CHAPTER 1

REGIONAL PLAN

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GENERAL

The term town planning is used to indicate 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. It also includes ways and means to be adopted for the improvement
of the existing towns or for the extension of towns. Thus, the knowledge of town
planning helps in achieving the best possible advantages of the situation of town
with respect to its land and the surrounding environments. In a sense, it will be
quite proper to say that God made the country and manmade the town.

The town planning demands active imagination and sharp common sense of the
understanding of various needs of the society occupying or likely to occupy the
town. A town planner has to prepare the layout plans or to carry out the researches
in such a way that the final results are appreciated by all the sectors of public.
The success of a town planner lies in converting the town from an inert and
lifeless object to a complex organic body that pulses with Life. A well-planned
town carries out its activities in a normal way like a living organism. The urban
growth or development is the man's most civilized creation. The town planning is a
science as well as an art too. The science consists in collecting, correlating and
analysing the facts about a town. The art lies in arranging the components of a
town in such a way that the final result is in the form of a beautiful, convenient,
economical and efficient unit. Thus, science and art-must not and cannot sit apart
when a new town is being designed or when an existing town is being remodelled. The
science and art must join their hands and work as co-partners in the difficult task
of bringing out a well-arranged town. a

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The town planning, however, is not an exact science and precise forecasts of future
possibilities are not attainable. But the gap between guesswork and prediction can
be brought down to a minimum by the co-operation of various agencies involved in
the use and development of land.

The difference between town planning and architecture should be noted. The town
planning expresses the life of an era. The architecture reveals its spirit. In this
chapter, the general topics related with the subject will be described.

OBJECTS OF TOWN PLANNING

The four essential objects or ideals of any town planning scheme are: (1) Object of
beauty (2) Object of convenience (3) Object of environment (4) Object of health.

(1) Object of beauty: The object of beauty is achieved by taking the most possible
advantages of the natural conditions surrounding the town and also by giving
architectural finishes to the various components of the town. It also includes the
preservation of trees, natural greenery, architectural control on public as well as
semi-public buildings, ancient architectural buildings, temples, churches, mosques,
buildings of cultural and historical significance, etc.
(2) Object of convenience: The object of convenience is understood in the form of
various economic, social and recreational amenities to be given to the public.
These amenities include cheap power and electricity, proper sites for industrial
units, transport facilities, adequate water supply, easy disposal of sewage and
industrial wastes, facilities to commercial units, etc. The recreational amenities
include spaces, parks, town halls, playgrounds, cinema houses, community centres,
stadiums, etc.

(3) Object of environment: The object of environment is important in the sense that
environment should be moulded in such a way that man can go about his normal
activities with the least amount of strain. The complex problems of the modern
society such as tiresome travel to work, long hours of work, limited time spent
within the community, etc. have gradually led towards serious mal-adjustments
between the human being and the type of life he had to live. 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.

(4) Object of health: The object of health is accommodated in a town planning

scheme by making right use of land for right purpose, by providing parks and
playgrounds for the public, by maintaining the pollution of various forms to the
lowest possible degree, etc. li

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in eeueved by dividing the land into zones such as residential, commercial, etc.
and by avoiding the encroachment of one zone upon the smooth and orderly
development of the town in fulure

It is, however, necessary for the town planner to maintain a proper balance between
the four objecu mentioned above and not lo give emphasis on any one of them at a
disadvantage of the others)

PRINCIPLES OF TOWN PLANNING

The subject of town planning demands knowledge of various professions, especially

those of engineering, architecture and surveying. The town should not be designed
only to satisfy the needs of the future generation. But the probable growth and
development of the town should be suitably conceived by the town planner and it
should be seen that the town does not develop in any haphazard fashion. Some of the
guiding principles of town planning are as follows:

(1) Green belt

(2) Housing

(3) Public buildings

(4) Recreation centres

(5) Road systems

(6) Transport facilities

(7) Zoning.

Each of the above principle of town planning will now be briefly (1) Green belt:
The provision of a green belt on the periphery of town results in the limitation of
its size and hence, the final size of the town can well be anticipated. (2)
Housing: Extreme care should be taken to provide housing accommodation to various
categories of people. It should be observed that there is no development of slums
and further, if slums are existing, they are cleared by the provision of some
alternative arrangement.

described.

(3) Public buildings: There should be a well-balanced grouping and distribution of

various public buildings throughout the town. The unnecessary concentration of
public buildings at certain spots of the town should be avoided.

(4) Recreation centres: Depending upon the size of town, enough space should be
reserved for the development as recreation centres for the general public.

(5) Road systems: 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. a

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(6) Transport facilities. The town should be provided with auttable transport
turlig no thu there is minimum loss of time from place of work to the place of
residente (7) Zoning: The town should he divided into nitoblerones such as
commercial sone, industrial zone, residentialcone ak and sulobe rules and
regulation should be formed for the development of each one

NECESSITY OF TOWN PLANNINO

It is evident that a small house, it well oranged and planned, loohu for more
better than a disordered big palace, in a similar way, a town which is properly
planned allords more comforts and conveniences to the public. The necesally of town
planning con very well be appreciated by mentioning the evil situations which a
town basto lace in the absence of town planning. They are

as follows: (1) Defective road system resulting in the formation of narrow steel
and lanes (2) Development of slums and squatter settlements (3) Haphazard location
of industries; (4) Heavy traffic congestion during the working hours of the day (5)
Inadequate open spaces for parks and playgrounds resulting in unhealthy living
conditions; (6) lack of essential amenities like electricity, water supply and
drainage (7) Noisy atmosphere disturbing the peace of city dwellers; (8)
Uncontrolled development of the town; (9) Unhealthy living conditions, etc.

FORMS OF PLANNING
To maintain the continuity in the planning process, the following live forms of
planning are to be considered: 1. Local planning 2. Country planning 3. Regional
planning 4. National planning 5. International planning.

(1) Local planning: The development plan of a city or a town is prepared by keeping
in view the local conditions. It aims at proper distribution of population
densities, regulation of traffic, location of shopping and recreation centres,
provision of green bells, suitable division of the area in various zones, etc. It
is quite evident that local planning will be greatly influenced by economic
conditions and finances available for the development of the town.

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(9) County planning the great surrounding a town connot be allowed to devciop in a
hapland way Generally, a town is surrounded by villages and rural planning becomes
Hey for the proper functioning of the lown For this purpose, the surrounding
villages shout he linked up with suitable transport facilities and wherever
possible, the encouragement should be given for the growth of various village
industries such as dairy, poultry farming, basket and rope making, weaving on
manually operated looms, etc. If ponible, the anal industries may even be
supplemented by mechanical aids. A praper balance between the agriculture and
industry should be maintained without disturbing the character of mural area. It
should be remembered that country planning and two

town planning are complementary to each other and they cannot be treated as
independent separate entities

(3) Regional planning the term regional planning is used to include proposals, in a
region for the distubution of population and industry, transport facilities, rural
services, village industries, ele. A lown on a city cannot be isolated from its
surrounding region. Hence, the regional planning helps in controlling and reshaping
the growth of major towns in the region. The term region is generally used to
define areas separated not merely or exclusively by natural boundaries, but equally
by political or administrative boundaries. In general, a region may be delined as
an area within which interaction more intense than its interaction with other areas
and the modern practice is embrace the following in regional planning

(0) Agricultural regions;

(1) Industrial areas;

(10) Lange hydro-electric power stations;

(1) Resort and recreational areas; and

(1) Suburban zones of large cities.

The regional planning is necessary for the following reasons:

(a) II avoids the wasteful duplication of facilities. For instance, the local
planning cannot take care of highways and trunk routes.

(b) It ensures the most profitable utilization of the resources at minimum expense
for the maximum benefit of both the individuals and the communities in the region.
(c) II gives the information regarding the economic functions which are to be
performed by the surrounding areas,

(d) Il grants mutual control over the areas in the region. It gives the local
planners knowledge of relationship between the areas of the region and they can
thus base their plans on this information.

(e) Il grants planned and harmonious development of the national economy especially
in case of the developing countries.

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In It involves planning in terms of regional dimensions because man's mobility and

his nomal activities are spread over o much larger area than what he used to cover
in the dovs of builock carts.

(o! It reveals new town planning and building principles and makes it possible to
reject to a certain extent o static character of new towns and to adopt o more
flexible and dynamic structure. It thus helps considerably for providing the
requirements for the development of a modern town.

th) It serves as a link of co-operation and co-ordination between the areas of the
region. The main argument advanced against regional planning is that the regional
planner may not have the requisite knowledge of local needs and requirements and in
that cose, he would concentrate only of regional requirements. It is possible to
remove this defect of regional planning by furnishing the regional planner with the
necessary information of local requirements.

(4) National planning: The term national planning suggests the setting up of the
planning procedure on a national level and it takes into consideration the
potentialities in various fields of a nation as a whole. By proper and careful
national planning, the resources of notional importance like railways, irrigation
projects, heavy industries, hydro-electric works, etc. can be utilized in the best
possible manner. Our various five-year plans serve as an illustration of the
national planning.

The national planning can be visualized in different ways as follows:

© Development of nation in terms of its administrative or political system;

(1) Developments at various levels in an hierarchic order either from top level to
bottom level or vice-versa i.e., from international level to local level or from
local level to national level;

(iiiDevelopments in terms of various economic sectors such as agriculture, fishing,

forestry, mining, quarrying, etc.,

(iv) Developments in terms of various social sectors such as clothing, housing,

food, education, health, employment, recreation, etc.

(5) International planning: With the establishment of United Nations Organization

or UNO, the international planning has come into existence and efforts are made at
international level to promote goodwill and co-operation between different
countries of the world. The various agencies appointed by UNO conduct surveys in
various fields of human life such as education, health, housing, food, etc. The
study out remedies and solutions of complicated problems at an international level.
such surveys helps in finding
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HISTORY OF TOWN PLANNING IN INDIA

Development of Town Planning in Ancient India. () (Indus-Valley Civilisation (3000

B.C.): The Indo-Gangetic region formed the cradle of Indus Volley Civilisation,
nearly five thousand years ago, though no one had heard of such civilisation till
the 1920's. However, the excavations carried out in the latter half of twenties at
Mohenjo Daro (Hill of the Dead--on the Indus bank) covering an area of about 260
hectares and Harappa (on the bed of river Ravi) now in Pakistan; Kalibangan in
Rajasthan; Lothal, Sukortada and Dhoulavira in Gujarat; Rakhigadhi in Haryana, show
that the Indus Valley Civilisation had its beginning between 4000-3000 B.C. The
civilisation had greatly developed as that of ancient Mesopotamia. The cities had
highly advanced system of town planning. The city Mohenjo Daro, shown in Fig. 1,
was located on two mounds, one 1183 m x 546 m and other 364 m x 273 m with the
population of 70,000 (the same as Harappa). The city was built systematically. The
street 9 m wide divided the city in 12 blocks each 365 m x 244 m. The layout of
streets was based on 'Grid-iron' plan. Houses were of varying sizes and storeys,
constructed with brick walls. A series of rooms were arranged around an open-to-sky
central court. The residences had no direct entrance opening to the main streets;
and no windows were provided towards the subsidiary walkways.

They depended entirely on roof lighting and ventilation. Almost every house built
of kiln. brick, had complete bathing establishment. A common well was provided to
the groups on the buildings. The city had an effective system of drainage. The
drainage lines were running under walkways and finally connected to the main sewers
laid under main roads. There were manholes located at different places for cleaning
and inspection. Market-halls granaries, offices were neatly planned. The Great Bath
was 7 m wide, and 12 m long and 2.4 m deep. The Great Bath had a remarkable system
of filling and emptying and meticulously joined at the bottom with bricks. It was
made watertight with layers of bitumen and was surrounded by toilets and private
baths. It was a prototype of ritualistic bathing tank which was the part of Hindu
temples. The Indus-Valley culture collapsed due to the natural catastrophe. After
centuries later, it was occupied by the Aryan invaders in 15001090 B.C.

(ii) Vedic Period (up to 400 B.C.) : Even in Vedic period, the town planning was
done on scientific footing. The principles of town planning are mentioned in some
sacred books. In 'Viswa Karmaprakash' it is stated that 'First layout the towns and
then plan the houses'. This principle holds good even today. 'Mansara Silpashastra'
(Architecture by Mansara) deals with many aspects of town

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1 VISHNU 12MPIE 2 SHIVA TEMP11 3 MONASTERY

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FIG.) MOHEN JO-DARO

- BATH

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FIG.2 DANDAKA TYPE

Planning, such as study of soil, climatic condition, topography, fixing orientation

to get maximum advantage of the sun and wind, and layout of various types of town
plans such as Dandaka, Swastika, Padmaka, Nandyavarta, Prastara, Chaturmukha,
Karmuka.

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1-SHIVA OR VISHNU TEMPLE 3- BUDDHIST TEMPLE 5 KING'S PALACE 7- TANK AND GARDEN 9-
KALI TEMPLE 11 -- BASTION WITZI ARMOURY

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2-JAINA TEMPLE 4-OFFICE AND COURT 6-PRINCES PALACE 8 GANESH TEMPLE 10-RAMPART WALL
12- MOAT FILLED WITH WATER

FIG.3 SWASTIKA TUPE

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The main or king streets (Rate Murg) were allund Western the telephone the sun's
rays, while the short roads were all need the South the mode the village called
Mungal Vithi' were reserved for parte the bike ter valor to the qualification and
moral qualities of the down plan (tepel) empienehm

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5 TIRALIMINOWARTIR 0 SCHOOL, COURO 7 MONASTERY

HONPITAL 0 TEATRE 10 RESIDENCE TOM ARTISTS Il-QUAKTERS FOR OTHER CANTES 12 QUARTERN
POR HUNTERS AND FISHERMEN

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FIG.3.1 NANDYAVARTA (FLOWER) TYPE out

Mastery over the science of planning, and thorough knowledge of culture, social and
religious conditions.

In `Ramayana' and 'Mahabharata we come across the descriptions of the cities of

Ayodhya and Indraprastha (ancient name of Delhi) respectively that the cities had
neatly laid

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houses, polotial buildings, spacious thoroughfares, tanks, lakes, beautiful gardens

and porks etc

B . . 10 1 TEMPLE 2- TANK 3 MONASTERY 4 COLLEGE 5 HOSPITAL 6 - BLOCKS FOR THE VERY

KICHI 7-BLOCKS FOR THE KICH 8 - BLOOK FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS - BLOCK FOR THE POORER
CLASS 10 - GATES 7 6 7 7 7 FIG.4 PRASTRA TYPE N S 1 -- TEMPLE

FIG. 5 CHATUMUKHA TYPE

(iii) Buddhist Period (upto 320 A.D.): During the period of Emperor Chandragupta
Maurya (321 B.C. - 185 B.C), Kautilya or Chanakya was the chief minister who wrote
the famous Arthashastra (Economics by Kautilya), a treatise on Town Planning. It
states the regulation of zoning depending on communities; highways (Rajamarga) to
be parallel to the main cardinal direction i.e. Grid-iron pattern; Rajamarga to be
not less than six dandas' i.e. 30 ft. or nearly three lanes of traffic. It clearly
shows that the art of town planning had made much progress as long back as third
century B.C.
The excavations carried out at Patliputra (modern Patna), the capital of Magadha,
show evidence of advance knowledge of town planning. The capital was laid on grid-
iron pattern consisting of 16 sectors. Most of the houses had gardens with wells
and ponds. Waste water was carried by means of underground drainage and finally to
the river Ganga. The city as long as 16 km and 3.5 km wide was surrounded by a deep
moat 180 m wide and further protected by ramparts stretching more than 40 km long
studded with 64 gates and 570 towers. The four main gates were oriented to the
cardinal points of the compass and were wide enough for the elephants to pass
through easily. Megasthenese, the ambassador of Seleucus, speaks highly of Mauryan
capital city Patliputra which in those days was a precious gem in India's crown.

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BASTION WITH ARMOURY LAMPART WALL MOAT FILLED WITH WATER

Taxila (Toksa Sila) os shown in Fig. 7 ond Nalanda were also founded in this
period. Nalanda was a renowned place of learning. Its nome and fome swept across
the whole of the known world. The site Holando measured about 487 m long and 244 m
wide and contained three main essentials stupas, temples and hostels for monks. It
had three hundred halls accommodating more than ten thousand pupils. The libraries
were ninestoreyed high. The famous Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang writes the soaring
domes reached to the clouds and pinnacles of temples seemed to have lost in the
mists of morning'

FIG.7 Plan of 250 B.C. city of Taxila,

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FIG.6 KARMUKA (BOWO TYPE