GATE

Architecture and Planning

 GATE -Architecture & Planning
Planning Process

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 Syllabus
• Regional delineation;
• Settlement hierarchy;
• Types and hierarchy of plans;
• Various schemes and programs of central government;
• Transit Oriented Development (TOD), SEZ, SRZ etc.;
• Public Perception and user behaviour;
• National Housing Policies, Programs and Schemes. ;
• Slums, Squatters and informal housing;
• Standards for housing and community facilities;
• Housing for special areas and needs.

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 Urban/ City Planning
• Technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use, the built
environment, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas

• Development of open land (“greenfield sites”) and the revitalization of existing parts of the city,
thereby involving goal setting, data collection and analysis, forecasting, design, strategic thinking,
and public consultation.

• It also involves planning of brownfield sites (used previously but is lying vacant or unused now). This
land could have been contaminated by industrial waste or hazardous waste or might have suspected
oil contamination.

• A contemporary planning process includes master plan, metropolitan area, policy alternatives,
strategic plans, comprehensive plans, neighbourhood plans, regulatory and incentive strategies, or
historic preservation plans.

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 Town Planning – History (India)
• Layout of city – Sthapatya Veda
• Street layouts – Smriti Shastra
• Architectural Planning, construction and design – Vaastu Shastra
• Soil Quality, water resources, planting of trees and groves – Arthashastra by Chanakya
• Traditional cities designed according to the principles of sacred geometry – Vaastu Purush Mandala

• Vastu Shastra – five Shapes of Towns

1. Chandura – Square
2. Agatara – Rectangle
3. Vritta – Circle
4. Kritta Vritta – Elliptical
5. Gola Vritta - Full Circle

Four distinct types of habitation settlements within fortifies cities

1. Janabhavanas – Commoners house
2. Rajbhavanas – Palaces and Mansions
3. Devabhavanas – Religious places
4. Public Buildings

Manasara, Mayamata, and Visvakarma Prakara – emphasised on the architecture and planning of Janabhavanas.

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 Hierarchy and types of Settlements
1. Single Buildings Types of Settlements according to shape:
2. Hamlets
3. Villages 1. Nucleated – grouped together
4. Towns
5. Cities
6. Conurbations

2. Linear – developed along a line

• The term conurbation was coined by Patrick
Geddes
• The population is greatest in the conurbations,
with wide variety of services.
• Conurbation is a region comprising of a number 3. Dispersed – buildings spread apart
of cities, large towns and urban areas, through
population growth and physical expansion, have
merged to form one urban and industrially
developed area. It is a result of urban sprawl or
outgrowth.

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 Ancient Town Planning Classification in India
1. Dandaka
• Streets are straight and cross each
other at right angles at the centre
• Villages has 4 gates on four sides
• Village is rectangular/ square shape
• 2 transverse street at the extremities
have single row of houses

2. Sarvatobhadra
• Applicable to larger villages and
towns, which have to be constructed
on square or rectangular sites.
• Temple dominates the village
• The Town to be completely occupied
by houses of various descriptions and
inhabited by all classes of people

Example : Thanjavor in Tamil Nadu

(Brihadeshwar temple complex) and
Srirangam located in Tiruchirapalli

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 Ancient Town Planning Classification in India
3. Nandyavarta
• Used for the construction of towns and
not villages
• Generally adopted for sites either circular
or square in shape, 3000-4000 houses
• Streets run parallel to the central
adjoining streets with the temple of the
presiding deity in the center of the town
Example : Madurai

4. Padmaka
• This type of plan was practiced for
building of the towns with fortress
all around
• The pattern of the plan resembles
the petals of lotus radiating
outwards from the center
• The city used to be practically an
island surrounded by water, having
no scope for expansion.

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 Ancient Town Planning Classification in India
5. Swastika
• Contemplates perpendicular streets dividing the site into certain
rectangular plots
• The site may be of any shape
• A rampart wall surrounds the town with a moat filled with water
• Two main streets cross each other at the center, running north
to south and west to east.
6. Prastara
• The site may be either square or rectangle, but
not triangle or circle
• The sites are set apart for the poor, the middle
class, the rich and the very rich, the sizes of the
sites increasing according to the capacity of each
to purchase or build upon
• Main roads much wider compared to other
patterns
• The town may or may not be surrounded by fort
Example : Jaipur
Jaipur Plan is also based on nine square mandala
corresponding to the navgraha or nine planets

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 Ancient Town Planning Classification in India
7. Karmuka
• Suitable for a place where the site of the town is in the form of
a bow or semi-circle or parabolic
• Mostly applied to towns located on the seashore or river banks
• The main streets of the town run from north south or east
west and the cross streets run at right angles to them, dividing
the whole area into blocks
• Female deity temple built in any convenient place.
Example : Shahjahanabad, Varanasi, Patna

8. Chaturmukha
• Applicable to all towns starting
from the largest town to the
smallest town to the smallest
village
• The site may be either square or
rectangular having four faces
• The town is laid out east to west
lengthwise, with four main streets
• The temple of the deity will be
always at the center.
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 How to Remember?

Dandaka Sarvatobhadra Nandyavarta Padmaka

Swastika Prastara Karmukha Chaturmukha

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 Indus Valley Civilization
Settlements:
• Harappa (Ravi Basin) or Mohenjodaro (Indus Basin) in Pakistan
• Kalibangan, Lothal or Sarkotada, Dholavira in India

Major Features:
• Excellent closed drainage system and water supply system
• Planned layout with rectilinear buildings arranged on a grid
plan
• Presence of underground drains for the streets with
manholes
• 2 forms in the plan –
1. Citadel or acropolis (upper part or political, economy
rich and VIP area).
2. Non citadel (lower part, lower valued residential
building)
• Large brick culverts constructed on the outskirts of the city to
carry excess water

• Dholavira and Lothal (Gujarat), these settlements

were fortified, and sections within the town were also
separated by walls

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 Sumerian Civilization and Egyptian Civilization
Settlement:
• Mesopotamia (Babylonia, Uruk)
Key Features:
Sumerian Civilization

• Surrounded by huge fortified walls

• Major elements of planning - street network, canals, city
walls, gates, palaces, temples, ziggurats and open spaces.
• Babylonia and Borsippa used rectangular cardinal grid
pattern for road network
• Concept of shadow network
• Temples are at the heart of the city
• The typical city divided space into residential, mixed use,
commercial, and civic spaces.
Egyptian Civilization

Key Features:
• Towns generally had a boundary wall with only one or two entrances through the
wall
• Houses were built on the edge of the Streets
• The streets were very narrow.
• Built canals, dams and dug wells to collect water.
• Important cities – Amarna (akhetaten), Maadi, Memphis, Thebes

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 The Hippodamian Plan
Key Features:
• Hippodamus – Father of City Planning
• Orthogonal Urban layout
• Neatly arranged and organised city with lined up wide streets
• Public spaces clustered together in the center of the city
• Division of public, scared, and private land – example of zoning
• Shrines, theatres, agora, government buildings, market space were all close
together in the center of the city
• Architect Dinocrataes - laid out the city of Alexandria (Hellenic planning and:
architecture)
Piraeus:
• Neighbourhoods of around 2,400 m sq. blocks were constructed where small
groups of 2 floor houses were built
• Harbour town for Athens
• Grid iron pattern
• Wide streets running parallel
• The agora of Piraeus was named Hippodameia
• Other examples include City of Olynthus, Rhodes, City of Miletus, Jerusalem,
Pella and Olynthus in Macedonia, Halicarnassus in Caria, Apamea and Dura
Europos in Syria, Seleucia in Babylonia, Acragas on Sicily, Priene in Ionia, Laodicea
in Phrygia, Byllis in Illyria, and Taxila in the Punjab, and Emporiae in Catalonia.

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 European City Planning – Rome, Paris
Key Features: Rome
• Employed regular orthogonal structures for
colonies
• Central forum with city services, surrounded by
a compact, rectilinear grid of streets.
• Lay out the streets at right angles, in the form
of a square grid, eg: Timgad
• Each square marked by four roads was called
an insula
• Greek & Etruscan town plans were influential in
evolution of roman town plans
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Key Features: Paris
• Renovation of Paris was done by Georges-Eugène Haussmann
• It included the demolition of medieval neighbourhoods that were
deemed overcrowded and unhealthy by officials at the time; the
building of wide avenues; new parks and squares; the annexation of
the suburbs surrounding Paris; and the construction of new sewers,
fountains and aqueducts.
• It brought symmetry to the city
• The new streets were laid out in a grid running east to west north to
south with diagonal connections radiating out.
• All main roads to pass major buildings and monuments
• Haussmann engineered a new underground sewer system: separation
of potable water & waste.
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 Squares in London, American City Planning - Philadelphia
Key Features: Squares, London
• "Square" is a generic term for neat, planned or set aside urban
open spaces larger than a verge or pavement overlooked by
buildings.
• Also known as city squares
• Some "squares" are irregularly shaped
• Examples are Trafalgar Square, Granny Square, Russell Square,
Paternoster Square, St James Square, St. George’s Square,
Kensington Square, Leicester Square, Parliament Square

Key features: Philadelphia

• Central open public square for future public building
• Gridiron street pattern
• Street widths appropriate to the street's functions
• Ample land for future development
• William penn and thomas holme are the planners for Philadelphia
• Four public greens in addition to central square – green country
town

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 Baroque Planning Influences
Key features:
• Influence in late 17th and 18th centuries
• Rebuilding of London by Christopher Wren –
incorporated diagonal avenues and circles.
• The major axis, cross axis, and squares of Williamsburg,
Virginia reflected many renaissance European plans for
cities and parks, designed for displaying palaces and
public buildings
• The most prominent plan was Pierre L’ Enfant’s design
for the new federal city of Washington DC and Detroit.
• Main features of Washington were working on grand
scale, high points on presidential residence, house of
Congress, interlaced landscape with broad diagonal
boulevard and circles. -(City of Magnificent Distances)
• Detroit also incorporated Baroque radial plan

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 GATE Previous Years Questions
1. Type of village should be built on a bank of river of a sea as per architecture of Manasara is [Gate 1998]
a. Nandyavarta
b. Karmukha
c. Swastika
d. Prastara
Ans: B

2. ‘Swastika’ form of settlement layout in ancient Indian town planning is basically [Gate 2002]
a. A grid iron pattern
b. A radial pattern
c. A ring radial pattern
d. An informal pattern
Ans: C

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 GATE Previous Years Questions
3. A settlement pattern has a 4 x 4 matrix with a cross like a principal axis of main roads and four smaller
cross like networks of arterial roads, opening upto 4 gateways cardinally. The pattern is called
[Gate 2003]
a. Dandaka
b. Nandavartya
c. Chaturmukha
d. Sarvatobhadra
Ans: C
4. Traditional Indian settlement patterns, based on orthogonal grid are represented by: [Gate 2008]
a. Padmaka, Kurmaka and Swastika
b. Mandala, Kurmaka and Angula
c. Dandaka, Vidambaka and Dhanurmusti
d. Sarvatabhadra, Prastara and Chaturmukha
Ans: D
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 GATE Previous Years Questions
5. Dandaka form of settlement layout is basically a [Gate 2011]
a. Grid Iron pattern
b. Ring radial pattern
c. Radial pattern
d. Informal pattern
Ans: A
6. The urban form of Srirangam town in Tamil Nadu refers to [Gate 2013]
a. Dandaka
b. Swastika
c. Nadyavarta
d. Sarvotabhadra
Ans: D

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 GATE Previous Years Questions (practice)
7. Match the street layouts of ancient Indian settlements in group-I with their corresponding types in
Group-II [Gate 2016]
a. P-2, Q-4, R-3, S-5
b. P-2, Q-3, R-4, S-5
c. P-4, Q-3, R-5, S-1
d. P-4, Q-3, R-2, S-1
Ans: B

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 GATE Previous Years Questions
8. Plans of Mohenjodaro and medieval Jaipur are based on: [Gate 2008]
a. Grid pattern and sectoral allocation of zoning
b. Radial pattern and grid allocation of zoning
c. Clustered pattern and segregated allocation of zoning
d. Centralized pattern and composite allocation of zoning
Ans: A
9. “Timgad” is an example of [Gate 1998]
a. Greek Town
b. Roman Town
c. Sumerian Town
d. Egyptian Town
Ans: B

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 City Layout Shapes
Finger plan/:
• The Finger Plan is an urban plan from 1947 which
provides a strategy for the development of
the Copenhagen metropolitan area, Denmark.
• Copenhagen is to develop along five 'fingers',
centred on S-train commuter rail lines, which extend
from the 'palm', that is the dense urban fabric of
central Copenhagen.
• In between the fingers, green "wedges" are intended
to provide land for agriculture and recreational
purposes.
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Star Shaped:
• Star Shaped plan is the Renaissance concept of
an Ideal town developed by Leon Battista Alberti
• He insisted on choosing the location of the town first,
followed by setting up of streets, then location of
bridges and gates, and finally a building pattern ruled
by perfect symmetry
• Examples: the city of Sforzinda which was laid out
within an eight-pointed star inscribed within a
circular moat.
• Other examples are Brielle, Willemstad, Heusden in
Netherlands; Palmanova in Paris; Almeida in
Portugal; Terezin in Czech Republic
 City Layout Shapes
Galaxy Plan:
• This style of planning was adopted in Auroville which aims at becoming a model
of the 'city of the future' or 'the city the earth needs'.
• The city area has a radius of 1.25km
• All the areas in the city are within 5-6mins walking distance from the centre
(Crown Road)
• At the centre stands the Matrimandir, the “soul of Auroville”, a place for
individual silent concentration.
• Surrounding the city area is a Green Belt
• Roger Anger, the French architect looked over the city's physical development.

Poly centred Net:

• In this model, several key districts can coexist while also functioning like a self-
contained “city within a city.”
• Well-planned transit infrastructure, ample public space, and mixed-use
developments for work, housing, and leisure
• Examples are Detroit, Early London and New York
• Detroit was planned with a series of plazas and wide boulevards radiating
outwards.
• The planning was based on L'Enfant's plan for Washington DC “spokes of the
wheel”

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 City Layout Shapes
Radial Plan: Grid Iron Plan:
• The City grows in the pattern of rings and radials • City plan in which streets run at right angles to each other,
• Inner and outer ring roads linked by radiating forming a grid
roads • Ancient city planning were mostly in grid iron pattern like
• Core has the business area Indus Valley, City of Miletus
• Periphery has green belts • Regular plot sizes
• Examples are Moscow, Washington DC, Paris, • Maximizes the use of land
New Delhi, Brondby Haveby (Denmark) • Do not affect street frequency
• Examples are Chandigarh, Beijing, Gandhinagar, Toronto,
Alexandria, Islamabad, Dubai

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 City Layout Shapes
Linear City:
• The linear city is an elongated urban formation.
• Generally, the city would run parallel to a river, sea or
bounded by mountains or geographical boundaries
• The linear city design was first developed by Arturo Soria y
Mata in Madrid, Spain
• Examples are Navi Mumbai, Madrid, Early Johannesburg
and Pretoria, South Africa

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 GATE Previous Years Questions
1. Two names associated with the planning of Paris and Philadelphia are respectively: [Gate 2008]
(A) Georges-Eugene Hausmann and William Penn
(B) Patrick Geddess and Louis Wirth
(C) Albert Perry and Oswald Spangler
(D) Le Corbusier and John Friedman

Ans : A

2. ‘Finger Plan’ concept of urban planning was initially adopted in [Gate 2014]
(A) Canberra (B) Paris
(C) Copenhagen (D) Tokyo

Ans: C

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 GATE Previous Years Questions
3. Match the architect-planners in Group l with their contributions in Group li. [Gate 2007]
Group 1
P. Hippodamus
Q. Michelangelo
R. Leon Battista Alberti
S. Daniel Burnham

Group II
1. City Beautiful
2. Star-shaped plan
3. Grid iron plan
4. Campidoglio
5. St. Peter's Square

(A) P-3, Q-4, R-2, S-1

('C) P-4, Q-1, R-5, S-3
(8) P-3. Q-5, R-2, S-4
(D) P-3, Q-2, R- l, S-5 Ans: A

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 GATE Previous Years Questions
4. Match the cities in Group I with their form in Group II Gate 2010
Group I
P. Detroit
Q. Copenhagen
R. Stalingrad
S. San Francisco

Group II
1. Star Form
2. Poly centred Net
3. Linear City
4. Ring form
S. Galaxy

(A) P-1. Q-4,R- 3,S-2

(C) P-5, Q-1, R -2,S-3
(B) P-2, Q-1, R-3, S-4
(D) P-4, Q-3, R-1, S-5 Ans: B
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 GATE Previous Years Questions
4. Match the urban forms listed in Group I with the towns listed in Group II
Group I Group II
P. Grid Iron 1. New Delhi

Q. Radial 2. Washington D.C.

R. Linear 3. Copenhagen

S. Finger plan 4. Mumbai

5. Canberra

(A) P-2, Q-1, R-4, S-3 (B) P-3, Q-1, R-2, 8-5
(C) P-3, Q-1, R-4, S-2 (D) P-2, Q-1, R-4, S-5

Ans: A

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 City Beautiful Movement, Garden City Movement
Key features: City Beautiful Movement
• Fredrick Law Olmsted and Daniel Burnham catalysed the
City Beautiful Movement
• Revival of civic design and grand planning
• The first large-scale elaboration in Chicago
• The exposition displayed a model city of grand scale,
known as the "white city", with
modern transport systems and no poverty visible.
• Early use of the city beautiful ideal was the McMillan Plan
• Examples : Washington
D.C., Chicago, Baltimore, Cleveland, Columbus
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Key features:
• Ebenezer Howard initiated the garden city movement
• He published the book Garden city of Tomorrow
• The garden city movement is a method of urban planning in
which self-contained communities are surrounded by
"greenbelts", containing proportionate areas of residences,
industry, and agriculture.
• It would be located on a 6,000-acre land currently used for
agriculture purposes only for 32000 population with six radial
boulevards extending from the centre
 Garden City -3 magnets
Key features:
• Overcrowding and congestion in Industrial
Revolution due to uncontrolled growth, thus
initiated the need for Garden Cities.
• The three magnets - the town magnet, the
country magnet and the third with attractive
features of both town and country life. The
third one named to be a Garden City
• Self sufficient, affordable and connected to a
central city linked by road or rail.
• Examples : Letchworth, Welwyn,
Hertfordshire, Adelaide Australia
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Satellite Town
Key features:
• The Garden City Model was mutated into satellite or new towns in many
Stockholm countries, eg. Sweden, UK or Hongkong
• Smaller metropolitan areas which are located somewhat near to, but are
mostly independent of, larger metropolitan areas
• The satellite town provides best solution to the urbanization problems like
urban sprawl
• In Australia, Gold Coast in Queensland is a satellite city of Brisbane,
Wollongong and Gosford is a satellite city of Sydney. In UK Wythenshawe
and Becontree.
• In India, there are many satellite towns near major cities like Thane,
Panvel, Salt Lake City, Ghaziabad, Navi Mumbai, and Hitech City, etc
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 Neighbourhood Plan
Key features:
• Neighbourhood Unit Concept was developed by Clarence A. Perry
• Creation of a residential neighbourhood to meet the needs of family life in a
unit related to the larger whole but possessing a distinct identity characterised
by six factors :
1. A child need not cross traffic streets on the way to school.
2. A centrally located elementary school which will be within easy walking
distance, no more than one and a half mile from the farthest dwelling.
3. A housewife can walk to a shopping centre to obtain daily household goods.
4. Convenient transportation to and from the workplace.
5. Scattered neighbourhood parks and playgrounds to comprise about 10% of the
whole area.
6. A residential environment with harmonious architecture, careful planting,
centrally located community buildings, and special internal street system with
deflection of all through traffic preferably on thoroughfares which bound and
clearly set off neighbourhood.

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 Radburn Town
Key features:
• In North America, the Garden city movement was evolved
into the “Neighbourhood Unit” form of development.
• In response Radburn, New Jersey was developed with
oriented houses towards the common public path instead
of the street.
• Radburn was founded in 1929 as "a town for the motor
age"
• Its planners were Clarence Stein and Henry Wright, and
its landscape architect Marjorie Sewell Cautley
• Radburn introduced the largely residential "superblock"
and is credited with incorporating culs-de-sac
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Ribbon Development
Key features:
• Ribbon development is building houses along the routes of
communications radiating from a human settlement
• Ribbon development can also be compared with a linear village
• First ribbons are focused on roads
• First problems noticed by residents is traffic congestion, as
people compete to move along the narrow urban corridor
• Following the Industrial Revolution, ribbon development
became prevalent along railway lines: predominantly in Russia,
the United Kingdom, and the United States.
• A good example of this was the deliberate promotion of Metro-
land along London's Metropolitan Railway
• Other examples include Long Island, Boston
 GATE Previous Years Questions
1. Wythenshawe and Becontree are examples of
(A) Factory Town (B) Satellite Town
(C) Garden City (D) Vertical Neighborhood

Ans : B

2. Match the Planning Concepts in Group – I with their Corresponding Proponents in Group – II
Group-I Group-II
P Broadacre city 1 Le Corbusier
Q Radiant city 2 F. L. Wright
R Industrial town 3 Robert Owen
S Arcosanti 4 Henry Wright
5 Paolo Soleri
(A) P – 1 , Q – 4 , R – 3 , S – 5 (B) P – 1 , Q – 3 , R – 5 , S – 2
(B) (C) P – 2 , Q – 1 , R – 3 , S – 5 (D) P – 2 , Q – 1 , R – 5 , S – 4

Ans C
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 GATE Previous Years Questions
1. Wythenshawe and Becontree are examples of
(A) Factory Town (B) Satellite Town
(C) Garden City (D) Vertical Neighborhood

Ans : B

2. Town planned for ‘Motor Age’ refers to

(A) Toronto, Ontario (B) Nassan Shores, Long Island
(C) Radburn, New Jersey (D) Green Belt, Maryland

Ans : C

3. The ratio of town area to agricultural land area as suggested by Sir Ebenezer Howard in ‘Garden
City’ concept is
(A) 1:20 (B) 1:15 (C) 1:10 (D) 1:5

Ans: D
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