to minimize them. The major impact in this growth and development has
been visualised at the neighbourhood level.
4.1 Population & Density
Despite following the framework of neighbourhood enunciated by the Perry, Chandigarh sectors
represent a differential pattern of population and density varying within different phases of
development and different sectors. Few sectors have very high population and density whereas
few have very low population and density. As against average planned density of 16 persons
per acre for the Stage-I (Sectors 1-30), as per 2001 census, it has already achieved density of
26 persons per acre. Existing residential density varies between 0.3 persons per acre for sector
6 and 82 persons for sector 20. As against proposed population for each sector 5000- 25,000,
population ranges between 35 persons for sector 6 and 22,138 for sector 20. Similarly in the
Stage –II development ( Sectors 31-47), the variation in density ranges from 16 persons/acre
in case of Sector 36 to 155 persons in Sector 45 as against average density of 60 persons per
acre.. Large population variations have also been observed ranging from 4254 to 41077 in
these sectors, this is despite the fact these sectors still have to be fully developed. Master Plan
prepared by Chandigarh administration, has placed the planned density for Sector 41 at 236

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persons per acre with a population of 46049 when fully developed. Population of these sectors
have already gone up with more population getting concentrated in Chandigarh, which achieved
the distinction of becoming one of the 53 metropolitan centre with population of Union Territory
placed as 10,54,686 as per 2011 census. These variations are the outcome of strategy adopted
for planning of sector level neighbourhoods emerging out of carving larger and smaller plots
.This pattern of development have stratified the neighbourhood into high end and low end
communities. Thus the individual status in capital city of Chandigarh is now largely determined
by the sector numbers. City looks clearly stratified and divided in Northern and Southern cities,
with distinct variations in quality of life, basic services, amenities etc. With large population
getting concentrated in Southern part, these sectors represent high degree of congestion and
chaos.
4.2 Housing
Image 1. One of the Government Housings in Sector 22, Chandigarh
Since Chandigarh was to be an administrative city, constructing housing for government
personnel was put on priority. Thirteen categories of houses, according to the income of
government employees, were proposed. The three lowest types of government housing were
subsidized to maintain the minimum standards of amenities of two rooms, space for a kitchen,
bathroom and a rear open space. The factors of economy, available technology and local
climate governed the construction and design of each category of house. Lower categories of
housing were planned as terraced housing with small frontages, shared walls and common
circulation areas, whereas higher category housing were planned as detached and semi-
detached housing with large plot areas. The lower category housing was also spatially planned
at different location within the sector with prime position going to higher category housing. Few
Sectors were exclusively marked for higher categories of government employees. This led to
branding of Chandigarh neighbourhoods based on the housing typologies and the sectors.
Similarly private housing in the city was stratified into Marla housing (smaller plot area) and
Kanal housing (larger plot area) distinguishing the society on the basis of the typology of plots.
Further the developmental controls put in place were more stringent for lower category private
housing (Frame Control) as against more relaxed controls of development for larger plots
(Zoning controls). In addition larger open spaces were made available for the higher category
housing as compared to smaller housing. The fact was much more pronounced in case of lower
category housing created by the Chandigarh Housing Board, a parastatal agency created to
provide affordable housing to the lower portion of economic pyramid involving economically
weaker sections of society.
4.3 Traffic
Neighbourhood concept had its genesis in the safety of the residents from the hazards of the
mechanical traffic. Accordingly, all neighbourhood concepts provided for segregation of fast
moving and mechanical traffic from the pedestrian traffic to make the community safe. However,
in case of Chandigarh, entire planning of sectors revolve around V4 to V6 which distributes the
traffic to the individual household. This pattern has led to high degree of vehicular penetration
within the residential areas, making community highly unsafe. V4, which is the shopping street
and major activity zone of the sector, attracts large volume of both inter and intra sector
vehicular traffic, leading to not only traffic congestion but also number of accidents. These roads
have assumed the role and function of major arteries of the city attracting large volume of
vehicular traffic in the sectors. In addition, lack of adequate parking in the shopping area at the
sector level has also led to spilling of vehicles on the roads. Shopping streets of few sectors,
particular that of sector 15, 19, 20, 22, 40, 45 have assumed city level importance attracting

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large vehicles and population across the city. In the absence of shopping facilities at the sub-
sector level, residents are required to visit the shopping area provided at V4, creating all the
more traffic problems. Absence of pedestrian pathways has further increased the vulnerability of
people at the sector level. Increased level of traffic also adversely impact the environment and
ecology at the sector level, which goes contrary to the principles enunciated for planning the
neighbourhoods.
4.4 Size
Size of neighbourhood has great bearing on the planning of a safe communities. Large sized
neighbourhoods have obvious limitations in planning for such communities. In case of
Chandigarh size of sector has been placed at 262 Acres as against 160 Acres stipulated by the
Perry. Larger size of sector has led to larger distance to be travelled by the community leading
to use of mechanical options for travel. Further, adoption of higher density norms in planning of
majority of the sectors has led to induction of more people, asking for more and higher level of
amenities and services to make them self-contained and self-sufficient. This has led to making
provision of number of high schools in sectors as against primary school suggested in the
neighbourhood concept. This has led to induction of large student population and vehicles
within the sector, creating multiple problems of safety and community functioning. Certain
sectors have been provided with the higher level of healthcare and educational facilities, making
the situation all the more worst. Had the size and density been rationalised, sector would have
promoted a better and safer community living.
4.5 Shopping
Positioning of the commercial areas right at the centre of the sector has led to numerous
problems of traffic and transportation and safety. Perry proposed positioning of the shopping
area at one of the corner of the NH unit in order to keep the vehicular and outside traffic from
entering the NH unit. Corbusier planning the sector is contrary to the basic principles of planning
and positioning of commercial areas. Further, commercial area in the sector has been provided
on one side of the sector leading to large number of sector crossing the vehicular street. This
has made sector highly unsafe for the residents living on other side of the shopping. Rather
than locating shopping on one side and in the centre of sector, it would be desirable to provide
convenient shopping at the sub-sector level to make the community safe.
5. CONCLUSION AND EVALUATION
Looking, critically and objectively, at the entire context of neighbourhood planning in the context
of Chandigarh, it can be safely said that pattern of planning of sectors adopted has led to high
degree of stratification of population and communities, with city emerging as the mosaic of total
divide between north and south. City misses the larger goal of creating self- contained and self-
sufficient communities, safe from traffic within easy reach of all needs of material, mental and
moral sustenance and growth, surrounded by nature in an intimate community and yet part of a
real city. Communities appear to be in crisis- crisis of traffic, crisis of existence and crisis of
identity. Detailed and in-depth study of sector in Chandigarh as NH unit can help in
understanding the physical, social, economical and environmental implications besides efficacy
and efficiency of NH planning as a tool of urban planning.
.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
*Census of India, 2011
*Chandigarh Administration; Chandigarh Master Plan- 2031, Department of Urban Planning, 2015
*Corbusier Le; Edict of Chandigarh
*Perry Clarence; Neighbourhood unit, illustrating the spatiality of the core principles of the concept, New York
Regional Survey, Vol 7. 1929
* Perry Clarence; The Neighbourhood Unit, a Scheme for Arrangement for the Family-Life Community, 1929
* Kant Surya; Chandigarh - Rise of a Phoenix from the Trauma of Freedom, Million Cities of India, 2015
(unpublished paper)

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