MODULE 1 – LECTURE 2

SEMESTER 5

19AR05004
HUMAN SETTLEMENT PLANNING

Semester 5

AR. APARNA M R
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
HOLY CRESCENT COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE
IN A NUTSHELL: EARLY STAGES OF GROWTH OF SETTLEMENTS

• The growth of agriculture resulted in intensification, which had important consequences for social
organization
• Larger groups gave rise to new challenges and required more sophisticated systems of social
administration
• Complex societies took the forms of larger agricultural villages, cities, city-states, and states, which
shared many features
• Specialized labour gave rise to distinct social classes and enabled creative and innovative
developments
• Systems of record-keeping and symbolic expression grew more complex, and many societies
developed systems of writing.
CENTRAL FACTS OF HUMAN HISTORY

• Steady spread and increase of urban populations around the world - influence of city-based
cultures
• Some of the regarded earliest cities: in Mesopotamia, Indus valley, Nile valley [3500 BCE]
• growth of settlements, Urbanisation and civilization
3 GREAT REVOLUTIONS- 3 GREAT SHIFTS

• Neolithic agricultural revolution

• Urban revolution [shift from simple pre-urban tribal communities & village based agricultural
production to the complex social, economic & political systems that characterized earliest cities]
• Writing as a form of communication
• Industrial revolution
SIMILARITIES IN HISTORICAL CITIES

• Walled/ some form of urban defence [major exceptions: Egypt/Nile valley- desert; Peru- secure
empire but on hill]
• Distinct citadel precinct [monumental] often separately walled containing palace/seat of power,
temple and granary
• Commonly Located along major river/ water source [control of irrigation & river travel]
• Market place [production & exchange]
• Community
• Where as Neolithic villages- earthen/ modest enclosures –ceremonial centres for ritual pageantry,
hill forts for defence; the ancient cities transformed these into massive elaborate structures
[monumental] that are visible even today
EVOLUTION OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
TIMELINE
PALEOLITHIC( 2-3 MILLION YRS AGO)

Homo Habilus invented the herth, assembled in caves around fire to perform rites-beginning of
community.
PALEOLITHIC

Nomadic hunters made temporary shelters using available materials

TERRA AMATA,FRANCE

• Group of 21 huts, oval in

shape
• Built using twigs and leaves
around a central hearth inside
• Beginning of human
settlements-man taking
control over natural
environment
NEOLITHIC (10,000 YRS AGO)

Transition to agriculture inspired the earliest forms of urbanism in Southwest Asia.

NEOLITHIC (10,000 YRS AGO)

 Neolithic Revolution: Farming developed around many parts of the world at the same time-
Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, Americas.

 Larger settlements with higher population with more permanent materials- supported by
Agriculture, trade & transportation.

 Technological improvements-plow, potters wheel, textile making, metallurgy.

JERICHO,ISRAEL (8000 BC)

Fortified settlement, with a stone wall enclosing a group of circular huts

having conical roofs.
 CATAL HAYUK, ANATOLIA

Unfortified, dense compact settlement with rectangular mud brick houses, no

streets. bldgs show diversification as houses, shrines and workshops.
CITIES IN ANCIENT WORLD
TIMELINE
MESOPOTAMIA (3500 BC)

"Mesopotamia" is a Greek word meaning, "Land between the Rivers". Mesopotamia is one
of the cradles of human civilization. Here, the earliest cities in world history appeared in
Sumer, the southern delta area.
UR, SUMERIA

• Each city built a set of double walls and

at least one towering temple as the
center of its surrounding agricultural
estates.

• Sacred enclosure- Temenos, religious

centre of the city surrounded by massive
walls & dominated by the ziggurat.

• Temenos also included temples, palaces

and government buildings.
Ur, Sumeria

Houses were single-story

structures of mud brick, with
several rooms wrapped
around an open court. Streets
show organic pattern.
 BABYLON

• The city was surrounded by 450’ high walls

& a moat. city had 8 massive gates
connected by streets. The river Euphrates
flowed through the middle of the city.
• The palace ,temple & ziggurat located
inside the temenos .
BABYLON
 EGYPT
• Egypt known as “ Gift of Nile”-linear network
of settlements along bank of Nile.
• N-S axis of Nile & E-W axis of Sun give rise to
orthogonal geometry of fields and cities.
• Religion was the major factor that controlled
their life- Tombs, temples, palaces were the
most important structures
• Egyptian city reflects the social structure of
Egypt – common man & slaves lived in mud
brick houses while upper class lives in villas
with gardens
EGYPT

• Towns generally had a boundary wall with only one or two entrances
through the wall itself.
• houses and towns built on a more elevated plain. These hills are called
tells.
• The main street was normally placed through the centre of the town with
smaller streets coming off at right angles
• Temple districts on the other hand were better planned. The houses of
the poorer classes in the towns were simple courtyard bldgs.
• Nobles and the upper classes of Egyptian society occupied much larger
surroundings. Market places did not exist inside or outside the walls of the
towns. The economy of Egypt did not require them.
CITY OF AMARNA
 365 miles south of Cairo, on eastern side of Nile river

 City of Akhetaten –the heretic king of Egypt.

 Central city housing the so called Royal palaces, the Great temple
complex.

 A workers village was located on eastern part outside the main city.
EGYPT
CLASSICAL CITIES
• The classical civilization of Ancient Greece emerged into the light of world history in the 8th century BC.
• In this landscape of mountains and sea many small territories, each with its own dialect, cultural peculiarities,
and identity developed. These "city-states" were fiercely independent of each other.
GREEK CITIES

• Early cities had an organic pattern, following the undulating topography of the region.
The city was surrounded by high, wide walls, fortified gateways at regular intervals.
GREEK CITIES

• The high hills had the sacred precinct- often temples located here, the city grew around the foot of the
hills. Eg: Acropolis in Athens

• The market place or Agora was the centre of urban activity, surrounded by shops/civic buildings.

• The residential areas were irregular in form with courtyard houses with no windows opening to the
streets.

• Outside these wall was another public space, the gymnasium, the theatre, built into a hillside and
semicircular in shape.

• Surrounding the city was the farmland of the city-state

AGORA

• Agora was located at the centre of the town

& often occupied 5% of the city area with all
major streets leading to it.
• In planned cities agora was square or
rectangular with colonnaded porticos of
bldgs around them.
• Agora was the centre of commercial and
political life-surrounded by shops & civic
bldgs.
ACROPOLIS

• typical Greek city was built around a

fortified hill, called an "acropolis".
• Here was located the city's chief temple, the
city's treasury, and some other public
buildings.
PRIVATE DWELLINGS

•The house was basic unit of city and was placed facing south.
•There was little difference between the houses of the town-
democratic nature of society.
•Streets were paved with drains, water was carried from wells.
HIPPODAMUS ( 5TH CENTURY B.C)

• Greek city planning concepts were formally organised by

Hippodamus of Miletus.
• The grid-iron form served as the basis of the city while
dwellings formed the basic unit.
• Agora & Acropolis formed the 2 focal points of the city
• Each city had a finite size –a population of 10,000 –ideal size
for a ‘polis’ or city.
• When population exceed this limit a ‘neopolis’ was started
near the mother city.
ROMAN CITIES

Romans continued the legacy left by the earlier architects of the Greek world. Romans were also
great innovators & engineers who built well planned cities & monumental structures such as
temples, basilica, aqueducts, amphitheatre, stadia using concrete.
ROMAN CITIES

• Early cities like Rome located on the banks of river Tiber had an organic growth around 7 hills
 ROMAN CITIES

• The Roman town was a pattern of grid-iron streets,

developed for military defense and civil convenience
and wrapped in a wall for defense.
• In the Roman system the main north-south street was
called the cardo and the main east-west street the
decumanus.
• These two streets were always wider than others and
acted as the axes of the plan.
• Rest of the space was divided into squares were blocks
of flats ,insulae, were built.
 THE FORUM

• Near their crossing in the

center of a town were located
the forum, the major temples,
the main ceremonial and
administrative buildings, and
other structures central to the
life of the community such as
the major bathing
establishments.
ROMAN CITIES

• Public bldgs -monuments, columns, and triumphal arches, large

variety of temples, thermae, theaters and arenas.
• The provision of clean water for consumption and
bathing was made by building the Roman aqueduct.
• Water supply network through a system of pipes,
fountains.
• Well developed system of roads with underground
sewers and drains.
 The private dwellings which could range from a
humble courtyard houses, multistory
apartments ( insulae) to a great villas of nobles.