THE

GRAND
CITY
DESIGN
MSD 501
HISTORY AND THEORY OF URBAN
PLANNING
Presenter: Maria Belinda D. Campana

© Pinterest
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
• Defining Grand City Design
• The Grand City Design of Paris, France
• The Grand City Design of Washington, D.C.
• The Grand City Design of Barcelona, Spain
• The Grand City Design of Chandigarh, India
• The Grand City Design of Brasilia, Brazil
• Conclusion
GRAND CITY DESIGN
Grand city design refers to the comprehensive and strategic
planning and design of cities or urban areas with the goal of creating
a visually impressive and functional urban environment.

Key aspects of grand city design may include:

• zoning regulations;
• land use planning;
• transportation planning;
• green spaces;
• architectural design; and
• consideration of social and cultural factors.

© Pinterest
The Grand City Design of

PARIS, FRANCE

© Projective Cities
 In 1734, Michel-Étienne Turgot,
chief of the municipality of Paris as
provost of merchants, decided to
promote the reputation of Paris
for Parisian, provincial, or foreign
elites by implementing a new plan
for the city.

Louis Bretez, a member of the

Academy of Painting and
Sculpture and professor of
perspective, drew up the plan for
Paris and its suburbs. The 21
sheets of the plan were created in
1736 by Claude Lucas, engraver
of the Royal Academy of Sciences.

 One of the world’s most

extraordinary feats of cartography.
In addition to its huge decorative
appeal, Turgot’s celebrated plan of
TURGOT MAP OF PARIS, a highly accurate and detailed map of the city of Paris as it appeared in Paris is important for providing a
1734–1736. remarkably detailed snapshot of
the pre-Haussmann city.
© http://www.oldmapsofparis.com/
• 18th century - Paris grew dramatically in
population, becoming the largest city in
Europe. This led to significant social problems,
including overcrowding, poor sanitation, and
social inequality, which contributed to the social
unrest leading up to the French Revolution.

• 19th century - the center of Paris was viewed

as overcrowded, dark, dangerous, and
unhealthy. © mariegossip.com

© wikipedia

The Bievre River was used to dump the waste from the
tanneries of Paris; it emptied into the Seine.River
© wikipedia
© Pinterest
 Paris in 1832 during the great cholera pandemic. © Time

Victor Considérant, a social reformer, wrote in 1845:

“Paris is an immense workshop of putrefaction,

where misery, pestilence, and sickness work in
concert, where sunlight and air rarely penetrate. Paris
is a terrible place where plants shrivel and perish,
and where, of seven small infants, four die during the
course of the year.”
Paris Street © Smarthistory
 NAPOLEON III
• born Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, great-nephew
of Napoleon Bonaparte (emperor of France in the
early nineteenth century), served as the President
of the French Second Republic from 1848 to 1852
and later as Emperor of the French from 1852 to
1870.
© Biography
• As President, Louis-Napoleon commissioned two
urban renovation projects, the extension of the Rue
de Rivoli and the redevelopment of the Bois de
Boulogne, but quickly became frustrated with their
slow progress
GEORGES-EUGÈNE
HAUSSMANN
• commissioned by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte
to “aérer, unifier, et embellir” Paris: to give it
air and open space, to connect and unify the
different parts of the city into one whole, and
to make it more beautiful.
© Britannica
• He envisioned the creation of broad, straight
boulevards, lined with uniformly grand buildings,
parks and open spaces, and an updated water
and sanitation system.
STREETS
OF
PARIS

© robbiefaradayhaussmannrenovation
STREETS OF PARIS
Haussmann began his renovation immediately by
widening the Rue de Rivoli and creating two new
boulevards Strasbourg and Sebastopol, which
intersected with the Rue de Rivoli to form the
grand croisée de Paris, a large square in the
middle of Paris.

© https://www.skyscrapercity.com/threads/haussmanns-renovation-of-paris
Source: https://youtu.be/r9jcCi2UC3Y - Urban planning according to Haussmann - The transformation of Paris
in the 19th century by Intellego (Youtube)
 © Wikipedia

With the help of Eugène Belgrand, Haussmann also began the

reconstruction of Paris' sewer system which was at that time incredibly
unsanitary and was the cause of many pandemics throughout 19th century.

Haussmann and Belgrand built new sewer tunnels under each sidewalk of the new
boulevards. The sewers were designed to be large enough to evacuate rainwater
immediately; a large amount of water used to wash the city streets; wastewater from both
industries and individual households; and water that collected in basements when the level
of the Seine was high.
STREETS OF PARIS
• The second phase of construction, which began in 1858, focused heavily on the construction of new
boulevards to connect the most important areas of the city.

• Due to overcrowding in the downtown area and an ever-increasing population, Napoleon III annexed the
surrounding arrondissements of Paris extending the borders of the city and increasing the number of
arrondissements from 12 to 20 the current number.

Source: https://youtu.be/r9jcCi2UC3Y - Urban planning according to Haussmann - The transformation of Paris in the
© robbiefaradayhaussmannrenovation
19th century by Intellego (Youtube)
STREETS
OF
PARIS

© robbiefaradayhaussmannrenovation
During the second phase, Haussmann redesigned the square surrounding the Arc de Triomphe, a
monument built in remembrance of the soldiers who died for France during the French Revolution
and the Napoleonic Wars. Twelve avenues radiate from the Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly
named the Place de l'Étoile, forming a star with the Arc de Triomphe at its center.
an example of a Radial City Plan
A radial concentric city plan is formed by streets
that extend outward from a defined center and
reach the outer edge of the city, together with
concentrically arranged roads that connect the radial
streets to the lots. This pattern traces back to
ancient times and continues even to this day.

Depending on the historical context, location, or

purpose of the city planning, the elements found in
the center may vary. Plazas, churches, or
government buildings are among the most common
elements and this is no accident, nor is the urban
design pattern. Basically, the radial arrangement of
streets is intended to highlight a particular
element or location that has great political,
religious, financial, or symbolic value to the city
as a whole.
Text and Image Source: Arch Daily
available at: https://www.archdaily.com/951587/radial-city-plan-nine-examples-around-the-world-seen-from-above
TRANSPORT
IN PARIS

Source: https://gisgeography.com/paris-map-france/
FIRST PHASE OF In 1855 Haussmann built a new railroad
HAUSSMANNISATION station, the Gare de Lyon.

© Pinterest

The railway line from Paris to Montereau started

to work in 1849; it was a branch of Paris-Lyon
railway line. The first building it in Paris was
made by wood and in 1855 it was replaced by a
building designed by the architect François-
Alexis Cendrier.
© Happyrail
SECOND PHASE OF
HAUSSMANNISATION
• In 1865 Haussmann built a second
train station, the Garde du Nord,
and began work on building and
improving the gardens of Paris.

© Discover Walks

© robbiefaradayhaussmannrenovation Source: https://gisgeography.com/paris-map-france/

GREEN
SPACES IN
PARIS

Picture credits: google images

GREEN SPACES IN PARIS
During the second phase of
construction Haussmann built the:

• Bois de Boulogne park in 1858;

• Bois de Vincennes which he

completed in 1865;

• Parc des Buttes-Chaumont

which was constructed in 1867;
and

• Parc Montsouris, the

construction of which began in
1865, but was not completed
until 1878. Picture credits: google images
1. Bois de
Boulogne Park
2. Bois de
Vincennes
3. Parc des Buttes-
Chaumont
4. Parc Montsouris 3
Picture credits: google images

4
THE
HAUSSMANN
BUILDING

© Mansion Global
THE ARCHITECTURE OF HAUSSMANN'S PARIS
Besides building churches, theaters, and other public buildings, Haussmann paid
attention to the details of the architecture along the street; his city architect, Gabriel
Davioud, designed garden fences, kiosks, shelters for visitors to the parks, public
toilets, and dozens of other small but important structures.

A kiosk for a street merchant on

Square des Arts et Metiers (1865)

A chalet de nécessité, or public toilet,

The Théâtre de la Ville, one of two matching
with a façade sculpted by Emile theaters, designed by Gabriel Davioud,
Guadrier, built near the Champs which Haussmann had constructed at the The first railroad bridge across the Seine
The Church of Saint Augustin
Elysees. (1865) Place du Chatelet, the meeting point of his (1852–53), originally called the Pont Napoleon
(1860–1871)
north-south and east-west boulevards. III, now called simply the Pont National.
THE HAUSSMANN BUILDING

HAUSSMANN treated buildings not

as independent structures, but as
pieces of a unified urban landscape.

© Wikipedia

The interiors of the buildings were left to the owners

of the buildings, but the façades were strictly
regulated, to ensure that they were the same height,
color, material, and general design, and were
harmonious when all seen together.
© Mansion Global
THE HAUSSMANN BUILDING • All apartments are made from a cream-
colored stone

• Their heights range from 12 to 20 meters

tall, each building is proportional to the
boulevard and does not exceed six stories.

• have steeply sloped, four-sided mansard

roofs angled at 45°.

STANDARD LAYOUT:

• The GROUND FLOOR has the highest ceilings

as well as thick walls to accommodate shops,
offices, and other businesses.

• The FIRST FLOOR, known as the “mezzanine,”

has low ceilings and is typically used by
businesses for storage.
© https://mymodernmet.com/haussmann-paris-architecture/
 THE HAUSSMANN BUILDING

STANDARD LAYOUT:

• The SECOND FLOOR, or “noble floor,”

is traditionally a building's most
desirable flat, as it requires the shortest
climb on the stairs.

• The second floor has a long,

running balcony and beautifully
crafted window frames.

• The THIRD (and sometimes fourth and

fifth floors) have smaller balconies and
less elaborate windows.
© Mansion Global
 THE HAUSSMANN BUILDING

STANDARD LAYOUT:

• To add balance to the building, the top

floor also features a large, running
balcony. However, as this level is not
“noble,” the balcony is not intricately
decorated and the windows are
identical to those found on the third
and fourth floors.

• The building is then topped with a

mansard roof, which houses small attic
rooms (traditionally used as servants'
quarters) and dormer windows.
© Mansion Global
THIRD PHASE OF HAUSSMANNISATION
• there was mounting opposition against another round of construction from the
conservative members of the French government, and from many Parisians who
were tired of the constant construction disrupting their daily lives for the past two
decades. Nevertheless, the third round of construction was approved in 1869.

• Unfortunately Haussmann was not able to complete his reconstruction of the city
as he came under heavy criticism from the French parliament. Approximately
20,000 medieval buildings were torn down during the renovation and 30,000
modern buildings were constructed to replace them

• Despite the fact that Haussmann was forced to leave the construction of the roads
and the opera continued without him. The Paris Opera was eventually completed
in 1875 and the major roads were all completed between 1877 and 1889, except
for two roads, Boulevard Raspail and Boulevard Haussmann, which were not
completed until 1907 and 1927.
© Wikipedia
PARIS: THE CITY OF LIGHT
The underground labyrinth built by Haussmann and Belgrand
doesn’t just serve as a sewer system but also provided gas for
heat and for lights to illuminate Paris.

At the beginning of the Second Empire, gas was provided by six

different private companies. Haussmann forced them to
consolidate into a single company, the Compagnie parisienne
d'éclairage et de chauffage par le gaz, with rights to provide gas
to Parisians for fifty years. Consumption of gas tripled between
1855 and 1859.

In 1850 there were only 9000 gaslights in Paris; by 1867, the Paris
Opera and four other major theaters alone had fifteen thousand
gas lights. Almost all the new residential buildings of Paris had
gaslights in the courtyards and stairways; the monuments and
public buildings of Paris, the arcades of the Rue de Rivoli, and the
squares, boulevards, and streets were illuminated at night by
gaslights. For the first time, Paris was the City of Light.
© Pinterest
 THE EIFFEL TOWER
• EIFFEL TOWER, built from 1887 to 1889 by
French engineer Gustave Eiffel whose company
specialized in building metal frameworks and
structures, is a Parisian landmark that is also a
technological masterpiece in building-
construction history.

• The Eiffel Tower was built to be one the main

attractions at the Paris World's Fair in 1889.

• Its height and unique silhouette floating above

the Paris landscape quickly made the Eiffel
Tower one of the most popular attractions in
Paris.
© National Geographics Kids
TRANSPORT IN THE PRESENT DAY PARIS

• Subway
• Busses
• Tram
• The RER
(Regional
Express
Network)

Source: https://parisjetaime.com/eng/article/public-transport-a555
STREETS IN THE PRESENT DAY PARIS
PARIS MAP

© National Geographics Kids https://maps-paris.com/maps-paris-city/paris-city-map

The Grand City Design of

WASHINGTON, D.C.
© PRESSBOOK
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The premise for Washington,
DC. was to create a new
federal capital from the
sparsely settled countryside
of Maryland and Virginia.

Washington D.C. was

proclaimed a federal district
in 1790 as the new capital of
the United States.

© PRESSBOOKS
PIERRE CHARLES L’ENFANT
• a French-born American engineer, architect, and
urban designer

• had previous connections to the US as a major in

the Corps of Engineers when he volunteered for
the American Revolution.

• had an ideal set of experiences in understanding

landforms which qualified him to be the designer
of this new town.

• hired by President George Washington in 1791,

under the supervision of three commissioners, to
design the basic plan for Washington, D.C., the © Wikipedia

capital city of the United States.

L’ENFANT PLAN
Two factors strongly influenced
L’Enfant’s imagination as he
planned the capital city: his
understanding of 18th-century
Baroque landscape architecture
and his familiarity with the city
of Paris and the grounds of
Versailles.

BAROQUE DESIGN-
• generally included an overlying grid
and ordered streets
• heavily prevalent in Versailles

© Whitehouse Historical Association

L’ENFANT PLAN
Pierre L’Enfant’s city plan
features a network of broad
diagonal axes superimposed
over a more traditional pattern
of east-west and north-south
streets.

The most important axis,

PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE,
provides a direct link between
the legislative and executive
centers: the Capitol and the
President’s House (White
House).
© Whitehouse Historical Association
L’ENFANT PLAN
Placing the Capitol at the center of the
street plan, L’Enfant drew surveyors’ lines
through the building to the points of the
compass, thereby separating the city into
four sections: Northwest (the largest
quadrant), Northeast, Southeast, and
Southwest.

© Wikipedia
L’ENFANT PLAN
His design features a
European-style, tree-filled
city, which includes grid
systems, wide diagonal White House

avenues, public squares,

monuments, and canals.
US Capitol

Unfortunately for the French

architect, due to
disagreements, L'Enfant was
not able to see his city
complete. He was ultimately
relieved of his job in 1792
and Andrew Ellicot became
charged with the design of
the city.
© Wikipedia
Andrew Ellicott was a renowned surveyor, town planner and
adventurer who was a prominent figure in Lancaster's history.

In 1792 he laid out the final plan for the city of Washington, D.C.
© ellicott.co/blogs/posts/
STREETS IN
WASHINGTON,
D.C.

© https://www.ncpc.gov/news/item/89/
PERMANENT
SYSTEM OF
HIGHWAYS
Congressionally
legislated in 1893, the
Permanent System of
Highways was
intended to create an
orderly framework for
development beyond
the L'Enfant City as
Washington continued
to grow. Frederick Law
Olmstead, Sr.
contributed to this
plan.

© https://www.ncpc.gov/news/item/89/
PUBLIC SPACES
IN
WASHINGTON,
D.C.

© Wikipedia
THE MCMILLAN PLAN
The centerpiece of L'Enfant's plan was
a Mall, where he envisioned a
dedicated public space for learning
and recreation—a “place of general
resort,” a tree-lined “grand avenue,”
surrounded by “play houses, room[s]
of assembly, academies and all sort of
places as may be attractive to the
learned and afford diversion to the © Wikipedia

idle.”

Leading up to the centennial commemoration of Washington, D.C., in 1900,

architects, engineers, and other interested parties had begun to develop several
competing plans to redesign and improve the capital city, particularly the public
space now known as the National Mall. Among those dedicated to improving the
design at the dawn of the 20th century was Michigan senator James McMillan.
 THE MCMILLAN PLAN
• The commission proposed establishing
large numbers of neighborhood parks
throughout the city, especially in those
areas outside the old "Federal City"
boundaries.

• The commission's goal was to

transform parks from places where the
wealthy promenaded for purposes of
social mobility into places where the
© Wiki
average citizen could reap the
A map of additions to the District of Columbia park system, proposed
by the United States Senate Park Commission in 1902. Existing advantages of physical exercise while
parkland is in light green; proposed additions are in dark green.
Pinkish-orange areas are developed areas of retail, office buildings, and
enjoying the moral uplift provided by a
housing. natural setting within an urban area.
THE MCMILLAN PLAN
Never formally adopted by the United States government, the McMillan Plan was
implemented piecemeal in the decades after its release.

The location of the Lincoln Memorial, Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, Union Station,
and U.S. Department of Agriculture Building are due to the McMillan Plan.

Proposals to construct Arlington Memorial Bridge received a significant boost

from the plan as well.

The McMillan Plan continues to guide urban planning in and around Washington,
D.C., into the 21st century and has become a part of the federal government's
official planning policy for the national capital.
 NATIONAL MALL

© https://www.nps.gov/places/the-mall.htm
BUILDINGS IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Height of Buildings Act (1910)

• was key in establishing the national capital's

horizontal character by setting maximum
building heights generally controlled by street
widths.

The height limit on residential streets is 90

feet.

Height limits on commercial streets is the

width of the adjacent street plus 20 feet, with
a general maximum height limit of 130 feet
(except for 160 feet along portions of
Pennsylvania Avenue).
© https://www.ncpc.gov/about/history
WASHINGTON, D.C. ARCHITECTURE
Many of the city's most prominent and historic government buildings, memorials, monuments, and
museums are built in the Neoclassical motif.

© The White House

Lincoln Memorial

The US Capitol

In 1792, Dr. William Thornton's depiction of a grand, two-winged Jefferson Memorial Washington Monument
structure topped by a central dome won a public competition for the
design of the U.S. Capitol Building.
© Britannica
 White House

Washington US Capitol
Monument

© https://minicity.art/washingtondc
The Grand City Design of

BARCELONA, SPAIN

© https://www.theguardian.com/
BARCELONA, SPAIN
• Barcelona's history as a city dates back to Roman times
when it was known as Barcino. After the Roman Empire
fell in the fifth century CE, the years saw a series of
conquests.

• In the Middle Ages, the city grew and became more

complex, the center of a region known as Catalonia.

• In 1714, the War of the Spanish Succession ended and

Barcelona (having backed the the Habsburg rather than
the Bourbon claimant to the throne of Spain) was on the
losing side. Upon its surrender, in order to suppress any © vox.com

future challenge, Philip V abolished many of the city’s Barcino, sketched in its original location over a map of
institutions and charters, built a fortress citadel to keep Barcelona’s current Gothic Quarter.
an eye on it, and forbid Barcelona to grow beyond its
medieval walls.
BARCELONA, SPAIN
• By 1854, the Spanish
government finally gave
permission to take the
wall down

© vox.com

Barcelona near the turn of the 19th century, hemmed in by a wall and watched over by a citadel.
ILDEFONS CERDÀ
As soon as the wall’s demolition was announced,
plans began for an expansion of the city. In
1855, the central Spanish government approved
a plan by architect Ildefons Cerdà.

Ildefons Cerdà was a Spanish urban planner

and engineer who designed the 19th-century
"extension" of Barcelona called the Eixample.

Because of his extensive theoretical and

practical work, he is considered the founder
of modern town planning as a discipline,
having coined the word "urbanization“.
© vox.com
Plan of the
Eixample
development
in Barcelona
(1859), by
Ildefons
Cerdà.

© vox.com
Two things are worth noting about
Cerdà’s plan:

First, he took what was, for the time, And second, his plan embodied what is —
an exceptionally holistic view of then and today — a striking
urban quality. He wanted to ensure egalitarianism.
that each citizen had, on a per
capita basis, enough water, clean
air, sunlight, ventilation, and
space. His blocks were oriented
northwest to southeast to maximize
daily sun exposure.

© vox.com
© vox.com
CERDÀ’s PLAN - MANZANA
Each block (manzana) was to be of almost
identical proportions, with buildings of
regular height and spacing and a
preponderance of green space.

Commerce was to take place on the ground

floor, the bourgeoisie were to live on the
floor above (rather than in mansions at the
edge of town), and the workers were slated
for the upper floors.

In this way, they would all share the same

streets and public spaces, exposed to the
same hygienic conditions, reducing social
distance and inequality. © Pinterest
One of the plan’s most crucial and enduring features is its reliance on
short, regular blocks. As the Romans knew, and city planners have since
rediscovered, the hypodamic plan (or hippodamian, named after the
ancient planner Miletus), with its short blocks and orthogonal streets,
encourages walking, mixing, and vibrant street life.

© vox.com
CERDÀ’s PLAN
Though Cerdà designed the city before
automobiles, he included wide streets and
his famous chamfered (45-degree) corners in
anticipation of urban steam trams
distributing goods and people.

In addition to the planning for the layout of the

extension, Cerdà also included an economic
plan and the bylaws necessary for his plan to
be implemented.

The construction of Cerdà’s wide streets

involved the use of many expropriations and
compensation to be paid for the
expropriations. © Pinterest
CERDÀ’s PLAN
In part due to local resistance, Cerdà’s plan
was implemented slowly. It was 20 years
before 250 square acres were built, 50
before one of the main avenues went in
(the other never did).

Cerdà’s plans for reform of the Old Town,

requiring a great deal of expropriation of
wealthy people’s land, were largely
discarded.

© Pinterest
URBAN TRANSFORMATION IN BARCELONA AFTER CERDÀ
In 1888, Barcelona (which by
then was home to 450,000
people) hosted the
Universal Exhibition, a
celebration of Catalan
culture and the city’s
growing influence. The event
prompted urban upgrades
throughout the city,
including a new sewage and
water system, and ushered in
the architectural era of
modernism, with several
grand new structures built
throughout the city. © vox.com
SAGRADA FAMILIA
The Basilica de la Sagrada Familia,
more commonly referred to as
the Sagrada Familia, is a Roman
Catholic minor basilica located in
Barcelona. It was constructed to
honor the Holy Family. After a
couple of years of planning and
drawing up plans, the church's
cornerstone was officially laid on
19th March 1882. This 19th-
century church, which is still
incomplete, is an architectural
marvel and a UNESCO World On 19 March 1882, construction of the Sagrada Família began under
Heritage site. architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. In 1883, when Villar resigned,
Antoni Gaudí took over as chief architect.
© Pinterest
The Grand City Design of

CHANDIGARH, INDIA
© Wallpaper Magazine
CHANDIGARH, INDIA
Chandigarh is one of the most significant
urban planning experiments of the 20th
century. Chandigarh was the dream city of
India's first Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru.

After the partition of India in 1947, the former

British province of Punjab was split between © City Beautiful, Youtube
(mostly Sikhs) East Punjab in India and (mostly
Muslim) West Punjab in Pakistan. The Indian
Punjab required a new capital city to replace
Lahore, which became part of Pakistan during
the partition.

Therefore, American planner and architect

Albert Mayer and Mathew Novicki were tasked
to design a new city called "Chandigarh" in
1949.
ALBERT MAYER’s FAN-
SHAPED MASTERPLAN
The master plan which Albert Mayer
produced for Chandigarh assumes a fan-
shaped outline, spreading gently to fill the
site between the two river beds.

At the head of the plan was the capitol, the

seat of the state government, and the city
center was located in the heart of the city.

Two linear parklands could also be noticed

running continuously from the northeast
head of the plain to its southwestern tip. A
curving network of main roads surrounded
the neighborhood units called Super blocks.
© https://www.townandcountryplanninginfo.com/
LE CORBUSIER
Novicki was tragically killed in an air
accident and Mayer decided to
discontinue. Thereafter, the work was
assigned to a team of architects led by Le
Corbusier in 1951.

Le Corbusier, byname of
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret,
was an internationally influential
Swiss architect and city planner,
whose designs combine the
functionalism of the modern
movement with bold sculptural
expressionism.
© https://www.biography.com/artists/le-corbusier
GRID-IRON
MASTER PLAN of
CHANDIGARH
The grid plan, grid street
plan, or gridiron plan is a
type of city plan in which
streets run at right angles
to each other, forming a
grid.

Grid use in planning

proposes continuity, a
regular and orderly
growth for architecture
and urban environments.
© https://www.townandcountryplanninginfo.com/
LE CORBUSIER’s
MASTER PLAN of
CHANDIGARH
Le Corbusier divided the city
into 63 “Sectors”. Each Sector
(what had been named an
“Urban Village” in Mayer’s
plan) or the neighbored unit, is
quite similar to the traditional
Indian 'mohalla’.

The primary module of the

city’s design is a sector, of size
800×1200 m. Each sector is a
self-sufficient unit having
shops, schools, health centers,
and places of recreation and
worship.
© https://www.townandcountryplanninginfo.com/
SECTOR DESIGN
Each Sector is surrounded by V-2 or V-3 roads, with no
buildings opening on to them.

Access from the surrounding roads is available only at 4

controlled points, which roughly mark the middle of
each side.

Typically a sector is divided in four parts by a V-4 road

running from east to west and a V-5 road running from
north to south. These four parts are easily identifiable
as A, B, C and D corresponding to North, East, South
and West sides.

Each Sector is meant to be self-sufficient, with

shopping and community facilities within reasonable
walking distance.
© SlidePlayer
 THE HUMAN BODY CONCEPT OF CHANDIGARH
The concept of Chandigarh is based on four major
functions: living, working, care of the body and
spirit, and circulation.

Le Corbusier conceived the master plan of

Chandigarh as analogous to the human body,

1. head (the Capitol Complex, Sector 1);

2. heart (the City Centre Sector-17);
3. lungs ( the leisure valley, innumerable open
spaces, and sector greens);
4. the intellect (the cultural and educational
institutions);
5. the circulatory system (the network of roads, the
7Vs); and
© Citywoofer 6. the viscera (the Industrial Area).
THE 7Vs
The roads of the city were
classified into seven
categories, known as the
system of 7 Vs.

V-1 Fast roads connecting

Chandigarh to other towns
V-2 Major Boulevards
V-3 Fast vehicular roads
V-4 Free flowing shopping
streets
V-5 Sector circulation
roads
V-6 Access roads to
houses
V-7 Footpaths

V8 – Pathway for cyclists

© Pinterest
PARK AREAS/ GREEN SPACES
Ample areas have been provided in the master plan of
the Capital for parks. Out of a total area of 20,000 acres
acquired for the first phase, about 2000 acres are meant
for development of parks. Leisure Valley, Rajendra park,
Bougainvillea Park, Zakir Rose Garden, Shanti Kunj,
Hibiscus Garden, Garden of Fragrance, Botanical Garden,
Smriti Upavan, Topiary garden and Terraced Garden are Zakir Rose Garden
some of the famous parks of Chandigarh.

© google images
Leisure Valley Terraced Garden
CHANDIGARH’s ARCHITECTURE

Legislative Assembly
The Open Hand

designs
combine the
functionalism
of the modern
movement
with bold
sculptural
expressionism.
© google images

Secretariat High Court

© ArchDaily
The Grand City Design of

BRASÍLIA, BRAZIL
© Issuu
BRASÍLIA, BRAZIL
Brasilia is a definitive example of 20th-century
modernist urbanism.

Brasília’s roots date back to 1789, when

revolutionary Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, first
proposed the idea of moving the capital from
coastal Rio de Janeiro to a centralized location
in the interior of the country.

The notion was entered into Brazil’s constitution

in 1891, but the plan was not carried out until
1956, under President Juscelino Kubitschek.
The construction period ultimately lasted 41
months, from 1956 to April 21, 1960, the date
of Brasília's inauguration.
© DailyOverview
PLANO
PILOTO DE
BRASÍLIA
The design — resembling
an airplane from above —
was developed by Lúcio
Costa and prominently
features the modernist
buildings of the celebrated
architect Oscar Niemeyer
at its center.

© Distrito Federal
LÚCIO COSTA
• A French-born Brazilian architect best
known as the creator of the master
plan for Brazil’s new capital at Brasília.
• Costa’s plan for the city of Brasília was
selected in a competition held in 1956.
© agenciabrasil
OSCAR NIEMEYER
• Brazilian architect, particularly noted for his
work on Brasília, the new capital of Brazil.
• He worked with Costa from 1937 to 1943 on
the design of the Ministry of Education and
Health building, considered by many to be
Brazil’s first masterpiece of modern
architecture.
© Britannica
PLANO PILOTO DE
BRASÍLIA CONCEPT
The plan essentially divided the new capital
into two parts, the Monumental Axis and
the Residential Axis.
©https://criticallegalthinking.com/

The administrative buildings were to be

built on the vertical line called the
‘monumental axis’. In the subsequent
sketches, the horizontal line of the cross
would curve slightly upwards. This
‘residential axis’ would host a total of 108
superblocks or ‘superquadra’ to provide for
housing for the capital’s politicians and civil
servants. ©https://www.slideshare.net/YuktaYogeesh1/brasilia-urban-city-planning-human-
settlement-ud
PLANO PILOTO DE
BRASÍLIA
Lucio Costa divided
the built space into
four sectors:

• MONUMENTAL;
• RESIDENTIAL;
• SOCIAL; and
• BUCOLIC
SOURCE: The Evolution of Urban Spatial Structure in Brasília: Focusing on the Role of Urban Development
Policies BY Cayo Costa and Sugie Lee
PILOT PLAN’S SPATIAL STRUCTURE
RESIDENTIAL SECTOR
• To apply the principles of highway techniques in
urban planning, the curved axis is given the main
commuting function with a broad central highway
and side roads for local traffic. Main residential areas
are located along this road axis.
• Social graduation is attained by assigning greater
value to certain blocks. In addition, the emergence of
slums must be prevented in both peripheral urban
areas and rural areas.
• The construction of residential areas is not permitted
around the edge of the lake. Instead, the area is
designated for leisure and entertainment facilities
and is preserved as a natural landscape.
• Regarding population density, the contest specified a
plan to accommodate a maximum of 500,000
inhabitants. Construction of satellite cities was
foreseen in the plan at the point when the population
of Brasília reached the original limit.
SOURCE: The Evolution of Urban Spatial Structure in Brasília: Focusing on the Role of Urban Development Policies BY Cayo Costa and Sugie Lee
PILOT PLAN’S SPATIAL STRUCTURE
MONUMENTAL • Civic and administrative centers,
SECTOR cultural centers, sporting arenas,
storage, banking, commercial
retail, small local industries, and
railway stations were set to be
located along the transverse axis,
known as the Monumental Axis
SOCIAL • The entertainment sector (social
SECTOR sector) is located at the
intersection of the Monumental
Axis, characterized by cinemas,
theaters, and restaurants, and is
directly connected to the railway
station (later replaced by a bus
terminal).
BUCOLIC • Parks, great green spaces, a zoo, SOURCE: The Evolution of Urban Spatial Structure in Brasília: Focusing on
SECTOR botanical gardens, and a sports the Role of Urban Development Policies BY Cayo Costa and Sugie Lee
complex comprise the bucolic
sector.
MONUMENTAL AXIS
The Monumental Axis is a central
avenue in Brasília's city design. Many
important government buildings,
monuments, and memorials are
located on the Monumental Axis.

At the bottom of the monumental axis,

a triangular area marks a plaza, the
‘Praça dos Três Poderes’ (‘Plaza of the
Three Powers’), hosting the buildings
of the three main government
branches: the National Congress
Building, the presidential Palácio da
Alvorada, and the Supreme Federal
Court.
©https://arquiscopio.com/
PRAÇA DOS TRÊS PODERES

National Congress Building (© ArchDaily) Palácio da Alvorada (© WordPress)

© Wikipedia
Supreme Federal Court(© WikimediaCommons)
RESIDENTIAL AXIS –

SUPERBLOCKS
The superblock of Brasília, inspired by
Lúcio Costa‘s concept of residential
scale, is a remarkable example of urban
planning that emphasizes the residents’
quality of life. Each superblock is
designed as a self-sufficient unit,
containing a variety of facilities and
public spaces, promoting a sense of
community and well-being.

The wide, tree-lined streets encourage

walking and social interaction, while the
residential buildings are carefully
positioned to maximize natural lighting
and cross ventilation. ©https://arquiscopio.com/
SUPERBLOCKS
Within each superblock, well-maintained
green spaces such as parks and squares can
be found, providing recreational areas for
residents. Additionally, the superblocks are
designed to provide convenient access to
essential services such as schools, markets, ©Reddit

and local shops, creating an atmosphere of

convenience and comfort for the residents.

Having a maximum of six stories, the low

residential buildings are always surrounded
by dense afforestation. This greenery helps
shelter the block's interior areas, creating a
quiet space that is shielded from the
surrounding urban landscape.
©Pinterest
ROAD NETWORKS
RED – Primary Road Network
BROWN – Secondary Road Network

©https://www.slideshare.net/YuktaYogeesh1/brasilia-
urban-city-planning-human-settlement-ud

http://www.vidiani.com/detailed-road-map-of-brasilia/
GREEN SPACES
Parks, great green spaces, a zoo, botanical
gardens are integrated in the city plan, majority
of which is just along the residential area.

©https://www.slideshare.net/YuktaYogeesh1/brasilia-
urban-city-planning-human-settlement-ud
© Arch20.com
https://www.udg.org.uk/publications/articles/brasilia-master-plan
collapse of the utopian ideal of Brasilia

In 1964, the Armed Forces that overthrew the constitutional president João Goulart, decided
to ignore the progress made in terms of habitability, urban planning and architecture in
Brasilia. Although it remained as the capital of the country, the members were not very
respectful with the original project as it had been approved during the government of the
progressive president Juscelino Kubitschek.

Despite this and the uncontrolled growth of the city, which has caused large basins of
poverty on the outskirts of the original outline of the city, Brasilia is still one of Brazil's best
cities to live in.

Brasilia is the only city built in the 20th century to be declared a

World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.
The reasons for this are its unusual architecture and innovative urban planning, designed to
facilitate life for its inhabitants. Features that allow it to be classed as one of the first smart
cities of the world, despite this term not even existing when it was built.
 BRASÍLIA’s
ARCHITECTURE

Catedral Metropolitana
Templo de Boa Vontade | © Joao Vicente/Flickr

© Wikipedia

Itamaraty Palace | © Sorayara Lacerda/Flickr Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil © Leandro Neumann Ciaffo/Flickr
CONCLUSION
Urban Design is the comprehensive planning and
organization of large-scale urban environments. It
entails modifying the physical characteristics of
cities, towns, and villages to produce aesthetically
pleasing, practical, and environmentally friendly
urban settings.

It is the art of making places that not only satiate the

requirements of the inhabitants and guests, but also
inspire and improve their quality of life.

Understanding the seven basic components of urban

design is necessary for anybody involved in the
planning and development of urban settings
because they play a significant role in producing
successful urban places.

Source: https://urbandesignlab.in/7-elements-of-urban-design/
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR
LISTENING!

THE
GRAND
CITY
DESIGN
MSD 501
HISTORY AND THEORY OF URBAN
PLANNING
Presenter: Maria Belinda D. Campana

© Pinterest
REFERENCES:
URBAN PLANNING ACCORDING TO HAUSSMANN - THE TRANSFORMATION OF PARIS IN THE 19TH

CENTURY (https://youtu.be/r9jcCi2UC3Y)

TURGOT MAP (https://www.majestymaps.com/product/turgot-1734-1739-plan-de-paris/)

PARIS PLAN (https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/fine-printed-books-manuscripts-including-americana/plan-de-paris)

CREATION OF PARIS (https://smarthistory.org/haussmann-the-demolisher-and-the-creation-of-modern-paris/)

PARIS ROAD NETWORKS (https://medium.com/pythoneers/paris-street-networks-explained)

HAUSSMAN RENOVATION (http://robbiefaradayhaussmannrenovation.weebly.com/the-renovation)

WASHINGTON DC DESIGN (https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/exploringarchitectureandlandscape/chapter/washington-dc/ AND

https://www.britannica.com/place/Washington-DC/City-layout)

L’ENFANT PLAN (http://usp100.weebly.com/lenfant-plan.html)

CHANDIGARH (https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/senate-stories/a-capital-plan.htm)

CHANDIGARH CITY PLAN (https://www.townandcountryplanninginfo.com/2020/09/chandigarh-city-planning-by-le-corbusier.html)

BRASILIA (https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/60-years-ago-modernist-city-brasilia-built, AND https://tomorrow.city/a/brasilia-
the-smart-city-of-the-past)

BARCELONA (https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/4/8/18266760/barcelona-spain-urban-planning-history)