Poona Cantonment:

The present day cantonment of Poona dates from after the battle of Kirkee in 1817. From 1803 when
General Wellesley entered Poona with the Peshwa to reinstate him formally to the throne, the British
troops remained permanently in Poona till February 1948 when the last British soldiers left India. The
place where they encamped is ‘Garpir’ from the shrine of an old Muslim saint. At that time, between the
cantonment and the city was a considerable stretch of open country, fields and gardens.

From the beginning, the cantonment depended more or less on the Western lines. Cantonment, in fact,
is typical of all Indian cities with a garrison and Poona in this respect was no exception. It came into
being primarily to serve one purpose – that of a military station. The British knew that their strongest
rivals in India at this time were not the Mughals, but the Marathas and when the latter were conquered,
they realized the importance of keeping armed troops permanently at the Maratha capital. The native
city was unsuitable for the purpose of keeping permanent forces and so another township had to be
built, near enough to maintain peace and order and yet sufficiently far off from the noise and squalor of
the existing city.

The cantonment with its permanent troops ensured protection to the city and latter started growing
fast. Perfect safety was a factor that attracted migrants. Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and Christians came
and settled in the jurisdiction of the cantonment to cater to the needs of the army.

In 1922, the Koregaon park estate, a part of the Poona cantonment came to be developed between the
railway line which was constructed in 1856 to connect Poona with Bombay and Madras, on the south
and Mula-Mutha river on the North. The area developed largely by some princely families and leading
business houses of the Western India turned into an annexe of the Poona cantonment. This was a
reflection of the attitude of the Indian aristocracy keeping itself detached from the masses, ignoring the
squalor and poverty of land and identifying themselves in their manners, conduct and often in thoughts
with the ruling British circles. Even today, Koregaon Park is a prestigious location in Poona, a world by
itself, inhabited by well-to-do families. This was laid out on a chess board plan and the original layout is
still maintained. Even today the area represents an upper class residential locality.

Since the development of the suburbs including the Koregaon Park a few further changes only took
place within the cantonment and in a good many respects the Poona cantonment remains the same as it
was half or a quarter of a century ago.

Areal growth at a glance:

Though the precise outline map of Poona was drawn for the first time in 1851, one does get some idea
of the dimensions of the town in the early stages of its growth from the reports of the travelers. At the
end of the 13th century, there was only the nucleus of the city represented by the castle, where the
present ‘Kasba ward’ stands.

Amalgamation of the Poona city municipality with suburban municipality to form the Poona Municipal
Corporation raised the area under Poona Municipal Corporation to 50.3 sq miles. The same was
extended to include Dapodi, Katraj and Lahogaon thus bringing it to 53.61 sq miles still continues.
Built-up land:

The built up zone in the old core of the city, built before 1900, is very compact and is entirely occupied
by structures. The area is so congested that there is any hardly open space, garden or play-ground.

The old core of the city is left bare of any such parks and gardens. Other open spaces like Race course
and Empress gardens lie near the Eastern boundary of the Poona cantonment while Sambhaji park,
Bund garden and Botanical garden are in the northern newly developed parts.

Old Core:

The old core developed before 1820, when planning was not known and so it became a victim of
haphazard growth. Majority of the building in this zone are two to four storied. The buildings are
outdated in which extensive use of wooden frames, brick walls and tin sheet roofs is made.

Cantonment Complex:

The areas which developed during the British period, i.e. Poona cantonment, Kirkee cantonment and the
area around the Poona railway station form a distinct morphological zone. Both the cantonments were
developed by the British for the army and so are slightly better planned. Buildings with one or two
storeys and with independent compounds are built mainly during the 19 th century. Majority of the
structures were barracks or bungalows for officers which clearly show British influence in their style. The
roads are planned and so are broad and straight with foot paths and with ample scope for road
widening. Though not complete, functional segregation was attempted here and so most of the areas
and buildings are uni functional. The area is open with large areas left open for recreational purposes.
Residential accommodation is not cheap and so the area is occupied by higher middle class people, like
retired military and civil officers, rich merchants and wealthy refugees from Pakistan. Building density is
low with low population density.

Outer Residential Extentions:

Areas which developed during the last 40 years, i.e. Shivajinagar, Erandavana and Parvati, form a distinct
morphological zone. This zone developed after the introduction of town planning schemes and so is
better planned. Buildings with one or two storeys and independent compounds are built mainly in the
last 30 years. Majority of the structures are bungalow type and exhibit trends in modern architecture.

The Industrial ribbon:

Large and medium scale industries came up in Poona in the last 25 years after the introduction of town
planning schemes so mainly came up outside the already built up area.

Undeveloped Area:

Consisting of outer wards, the area is still to be developed and is semi-rural in character. Most of the
buildings are ground floor structures with large open compounds.

The zonation concept in the morphology of the city was evolved by Park and Burgess, while making a
land use survey of Chicago. According to the concentric zone theory of Park and Burgess, the city has
five important zones.