A town is defined as a settlement with over 5,000 people and specific socio-economic characteristics, while town planning aims to create healthy, convenient, and beautiful living environments. It involves zoning and the arrangement of various land uses to ensure infrastructure and amenities support urban living. Development plans are necessary for organized town growth and typically include detailed layouts of zones, roads, and amenities to guide future development.

1. Rohan Dasgupta
Town Planning

2. What is a town?
A town is a human-settlement with a name, defined boundaries, and local government, that is larger than a
village and generally smaller than a city.
According to 2011 Census of India,
Towns are defined as places that satisfy the following 3 criteria:
1. Minimum population of 5,000
2. At least 75% of male working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits
3. Density of population at least 400/km2. (1,000 per sq. mile).
Rohan Dasgupta

3. Photo Courtesy: Press Trust of India (PTI)
IS
THIS
A
PLANNED
TOWN?
Rohan Dasgupta

4. Photo Courtesy: nazgoz.com
IS
THIS
A
PLANNED
TOWN?
Rohan Dasgupta

5. Rohan Dasgupta
Reference:

6. Rohan Dasgupta
What is town planning?
- Town planning is the arrangement of various units or components of a town in such a way that:
1. it is healthy for its inhabitant to live in,
2. convenient for them to move about,
3. beautiful for people to look at and
4. its environment helps in striking a balance between one’s personal and professional lives.
- It also includes ways and means to be adopted for the improvement of the existing towns or their extension.
- The knowledge of town planning helps in achieving the best possible advantage of the situation of town with
respect to its land and the surrounding environment.

7. Rohan Dasgupta
What is town planning?
- Town planning is science as well as art.
- The science consists of collecting, correlating and
analyzing the facts about a town.
- The art is in arranging its units in such a way that the
final result is in the form of a beautiful, convenient,
economic and efficient town.
- The success of town planning lies in converting the town
from an inert and lifeless place to a complex area that
thrives with lives.
Photo Courtesy: blogs.worldbank.org

8. Rohan Dasgupta
Objectives of Town Planning
1. Convenience
2. Health
3. Beauty
4. Environment
Photo Courtesy: Pintrest

9. Rohan Dasgupta
Objectives of Town Planning: 1. Convenience
- Convenience can be achieved by providing various socio-economic and recreational amenities for the public.
- Socio-economic amenities:
• Road systems & transportation facilities
• Water & Electricity supply
• Waste management etc.
- Recreational amenities:
• Play grounds & park
• Cinema halls & theaters
• Stadiums etc.
Photo Courtesy: The Asian Age
Photo Courtesy: Metro Rail News Online

10. Rohan Dasgupta
Objectives of Town Planning: 2. Health
- Health is accommodated in a town planning scheme by:
• making right use of land for the right purpose,
• dividing the land into zones such as residential, commercial etc.
• avoiding the encroachment of one zone upon the other,
• smooth and orderly development of the town in future
• providing parks and playgrounds for the public,
• maintaining the pollutions of various forms to the lowest degree
possible
Photo Courtesy: tricitylive.in

11. Rohan Dasgupta
Objectives of Town Planning: 3. Beauty
- Beauty is achieved by:
• taking the most possible advantages of the natural
conditions surrounding the town,
• preservation of trees & natural greenery,
• giving architectural finishes to the various
components of the town,
• architectural control on public as well as semi-
public buildings
Photo Courtesy: NDTV

12. Rohan Dasgupta
Objectives of Town Planning: 4. Environment
The built environment of a town should be moulded in such a way
that people can get about their normal activities with the least
amount of strain.
The complex problems of modern society such as tiresome travel to
work, long hours at work, limited time spent with the community etc.
have gradually led towards serious mal-adjustment between the
human being and the type of life he had to live.
These maladjustments 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.
Photo Courtesy: GEHL Architects

13. Rohan Dasgupta
Principles of Town Planning
• Zoning
• Residential Buildings
• Public Buildings
• Recreational Centres
• Green Belt
• Road Systems
• Transportation Facilities
Photo Courtesy: tnb-west.com

14. Rohan Dasgupta
ZONING
• Zoning is (i) the allocation of land for specific purposes and (ii) the control of the use, height and construction of the
building.
• There are three types of zoning:
a) Density zoning
b) Height Zoning
c) Use Zoning

15. Rohan Dasgupta
a) DENISTY ZONING
• The population density in residential areas is controlled
by means of suitable rules and regulation.
• It is quite evident that it is not practical to restrict the
number of person from occupying any residential units.
• Hence, certain indirect measures are adopted; like
specifying the front, side and rear margins of the
building from the boundaries, specifying the FSI etc.
• This helps in the planning and providing of adequate
facilities and amenities for a town.

16. Rohan Dasgupta
b) Height Zoning
• The height zoning aims at controlling the heights of
buildings with due consideration of the following two
factors: (i) bulk or cubical contents of the building and
(ii) street width and other adjacent marginal open
spaces from the point of view of provision for light and
ventilation.
• The restriction of height of a building depends on the
nature of building, type of zone and climatic conditions.
• Special restrictions for height is applied if the locality is
nearby an airport site.
Photo Courtesy: The Mercury News

17. Rohan Dasgupta
c) Use Zoning
• According to us, the zones are usually categorized into the following four types:
i. residential zone (40 – 50% of the total area of the town),
ii. commercial zone (2 – 5%),
iii. industrial zone (2 – 25%) and
iv. recreational zone (remaining area).
• The residential area needs to be near markets, parks and playgrounds but need to be free of nuisance, noise and
smoke.
• Commercial areas need to be near the centres of traffic and should preferably be near the roads.
• Light industries or factories running on electric power and causing no nuisance to nearby areas may be allowed next to
• residential zones; on the other hand, the ones releasing obnoxious gases and fumes should be placed on the outskirts
of the town.
• Recreational zone includes mainly parks, playgrounds, cinemas, clubs etc and they may be scattered throughout the
plan of the town based on demand.

18. Rohan Dasgupta
Green Belt
Photo Courtesy: The Guardian

19. Rohan Dasgupta
Green Belt
Green belt is an open strip of land provided on the periphery (or boundary) of a town.
Construction of buildings in the green belt is strictly prohibited; although permission for building construction in the
green belt may be permitted under special circumstances.
It serves the following purposes:
(i) It defines the size of the town and in this respect it assists in suitably designing the various public amenities for the city
or town.
(ii) It prevents the spreading of town.
(iii) It helps in preventing the slum formation.
(iv) It can to be used for agricultural purposes, thereby providing the food and vegetables required for the town.
(v) It can be developed as poultry farm or nursery.
(vi) It can be developed as parks, playgrounds, picnic spots and recreational centers.

20. Road Systems: 1. Rectangular Road System
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Photo Courtesy: Google Earth

21. Road Systems: 2. Rectangular with Superimposed Diagonal Road System
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Photo Courtesy: Google Earth

22. Road Systems: 3. Radial Road System
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Photo Courtesy: Google Earth

23. Road Systems: 4. Concentric Road System
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24. Road Systems: 5. Irregular Medieval Road System
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Photo Courtesy: Google Earth

25. Road Systems: 6. Topographical Road System
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Photo Courtesy: Google Earth

26. Rohan Dasgupta
Master Plan or Development Plan
A development plan or a master plan or a town plan may be defined as a general plan for the layout of a city showing
both existing and proposed roads, residential zones, commercial zones, industrial zones etc.
A development plan is required either for the improvement of an old city or a new town to be developed from virgin soil.
Thus, a development plan is an ideal plan showing the full development of a town at some future date.
It aims at controlling the future growth of a town along preconceived and predetermined path.
It helps in restricting the haphazard and unplanned growth.

28. Rohan Dasgupta
Master Plan or Development Plan
The development plan is proposed in the form of the following drawings:
i) boundaries of lands of different types such as residential, agricultural, industrial etc.
ii) boundary of green belt surrounding the town
iii) contours of the whole city
iv) different zones
v) landscape features
vi) locations of the public buildings and town centers
vii) open spaces including parks and playgrounds
viii) positions of natural springs, rivers and streams
ix) positions of the public utility services such as water supply station, sewage disposal plant, power plant etc.
x) road systems etc.

29. Rohan Dasgupta
Master Plan or Development Plan
Development plan is necessary for:
i) the control of development of various industries in a systematic way
ii) discouraging the growth of town in an unplanned and unscientific way
iii) giving a perspective picture of a fully developed town
iv) limiting to a certain extent the unprecedented flow of rural population to the urban area
v) offsetting the disadvantages due to overcrowding of population such as traffic congestion, insufficiency in public
amenities etc.

30. Rohan Dasgupta
Slum
A slum is usually a highly populated urban residential area consisting mostly of closely packed, decrepit housing units in a
situation of deteriorated or incomplete infrastructure.
Slum residences vary from shanty houses to professionally built dwellings which, because of poor-quality construction
and/or lack of basic maintenance, have deteriorated.
While slums differ in size and other characteristics, most lack reliable sanitation services, supply of clean water, reliable
electricity, law enforcement, and other basic services.
Photo Courtesies: Wikipedia

31. Rohan Dasgupta
Slum: Problems
Vulnerability to Natural and Man-Made Hazards
Unemployment and Informal Economy
Violence
Infectious Diseases and Epidemics
Child Malnutrition
Other Non-Communicable Diseases
Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia

32. Rohan Dasgupta
Slum Rehabilitation: 1. Slum Upgrading
Upgrading the slum with basic infrastructure such as sanitation, safe drinking water, safe electricity distribution, paved
roads, rain water drainage system, and bus/metro stops.
The assumption behind this approach is that if slums are given basic services and tenure security – that is, the slum will
not be destroyed and slum residents will not be evicted, then the residents will rebuild their own housing, engage their
slum community to live better, and over time attract investment from government organizations and businesses.
In Mexico City for example, the government attempted to upgrade and urbanize settled slums in the periphery during the
1970s and 1980s by including basic amenities such as concrete roads, parks, illumination and sewage.
Photo Courtesy: blogs.comillas.edu

33. Rohan Dasgupta
Slum Rehabilitation: 2. Slum Removal & Redevelopment
The slum dwellers are first shifted to temporary housing;
often the builder pays for the rent.
The existing slum is demolished by the builder.
Builder builds many multi-storied buildings on the land.
Slum dwellers are offered apartment flats in those
buildings; often larger in size than their previous slum
dwelling in exchange of the land.
The builder sells rest of the apartment flats to other buyers
in order to make up for construction cost and profit.
Thus a win-win situation is created where the slum
dwellers, the builder as well as the government can
mutually benefit.

34. Thank you!
- Rohan Dasgupta