Compiled on 29th Jan, 2013

Private & Confidential

Decoding cities

Cities as brand
Each city is known for what the stand for ( the bigger service or solution they provide ), which acts as a magnet to the migrants moving to the city. Eg: industrial city, health city, education city , cultural city. Brand value The magnets are supported by sub/ complementing magnets. Brand extensions There is a complex system of services ( transport, waste management, food supplies, energy, water ) , regulations, networks and policies that control the way a city functions. Operations It has a certain character in terms of its look and feel through its , architectural style, public element , scale , character of open spaces , urban art. This makes the urban fabric of the city . The tone of voice / branding

Protagonists
The urban planner : defines the systems, and plans the way in which city needs to function and grow ( socially , economically ). They lay down the rules, laws, policies based on expected patters of growth . They create the master plan. Urban designer : responsible for the tone of voice and behavior of the user. The define the urban fabric. They are architects in bigger scale ( big architectural projects often become urban interventions). They are also responsible for defining the look and feel of the city. The architect : has the area of influence limited to his plot, where they abiding by the laws and regulations defined by the master plan and building bylaws creates a product for his clients needs.

The key element of planning pattern

Zones districts / sectors a larger area demarcated for a certain type of function. ( industrial , educational , residential , defense, administrative ), each zone has its own set of essentials amenities and rules. Nodes are the epicenters ( centre of attraction) around which the developments flourishes theses are generally large architectural projects, open spaces, religious establishments Axis the main transport artery (generally the main roads) which connects the nodes and could celebrate the end nodes with creation of sub nodes that could be done by plazas, markets, chowks, fountains , promenades, sculptures , gate ways Network the spokes of roads emerging out of main axis , the transport network that functionally links the nodes and cities.

History of urban planning

The Indus valley

The earliest examples of extensive planning is seen with the city at two levels , fortified citadel at an higher plinth with granaries and great bath. Network of perpendicular roads , major north south axis , first example of drainage system and regularization to even the size of the brick to be used .

The Greeks
The Greek Hippodamus (c. 407 BC) has been dubbed the "Father of City Planning" for his design of Miletus; Alexander commissioned him to lay out his new city of Alexandria, the grandest example of idealized urban planning. the city had broad, straight streets, cutting one another at right angles. The wide central area, which was kept unsettled according to his macro-scale urban prediction/estimation and in time evolved to the agora, the center of both the city and the society.

The Romans
The Romans had the two major cardinal axis , the main axis led to the citadel and had market /Agoras around it . the settlements where divided in grids and Each square marked by four roads was called an insula, the Roman equivalent of a modern city block. Florence was an early model of the new urban planning, which took on a star-shaped layout designed to resist cannon fire. Radial streets extend outward from a defined center of military, communal or spiritual power.

Industrialization and Garden city

Sir Ebenezer Howard s garden city model .the Utopian ideology inspired by the need to keep balance between the town/ country and the city. Garden cities were intended to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by "greenbelts" (parks), containing proportionate areas of residences, industry and agriculture.

Garden city
A garden city was envisioned to house 32,000 people on a site of 6,000 acres (2,400 ha), planned on a concentric pattern with open spaces, public parks and six radial boulevards, 120 ft (37 m) wide, extending from the centre. The garden city would be self-sufficient and when it reached full population, another garden city would be developed nearby. Howard envisaged a cluster of several garden cities as satellites of a central city of 50,000 people, linked by road and rail. Letchworth and Welwyn near London remains as the only direct example of garden cities. But many world cities including New Delhi uses the same principal .

War and modernism

The modernist city stood for the elimination of disorder, congestion, and the small scale, replacing them with preplanned and widely spaced freeways and tower blocks set within gardens. The automobile friendliness, functionality was the prime concern of planners at that time . Eg : Plan Voisin (based on LeCorbusier's Ville Contemporaine) which proposed clearing and rebuilding most of central Paris. Other example where Tel Aviv by Sir Patrick Geddes, or Brasilia.

Politics and power

Quite often the city , and especially the citadel / administrative capital can be planned and designed to highlight the might and grandeur of the government / monarch . This is more a urban design intervention than planning .

Rastrapati bhavan and Brasilia Hitlers plan for Berlin

Imageability and legibility of a city

Kevin Lynch worked on perception and cognition of city form. He proposes 5 ways to 'judge' the performance of a city - Vitality, sense, control and access, fit, efficiency and justice. In The Image of the City Lynch reported that users understood their surroundings in consistent and predictable ways, forming mental maps with five elements: paths, the streets, sidewalks, trails, and other channels in which people travel; edges, perceived boundaries such as walls, buildings, and shorelines; districts, relatively large sections of the city distinguished by some identity or character; nodes, focal points, intersections or loci; landmarks, readily identifiable objects which serve as external reference points.

Human centric city

Patrick Geddes sought to consider "primary human needs" in every intervention, engaging in "constructive and conservative surgery. He said cities are self repairing, self regulating organisms. Do not need grand plans and organization. Highlights of his principles for town planning in Bombay (1915): Preservation of human life and energy, rather than superficial beautification. Conformity to an orderly development plan carried out in stages. Purchasing land suitable for building. Promoting trade and commerce. Preserving historic buildings and buildings of religious significance. Developing a city worthy of civic pride, not an imitation of European cities. Promoting the happiness, health and comfort of all residents, rather than focusing on roads and parks available only to the rich. Control over future growth with adequate provision for future requirements.

Human centric city

Christopher Alexander - city is formed through sustained human contact, complex structure (not a tree) and patterns of growth. He believed each city has a pattern which develops over a period of time . Such patterns have lost their meaning in a modern city. He claims, advocates piecemeal growth, coherence (like a medieval city) and mixing of functions, sizes and a deep sense of feeling (GENIUS LOCI, sense of place, that intangible thing that holds cities together, makes a space a place). Constructive participation between various stakeholders and not only by professionals.

Principles of Intelligent Urbanism

Proposed by Christopher Charles Benninger it lays the ten principals of intelligent urbanism as : a balance with nature a balance with tradition appropriate technology conviviality A place for the individual , friendship, householders, the neighborhood, communities, the city domain efficiency human scale opportunity matrix regional integration balanced movement institutional integrity

Cases of new urbanism models

Curitiba, Brazil
1950s, with an innovative urban planning that changed the population size from some hundreds of thousands to more than a million people. Curitiba presents one of the highest HDI of Brazil at 0.856, and in 2010 was awarded the Globe Sustainable City A role model in dealing with such sensitive issues as transportation and the environment. The city is the second largest car manufacturer in the country, and its economy is based on industry, commerce and services. The city's 30-year economic growth rate is 7.1%, higher than the national average of 4.2%, and per capita income is 66% higher than the Brazilian average.

Curitiba - sustainable systems

Curitiba's infrastructure makes bus travel fast and convenient, effectively creating demand for bus use as opposed to private motor vehicles. Curitiba has municipal health, education and day care networks, neighborhood libraries shared by schools and citizens. Citizenship Streets, where buildings provide essential public services, sports and cultural facilities near mass transportation terminals. At the Open University, residents can take courses in subjects such as mechanics, hair styling and environmental protection for a small fee. in public housing while landowners built the houses themselves, each received a pair of trees and an hour's consultation with an architect to help them develop their plan. It incentivizes citizens for good behavior ( cleanliness and waste management ) and gives coupons for use in public amenities.

City as a sustainable biome

Masdar, Abu Dhabi ( Foster + partners) Ras Al Khaimah Eco City, Rem Koolhaas/ OMA Zero-carbon - car free cities . Public transportation link just 200 meters from any point . Shaded walkways and narrow streets, creating a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere. City linked to Abu Dhabis principal transport infrastructure and airport Incorporation of wind, photovoltaic farms, research fields, and plantations, to make it self sustainable in energy and food. Ras Al Khaimah Eco City + Rem Koolhaas/ OMA

urban planning in India

Jaipur
In India , Jaipur was one of the first examples of a early town planning exercise. Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh with the help Vidhyadhar Bhattacharya design it based on Hindu systems of town planning and followed the principles prescribed in the Shilpa-shastra, an ancient Indian treatise on architecture .according to this shastra the site should be divided into grids or mandalas range from 2x 2 to 10 x 10, Jaipur is 3x3. Based on nav grahas. The city till date follows strict norms on elevation control to remain the pink city of India.

Chandighar
The other post independence classic example of a planned city was that of Le corbusiers Chandighar . Designed in grids with strict system of road network called the seven vs the city was inspired by the human form where the capital city was the head , the industrial suburbs was the hands and legs , and the commercial centre of sector 16 at its heart. It is classic example of govt led town planning , creating grids of sectors , planning suburbia , lots of built ( as opposed to the garden cities of the early 90) catering to the housing needs of people dislodged by war/ separation.

New Delhi
The design of the capital complex of New Delhi by Edvin Lutyens follows the similar principal as that of the garden city model. The nodes are connected by axis and each of the axis is celebrated . Creating the core triangle between Rastrapati bhavan , India gate and CP as the zone for governance and extending it the old city through a straight axis from CP

Other planned cities in India are :

Auroville, Tamil Nadu Bhilai, Chhattisgarh Bhubaneswar, Odisha Bokaro, Jharkhand Dispur, Assam Durgapur, West Bengal Gandhinagar, Gujarat Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh Gurgaon, Haryana Indore, Madhya Pradesh Jamshedpur, Jharkhand Kalyani, West Bengal Lavasa, Maharashtra Madurai, Tamil Nadu Mohali, Punjab Navi Mumbai (New Mumbai) Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh New Kanpur City, Uttar Pradesh Noida, Uttar Pradesh Panchkula, Haryana Pondicherry, Puducherry Rourkela, Odisha Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan Sricity, Andhra Pradesh Udaipur, Rajasthan Cooch Behar, West Bengal

Future design of the cities

NEEDS TO HAVE AN IDENTITY Going forward cities should be designed as a brand ( hi tech city Bangaluru ,Business city , Industrial city, academic city) based on the core industry it aims to provide its people employment with. All supporting industries can be planned as sub cities adapting the garden city model. The brand consistency and ethos should be reflected in its urban fabric , through the designs of its land mark structures, public places , support services, public furniture.

IT SHOULD ECO - SUSTAINABLE: It should one with nature ,going beyond deforestation, soil erosion, aquifer depletion, conservation of flora and fauna and siltation. The principle promotes environmental assessments and conservation through design. A system where the resources consumed should be replaced through the replenishing natural cycles of the seasons, creating environmental equilibrium. It should be planned as a sustainable eco system through equal partnership of the residents and governance. A system and infrastructure that enables, promotes , educates and incentivizes eco friendly behavior and sustainable practices ( in transportation, waste management, resource use and reuse, energy consumption) It should be planned to be self-reliant in energy and water needed to sustain the development.

IT respects region, tradition and heritage and build on its values : The existing urban fabric of the place is defined by its traditions , celebrations, rituals , crafts, forms, local materials and resources , techniques which respond to the climatic and social requirement. Its is important to fully understand the reasons and the significance of the same , before any intervention. Planning decisions must operate within the balance of tradition, aggressively protecting, promoting and conserving generic components and elements of the urban pattern. The use of appropriate technology , construction materials, construction techniques, infrastructural systems and project management which are consistent with local contexts. (People's capacities, geo-climatic conditions, locally available resources, and suitable capital investments).

IT promotes social and personal well being : It has places for social interaction, congregation and celebration. It should be reflected in planning the hierarchy of places, devised for personal solace, companionship, romance, domesticity, "neighborliness," community and civic life . It should be interactive, socially engaging and offer their members numerous opportunities for gathering and meeting one another. The space can be of a certain hierarchy, a space for each of social tiers, where they have physical place in the settlement structure. Leading up to plazas, parks, stadia, transport hubs, promenades, "passages" or gallerias. , spaces where everyone can go.

IT should be time and cost efficient : Efficiency that promotes a balance between the consumption of resources such as energy, time and fiscal resources, with planned achievements in comfort, safety, security, access, tenure, productivity and hygiene. In a cost efficient manner . It encourages optimum sharing of public land, roads, facilities, services and infrastructural networks, reducing per household costs, while increasing affordability, productivity, access and civic viability.

IT should have a human scale to it : Unlike the cities of the yester years that where planned only around automobiles and mass transit system, the future cities should be planned around free pedestrian movement and their interactions with different spaces while they walk . Design for human scale looks into the details of physiological and anthropometrical use and interaction people with various objects, adjuncts and places. It could look at decentralizing the amenities to the closest pockets of transit ( which naturally happen any ways )

IT should be the centre for opportunity : The city as a vehicle for personal, social, mental and economic development, through access to a range of organizations, institutions, services, facilities and information. Providing a variety of opportunities for enhanced employment, economic engagement, education, and recreation. It should increase access to shelter, health care, safety and hygiene, for better human resources development. It should be designed so people get inspired, build a drive to achieve, discover aspects of their personalities, skills and intellectual curiosity which they use to craft their identity. It should promote the freedom of expression .

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A Future Ideas KARO presentation