CONTRIBUTION OF EMINENT TOWN PLANNERS

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING-

M.E.-Town And Country Planning
SARVAJANIK COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
DR. R. K. DESAI MARG, ATHWALINES, SURAT – 395001
CONTENTS:

1) INTRODUCTION
2) PRINCIPLES OF URBAN PLANNING
3) TOWN PLANNERS (PERIOD - I)
1. SIR PATRICK GEDDES
2.SIR EBENEZER HOWARD
3.SIR PATRICK ABERCROMBIE
4.LE CORBUSIER
5.HENRY WRIGHT
4) TOWN PLANNERS (PERIOD - II)
1. CLARENCE STEIN
2. LEWIS MUMFORD
3. EDWUN LUTYENS
5) TOWN PLANNERS (PERIOD – III)
1. H.K.MEWADA & PRAKASH M. APTE
2. CHARLES CORREA
6) REFERENCE:
1) INTRODUCTION:

The social concept of the town or city marks the final stage of its progress. It
started in the early days of 20th century, when eminent sociologists like Sir Patrick
Geddes, Sir Ebenezer Howard, Lewis Mumford entered the field Town Planning for the
first time. Other eminent Town Planners who deserve mention are Le Corbusier, Griffith
Taylor, Clarence Stein, Henry wright, Sir Patrick Abercrombie, Charles Correa and many
others.

2) PRINCIPLES OF URBAN PLANNING

1. Green belt:
2. Housing:
3. Public buildings:
4. Recreation centers:
5. Road systems:
6. Transport facilities:
7. Zoning:
 3) TOWN PLANNERS (PERIOD - I) :

SIR PATRICK GEDDES:

•The well known town planner, sociologist of scotland, Sir

Patrick Geddes(1854-1932) came to India in 1915 at the
invitation of Lord Pentland, the Governor of Madras.

•He laid emphasis on ‘Survey Before Plan’ i.e.diagnosis

before treatment to make a correct diagnosis of various
ills from which the town suffers and then prescribe the
correct remedies for its cure. These are physical and
social economic surveys.

•sociological concept in the town planning..

 The priciples of planning enunciated by Sir Patrick Geddes are as follows

•The town planning primarily meant establishing organic relationship among ‘Folk,
Place and Work’ which corresponds to triad of Organism, Function and Environment

• CARE and PRESERVATION of human life and energy, particularly child life. NOT
merely superficial beautification.

• CONFORMITY to a DEFINITE PLAN of orderly development, into which each

improvement will fit as it is wanted. NOT the immediate execution of the whole plan.

• THE BRINGING INTO THE MARKET OF LAND Suitable for building, which without
a Town Planning Scheme would in all probability never be anything but agricultural
land

• PROVISION OF GOOD BUILDING SITES were no possibility of building with any

success now exists. NOT the having of awkward and narrow-shaped plots
SIR EBENEZER HOWARD:
• Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850–May 1,1928)
was a prominent British urban planner.

Howard's 'three magnets' diagram.

He explained his idea of ‘Garden City’ by an
impressive diagram of The Three Magnets shown in fig.

The main feature of garden city principles are:

• The dwellings for all classes of people should be distributed

about a large central court in which the public buildings would
be located.

• The shopping centre to be located on the edge of the town.

• The employment facilities for all the people to be provided by

starting a variety of industries.

• The industries to be located on the outskirt of the town.

• The city should have a maximum population of thirty to

thirty-five thousand people in an area of one thousand acres.

• The city should be surrounded by a permanent belt of

agricultural land of three to five thousands acres.
SIR PATRICK ABERCROMBIE:

• He is an eminent town planner and worked

as head of the town planning department in
london university.

• He is the planner of many cities Greater

London. Bristol etc. He is the pioneer to
advocate regional planning.

His town planning principles are:

•Civic Survey’ to be carried out before planning i.e. diagnosis before treatment like the
‘Diagnostic Approach’ of Sir Patrick Geddes.

• planning not to be done on piece-meal basis. Instead the town shall be considered as a
whole unit with respect to the entire region.

• Uncontrolled growth of cities should be stopped.

• Industries should be located on the outer areas of the town.

LE CORBUSIER: • Carles-edourd jeanneret better known as Le Corbusier(1887-
1965). According to him,a city is a living organism. He says
“Towns are biological phenomena, such as head, heart, limbs,
lungs and arteries”.

•Govt. building like high court, legislasive assembly, secretariat,

raj bhavan constitute the head; City centre with commercial
building and shops represent heart; Industries and educational
institutions represents limbs; park, playfields, green belt are the
`
lungs; Roads,footpaths are arteries”.

He advocated the following principle of town planning.

•Core of city should be decongested by removing the excess of

population and should be inhabited at the outer countryside

•Provision of speedy transportation.

•Provosion of plenty of open spaces in the form of

gardens,parks etc. round the tall buildings throughout the length
and breadth of the city.

•Population control. The high density should be spread over the

entire area of the town.
4) TOWN PLANNERS (PERIOD - II)
CLARENCE STEIN:
He is American architect and planner. He was much influenced by the concept of garden
city of sir ebenezer howard. He alongwith Henry Wright, also an american architect and town
planner, prepared the town plan for a city Radburn in New Jersey in 1928.

The priciples of planning advocated by Stein are as below:

• No grid iron road pattern be provided in the road system. In his dictum, it is the greatest enemy of
traffic and road users.

• Planning not in term of single block, sector etc.but overall planning of the whole neighbourly area
or ‘super block’.

• The super blocks to be enclosed by main roads which in turn enclose the narrow lanes.

• Expressway or parkway for high speed traffic with limited access from and to neighbourhoods.
The footpath for pedestrians should be safe and segregated from other vehicular traffic.

• Houses to be turned inside out. Usually the roads and back of the houses are not kept clean. For
this reason the working areas like store, kitchen, bath etc. should face front roads whereas living
areas like drawing, dinning,bed rooms should be on the rear side of the roads. The is known as
‘Radburn idea’, which earned the name of “The Town for the Motor Age”

• A community park spreading on whole of the area of the town instead of providing one big park at
some distance which may not be used by all. The park should be well balanced and spread
throughout the town.
LEWIS MUMFORD

Lewis Mumford (oct 19, 1985 – Jan 26,

1990) was an American historian of technology and
science. Particularly noted for his study of cities and
urban architecture, he had a tremendously broad
career as a writer that also included a period as an
influential literacy critic. Mumford was influenced by
the work of Scottish theorist Sir patrick Geddes.

In his influential book The City in History,

which won the National Book Award, Mumford
explores the development of urban civilizations.

Mumford uses the example of the medieval city as the basis for the "ideal
city", and claims that the modern city is too close to the Roman city (the sprawling
megalopolis) which ended in collapse; if the modern city carries on in the same
vein, Mumford argues, then it will meet the same fate as the Roman city.
5) TOWN PLANNERS (PERIOD – III)
H.K.MEWADA & PRAKASH M. APTE
In 1960, the Indian state of
Bombay was split into two states
Maharashtra and Gujarat. Ahmedabad was
selected to be the first capital of Gujarat. It
was proposed that a new capital city be
constructed for the state on the lines of the
other two planned cities of India —
Chandigarh and Bhubaneshwar.

So the charge of making the new

city was given to Indian architects H. K.
Mewada and Prakash M. Apte. Both had
worked as apprentices during the
construction of Chandigarh.

The new city was constructed as per their plan and was named Gandhinagar
after Mahatma Gandhi, a Gujarati himself. First stone of foundation was led in 1965. The
capital was shifted from Ahmedabad to Gandhinagar in 1971.
The new city is spread on the banks of the Sabarmati river. The main city is
designed on the west bank of the river on 42.9 km² of land. The site is gently sloping,
from north-east to south-west. Gandhinagar comprises thirty sectors & Nearest Villages.
CHARLES CORREA
Architect, planner, activist and
theoretician, Correa has emerged as a
major figure in contemporary architecture
world wide. In private practice in Bombay
since 1958, his work covers a wide range,
from the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial at the
Sabarmati Ashram, to the Jawahar Kala
Kendra in Jaipur, and the State Assembly
for madhya Pradesh - as well as
townships and public housing project in
Delhi, Bombay, Ahmedabad, Bangalore an
other cities in India.

Over the last four decades, Correa has done pioneering work on urban
issues and low-cost shelter in the Third World. From 1970-75, he was Chief
Architect for 'New Bombay’. In 1985, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi appointed him
Chairman of the national Commission on Urbanization.
 REFERENCE

1. Beattie M.(2004), “Sir Patrick Geddes and Barra Bazaar: competing visions,
ambivalence and contradiction”, The Journal of Architecture, Volume 9, Number
2, June, 2004 , pp. 131-150(20)

2. David R. Hill(1985), “ Lewis Mumford's Ideas on the City”, Journal of the

American Planning Association, Volume 51, Issue 4 December 1985 , pages
407 - 421

3. Flora Samuel(1999), “Le Corbusier, Teilhard de Chardin and The Planetisation

of Mankind”, The Journal of Architecture, Volume 4, Issue 2 June 1999 , pages
149 – 165

4. Hiraskar G.K(2006), Published by Dhanpat Rai Publications Ltd. (2006)pp. 5-8

(3)

5. Journal article by Nicholas Adams (2002), “Patrick Geddes and the City of Life”,
Utopian Studies, Vol. 14, 2003, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002. xxi + 355 pp.

6. Kristin Larsen (2005),“Cities to Come: Clarence Stein’s Postwar Regionalism”,

Journal of Planning History, Vol. 4, No. 1, 33-51 (2005)
7. K. C. Parsons(1990), “ Clarence Stein and the Greenbelt Towns Settling
for Less”, Journal of the American Planning Association, Volume 56,
Issue 2 June 1990 , pages 161 – 183

8. Martin Beattie(2004), “Sir Patrick Geddes and Barra Bazaar: competing

visions, ambivalence and contradiction”, The Journal of Architecture,
Volume 9, Issue 2 June 2004 , pages 131 – 150

9. Park Dixon Goist(1974), “Patrick Geddes and the City”, Journal of the
American Planning Association, Volume 40, Issue 1 January 1974 ,
pages 31 - 37

10. Rangwala S. C.(1985), Town Planning; Charotar Publishing House;

india.pp.180-185, 312-314

11. Stanley Buder(1969), “Ebenezer Howard: The Genesis of a Town

Planning Movement”, Journal of the American Planning Association,
Volume 35, Issue 6 November 1969 , pages 390 - 398