2. 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
3. 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
4. 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.
5. PRICIPLES OF TOWN PLANNING
1. Green Belt
2. Housing
3. Public Buildings
4. Recreation Centre’s
5. Road Systems
6. Transport Facilities
7. Zoning
6. SHAPES OF CITY/TOWN ACCORDING TO ROAD
PATTERN
1. Rectangular/Block Pattern (Grid Iron Pattern)
2. Radial Pattern
3. Organic City
7. 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.
8. 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.
GRID IRON PATTERN
9. • 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
10. 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.
RADIAL PATTERN
11. • Amoebic pattern.
• Roads placed wherever necessary.
• Lack of acute pointed angles.
• Parabolic in nature.
ORGANIC CITY LAYOUT
12. • 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
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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
17. 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.
A. 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
18. 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
19. • 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
20. • 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.)
TOWN PLANNING IN ANCIENT INDIA
21. • 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
DANDAKA TYPE TOWN PLAN
22. • 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
SWASTIKA TYPE TOWN PLAN
23. • 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
PADMAKA TYPE TOWN PLAN
24. • 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.
NANDYAVARTA TYPE TOWN PLAN
25. • 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
PRASTARA TYPE TOWN PLAN
26. • 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
CHATURMUKHA TYPE TOWN PLAN
27. • 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
KARMUKHA TYPE TOWN PLAN
28. • 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
SAVATOBHADRA TYPE TOWN PLAN
29. • 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- AYODHYA
30. • Patna of present time
• Was the capital of Mourya Empire.
• Lenth 15km, breadth 3km
TOWNS WOTH MENTIONING-
PATLIPUTRA
