10th National Conference on Technological Trends (NCTT09) 6-7 Nov 2009
Planning for Historic Cities
A Case Study of the Historic City Area of Madurai
P.Shabitha, Dept. of Architecture & Dr.S.Nagan, Dept. of Civil Engineering,
Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai
Introduction
India, a land of great civilizations has its
highest institutional expression in cities where its
magnificent tradition was elaborated and refined.
The traditional Indian city has had more than one
function and reason for its existence, as capitals,
pilgrim, temple, educational centers etc. Many
such cities still thrive with activities and have
become a part of the larger cities. All such
traditional inner city areas apart from being
historical documents are an expression of
diversity and values of traditional cultures. But
today many such areas are being threatened,
physically degraded, or destroyed by the impact
of haphazard urban growth.
Temple towns are one such type where the
temple had played a vital role in shaping the
social structure of the place. These areas have
been places of life, vitality, wealth, power,
enlightenment and culture. However, the
traditional values of these inner city areas have
been marginalized in the process of urban growth.
The personality and character of a city is the result
of centuries of growth in the course of which new
elements are juxtaposed with the older ones.
Temple cities in South India
The temple cities in south India are formed
with the enlargement process of the principle
temple as the center. In and around Tamil Nadu,
there are several temple cities of the shape of a
concentric rectangle with a large Hindu temple as
its center. They are regarded as the cities
constructed according to the ideal city plan
described in Shilpasastra, the ancient Sanskrit
texts. There are few cities representing such a
clear concentric form, which symbolizes the
structure of the Cosmos, on a city scale, though
cities and temples reflecting the cosmology are
often observed.
Madurai
Madurai, well known as a pilgrim centre
today, is one of the oldest cities in south India.
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For the last two thousand years it has been
a great centre of south Indian culture and
civilization. It is one of the few cities to have
enjoyed a continuous history which can be traced
back to pre historic times, the origin traced back
to the 6th century B.C.
Politically Madurai was the capital of a
single dynasty, the Pandyas who ruled
continuously as far as is known from the early
years of Christianity down to the 14th century.
This fact more than anything else is enough to
gain for Madurai a unique place. Even after the
Pandyas, Madurai has continued as the capital of
some dynasty or other for four centuries more. It
has therefore had a continuous history as a
political capital for eighteen centuries. At the
present day Madurai is still one of the premier
cities in the State next only to Chennai in
importance.
Madurai is considered to be designed
according to the Rajdhani plan, described in
Manasara, one of the Shilpasastra, and has the
fivefold concentric rectangular formation with
Meenakshi- Sundareshwara Temple at a very
center point. It is regarded as the most typical city
reflecting the ideal concept. Madurai is a city
whose formation was mostly reconstructed in the
16th century by the Nayak as a new ruler after the
Muslim invasion. Therefore, it is comprehensible
that the Hindu ideal city plan was applied for the
revival of Madurai, and Hinduism, too. It is
considered, at the same time, to have
synchronized with the trend of social
reorganization based on the cosmology, which
had been driven by the tie-up between the Royal
Power and the Temple.
The present Scenario
The city has flourished as the cultural,
economic and politic center of Southern India
from ancient times and still keeps active urban
life. The city well maintains the traditional
festivals in which the processions are performed
along the concentric streets.
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29. Yadava Cluster

40 20 0 50 150 250m
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Map 4.2 HERTIAGE ZONE A 50 3010 100 200

At present this historic core is The developments within and beyond these streets
functioning as the Central Business District of the are on an irregular pattern. A definite hierarchy of
city and covers an area of 2.5 Sq.Km (8.5% of street pattern was adopted with the width of the
total city area) and has a population of Streets decreasing as they branched out, ending up
approximately 1 lakh against the cities total in stone paved streets and lanes - the width of
population of 9, 23,000. Thus the inner city area some being just 0.60 m. The entire city was
has a distinct character as the commercial (32.5 % enclosed within the fort walls and surrounded by a
share of commercial activity) and a religious moat. The fort walls have been razed down and
center. the moat filled up to form the present day Veli
Streets. Besides the temple, the palace towards the
The Inner historic city south east of the temple formed the major
The old city of Madurai was a well structure of the town. The bazaar activities were
planned one with bazaars and many broad streets concentrated around the temple and palace and
with high and luxurious mansions on both sides. continue to the present day.
The city was built around the temple complex as
the focal point with a combination of a concentric
street pattern. The streets concentric to the temple
complex formed the major streets viz., Chithirai
Streets, Avani Moola Streets and Masi Streets.
The next order of streets is perpendicular to the
above streets and lead to the temple entrances.

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 1372 - Captured by Vijayanagara King HISTORIC CITY 1757
Whole Madurai Divided into 72 Divisions
3 Major Communities Migrated VAIGAI RIVER
1559 - Nayak Dynasty
RIVER VAIGAI 1801-1947 British Colonial Rule
1837 - Demolition of Fort Wall
MADAKULAM
SETTLEMENT Head Quarters for South zone
PALACE AREA
HISTORIC CITY 1875 - Railway - Industrial Development
PALAGANATHAM
SETTLEMENT Migration from Rural Communities TANK
TEMPLE
Core - Remained Compact
ANNUPPANADI Houses - Traditional + Colonial Arches
DURING EARLY CENTURIES SETTLEMENT
Northern Part - Institutions TEMPLE PALACE AREA

6th Century BC - Prehistoric Settlements Victor Mayer Bridge Across Vaigai

9th Century - Settlement Between 2 Branches of Vaigai Palaces - Adminstrative Offices
Fortified
Capital Of Pandian Kingdom Outer Street - Veli Veedi
City Plan - Around Temple ( Kings Palace) Vacant Plots in Core Area - Religious Inst & Com Markets
- 4 Main Streets CHANNEL
- Occupied by different groups After Independence
Phenominal Urban Growth
VAIGAI RIVER Area - 51.82 Sq Km
1970
VAIGAI RIVER Core City - Business Headquarters of Region

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Source: Heritage Development plan for Madurai prepared by DTCP 1998
PALACE AREA PALACE AREA 1857
FORT WALL TEMPLE
FORT WALL TEMPLE

COMMUNITIES
COMMUNITIES
PERUMAL TEMPLE

CHANNEL
CHANNEL
MUGHAL

Unpublished Thesis Conservation Plan for Historic City of Madurai by G.Balaji, 2002, SPA
SETTLEMENTS 0 1 2 3 4
HISTORIC CITY 1560 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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Streetscape
The buildings in the inner city area are
continuous row types, varying from single floor to
seven floors, irrespective of the width of the street
thereby changing the scale of the streets.
Approval has been given for many buildings in
the contravention of building regulations that
imposes curbs on elevation of such structures to
ensure the clear view of the Meenakshi Temple
and its majestic towers. The concentric streets
were once to human scale but as one enters the
inner streets, the human scale is lost. The high rise
commercial structures and advertisement
hoardings dominate the area. The visual quality of
the temple gopuram has become less important.
Land use
The major functions of the area include the
temple, whole sale market, Thirumalai Nayakar
Mahal, Head Post office, Bus stand, Railway
station, Hospitals, Cinema Halls and tourist
lodging facilities. The floating population is more
than 1.5 lakhs per day. Due to the existence of
non-confirming and conflicting land uses within
the area such as whole sale market, lorry booking
offices, godowns, government offices etc., the
area has lost its sanctity and badly needs
conservation.
Commercial land use is in the form of
linear strips along major & minor roads typical of
any traditional Indain city. Some shops cater to
pilgrims, tourists and local people while the others
irrelevantly cater to the whole region. The whole
sale markets along masi & avani streets are 3000
in number, occupying an area of 51.62 hectares.
The first floor of houses is used for storage for
shops. Surveys show that about traders willing to
shift 67% out side the CBD.
Traffic and transportation
The CBD acts as a central magnet in
attracting traffic from all directions. The Veli
streets on all four sides carry the maximum traffic.
The traffic analysis on all the CBD cordons
indicates that truck traffic is predominant in all
the radial corridors. The in and out flow of
commodities has to necessarily take place along
these streets. The Madurai CBD which is also a
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centre for religious activities, with the increase in
population and consumption, the demand for large
scale movements of goods has also become
necessary.
Parking of vehicles poses a serious threat to the
effective utilization of road and street Space
particularly in the CBD of Madurai LPA. The
entire network within CBD is named as 'Street'. A
Street by definition is to provide access to all the
properties and ensure smooth movement of people
and certainly not intended for high volume
vehicular movement like roads where access is
controlled. While the streets for the CBD do
provide the necessary access to a large number of
properties (primarily shops and residence), the
intrusion of vehicles both fast and slow moving
vehicles on a large scale has tampered not only
easy movement of people but also defeated tile
very basic function of the street. The vehicles not
only require space for movement but also space
for parking. In the absence of organized off street
parking, the only alternative left in CBD is to
utilize the street space for parking. This has
greatly, hampered the efficient movement of
traffic within CBD. The vehicles which are used
by the local residents of Madurai city and the
vehicles used by private operators by the floating
population demand parking space in the CBD as it
comprises of both commercial and religious
activities.
Heritage Elements
Madurai as a whole is of great cultural and
heritage importance. However the originally
planned town around the Meenakshi Temple is the
most important from the heritage point of view.
There are a number of religious and cultural
buildings in the area. Based on various studies of
the history of the city, the various cultural and
architectural elements of the area various heritage
elements have been identified. The heritage
elements include Temples, churches, mosques,
tanks, mandapams, palaces, heritage elements of
historic value like fort wall remains, buildings
associated with important events and residential
clusters of various communities with distinct
architectural character. High market value has
made the houses a source of income. There is a
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steep increase in commercial use for which plots
are sub division and there is an increase in vertical
height. This results in more crowd and vehicular
movement. The traditional residential clusters are
used for rental purpose. The longer plots are used,
as godowns and the traditional maadams are rental
areas.
90% in residents in the cluster have shifted
out and a number of shopping complexes have
come up in these clusters. The carrying capacity
of historic houses is a maximum of 20 and an
average of 8. The open spaces are rented. The
open space ratio is 0.6. The extension beyond fort
walls and establishment of railways led to
economic development high-density development
the higher income group migrated out.
During the Chithirai festival in April -
May, the whole of Madurai celebrates the
Meenakshi Sundareswarar Kalyanam. The idol of
Sundararajar, Meenakshi's brother is brought from
the Alagar temple and the festival goes on for ten
days and witnessed by thousands of pilgrims from
all over India. This festival takes place at
Meenakshi Amman temple south of River Vaigai.
During the Chithirai festival, in order to entertain
the people thronging in lakhs, an exhibition at
Tamukkam ground is also conducted.
The seasonal problems arise mainly on
account of devotees coming during festivals. The
important aspects to be looked into are water
supply, solid waste management, public
conveniences, eviction of encroachments and
improvement of roads. Drinking water to be
provided for during festival days for pilgrims
along the route (Alagar kovil road) through which
the deity is taken. This would necessitate the
provision of public water fountains / water taps,
which could be used by the local population
supplemented by water tankers during festival
days. The solid waste generation during festival
periods is very high. To counter this problem,
additional collection and dumping points need to
be identified along the procession routes, with use
of tipper Lorries and temporary staff for its
disposal. Another requirement to the floating
population during festivals is public
conveniences. To ease the problems to the
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devotees thronging the route of procession and
near the temple it is suggested to set up permanent
public conveniences with flush toilets and mobile
toilets.
In the approach to protect the cultural
resources inside the historic city of Madurai that
involves complexes like temples, communities,
palaces, market palaces streets and open spaces,
tanks etc it is essential to demarcate the heritage
zone in the master plan. This zone should be
much more specific than urban renewal plan. This
provides greater control over the buildings within
the zone
There are two development plans laid for
the Madurai core area namely The Urban Renewal
programme for Madurai, 1998 and the Integrated
Development Plan for the Heritage Town of
Madurai, 1999. These two plans almost follow the
master plan strategy and they concentrate on the
religious and monuments only leaving the
settlement alone. The delineated boundary of the
plans totally leaves the historical boundary of the
area leading to the ignorance of the area. The
reason for the neglect was not given or even stated
by the programme. The two plans concentrate
only on the monuments and religious building
leaving the rest of the town. The word heritage to
them becomes restricted to the buildings only.
Recently the heritage plan for Madurai has been
prepared under the Jawaharlal Nehru National
Urban Renewal Mission.
Shifting of non-confirming uses and
incompatible activities of the area can help in
decongestion of the city. But the alternative use of
these areas must be considered.
The planning and development of the
historic city area can be oriented towards adaptive
reuse projects of significant buildings/ landmarks
with the involvement of public/private sector
investment. Tourism development projects
generating profits that can be channelised to
finance other interventions/investments. Home
improvement loans through cooperative (as for
repair of chawls in Mumbai) can be provided.
Along with infrastructure and up gradation
schemes for inner city/ heritage zones, area based
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transformational urban renewal of dilapidated/old
area and public housing could also be considered
for the historic area of the city. The tourism
potential of the city has also not been explored its
fullest. Some initiatives have been taken up
recently. Since the city doesnt have much major
industries and the tourism industry can be
developed to benefit both the people of the city
and the tourist as well.
It is clear that the temple being the major
centre of attraction; it will continue to attract more
and more people from within and outside the city.
The activity not only needs but also promotion so
as to attract more tourists to sustain the core city
as a prominent activity centre and also preserve
the heritage quality of the area. Hence a
comprehensive approach to planning of such
heritage areas is the need of the day were heritage
conservation, land use planning, roads and traffic
management and tourism should go hand in hand.
Sustainable development of heritage cities like
Madurai depends upon the commitment and
involvement of local communities. Hence the
planning should also take into account peoples
participation and should be from the grass root
level.
curtailed as it is important that the city is home to
a huge population.
REFERENCES
1. Madurai through the Ages by Dr. D Devakunjari
2. The Great Temple of Madurai by K.Palaniappan
3. Thalai Varalaru by R. Panchanatham Pillai
4. Town Centre Approach to Urban Renewal -
Ministry of Housing & Local Government, UK
5. Thesis - Conservation Plan For Historic City of
Madurai by G.Balaji, 2002, SPA, New Delhi
6. Thesis - Study of Spatial Formation of Madurai by
Ayako Ostuji, 2003, Kyoto University
7. Documenting Heritage: Some Observations on the
Indian Situation by Dilip K. Chakrabarti
8. Article on The case for an Indian charter by A . G .
Krishna Menon
9. Traffic Improvement Schemes for Madurai City -
Study Report by Prof. Dr. N.S.Srinivasan
10. Heritage plan for Madurai 1998 - DTCP

The city is a thriving city and the

development process needs to be looked at not
just form the heritage point of view. The major
areas that need attention are proper land use
planning, infrastructure specially improvement of
roads as the historic city faces huge traffic issues
due to narrow roads and lack of good mass
transportation system as in big cities, creating
work opportunities for the local people, and
development of the tourism industry and hence
accentuating the historic significance of the city.
The planning process should have an integrated
approach with long term vision. Issues regarding
the development process should be linked and
analyzed specially in historic cities since the city
has been planned hundreds of years back. Hence
planning for such a city taking into consideration
contemporary needs and issues and integrating the
solutions in such a way that the historic
significance is not lost is important. The
development process should however not be

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