Planning Concepts of Ebenezer Howard

UNIT 3 – PLANNING CONCEPTS AR 6902 HUMAN SETTLEMENTS AND PLANNING
UNIT III PLANNING CONCEPTS

Planning concepts and their relevance to Indian planning practice in respect of
 Ebenezer Howard - Garden city concepts and contents

 Patrick Geddes - Conservative surgery - Case study
 C.A.Perry - Neighbourhood concepts
 Le Corbusier- concept and case studies
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Industrial revolution from the 18th century onwards marked the cut off between the ancient and modern planning.
Industrialisation was a boon to the growing population all over the world. Its impact like the rising production and the
pace of life created chain reactions affecting both natural and built environment.
The problems arose mainly because of the concentration of the working class in poorly built housing near factories and
mills. Many utopian plans for better housing and urban development were presented by industrialists. These plans were
not executed but highlighted the growing ill effects of the urban areas.
The concepts of four leading thinkers of modern urban planning had a significant impact in shaping the contemporary
cities all over the world. They were Ebenezer Howard, Patrick Geddes, C.A.Perry and Le Corbusier.
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 GARDEN CITY - Ebenezer Howard

Sir Ebenezer Howard is a British town planner and a well-known sociologist. He observed the disastrous growth in Chicago,
New York and London. This created an everlasting impression in his Mind.
Congestion, Squalor and discomfort at all levels in the growing urban centres had to be checked at once. To address these
issues Howard evolved the concept of garden city.
• Garden city most potent(strong) planning in western urban planning
• Created by Ebenezer howard in 1898 to solve urban and rural problems
• Source of many key planning ideas during 20th century.
Garden city:
The garden city is part of urban
movement and is a method of urban
planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir
Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom.
Garden cities were intended to be planned,

self-contained communities surrounded by
"greenbelts”, containing proportionate
areas of residences, industry, and
agriculture.
Redirecting the urban growth into new

towns that would surround existing cities.
These towns were called Garden Cities
GARDEN CITY |THE CONCEPT

‘Garden City’– an impressive diagram of
THE THREE MAGNETS namely the town magnet, country

magnet with their advantages and disadvantages and the third
magnet with attractive features of both town and country life.
• Naturally people preferred the third one namely

garden city.
Howard wanted to combine the best of the new industrial

society with the best of the country side in his ideal community
named as Garden city
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Core garden city principles

 Strong community
 ordered development
 environmental quality
These were to be achieved by:
 Unified owner ship of land to prevent individual land

speculation and maximize community benefit.
 Careful planning to provide generous living and working
space while maintaining natural qualities
 Social mix and good community facilities
 Limits to growth of each garden city
 Local participation in decisions about development.
AFFORDABILITY :
 Howard wanted garden city of all incomes
 Most originally for those of modest incomes
 Their attractiveness as living environments has
often made them become more popular with better off
people.
EXAMPLES OF MODEST INCOME GARDEN CITY-
developments build just after ww1 are
 Kapyla ( Finland )
 Colonel light gardens (Adelaide, Australia)
 Orechova (prague, Czech republic)
SOME GARDEN CITY DEVELOPMENTS ALWAYS
INTENDED FOR WEALTHY COMMUTERS
 Denenchofu ( Tokyo, japan ) was an example of
this developed by railway company
Salient features of Garden city

 The Garden city houses a population of 32,000 in an
area of 1000 acres.
 Each city was divided into smaller neighbourhoods of

5000 people to act as counter magnets
 the possibility of speculation of land and

overcrowding would be eliminated and the increment
of value created by the community in the industrial
and commercial ( shops) sets would be preserved for
itself.
 Six magnificent boulevards each 36m wide traverse

the city from the centre to the circumference dividing into six equal parts.
 In the centre is a circular space forming the central park
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 Public buildings like hospital,library,theatre,town

hall,museum,concert hall surround the central park.
 The central park is surrounded by a shopping street
 The central park and shopping streets are surrounded by

dwellings in all direction.
 A permanent agricultural belt of 5000 hectares surrounds

the entire city
BOULEVARD:
A wide road in a city, usually with trees on each side or along

the centre
HOWARD’S IDEOLOGY
 Emergence of neighbourhood concept

 Creation of hierarchical amenities and facilities
 Green belts
 Land use zoning
 Provision of cycle paths
 Planned expansion of cities to accommodate
growing population.
GARDEN CITY – APPLICATION
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EVOLUTION OF GARDEN CITY - CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

IMPORTANT YEARS
• 1899 published 'garden city' of tomorrow
• 1903 Garden city association was formed
• 1903 LETCH WORTH was designed for 35000 person, 35 miles from London,town area:about 500
acres,3000 acres of agricultural belt.
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• 1920 Welwyn was designed for 40000 persons, area about 2400
• 1947 LETCHWORTH had 16000 population & 100 factories
• Welwyn was designed for 18000 population & 75 factories
Planning concepts and their relevance to Indian Planning practice in respect of Ebenezer
Howard
When Sir Edwin Lutyens sat down at his drawing board to design Imperial New Delhi just over 100 years ago, he
was inspired by the ideas of the Garden City Movement started by English architect, Ebenezer Howard.
The movement, an urban planning concept, saw a city as a group of planned, self-contained communities
surrounded by green belts "containing proportionate areas of residence, industry and agriculture". So Lutyens'
Delhi, also known as the "Eighth City of Delhi", stood out from the start with wide tree-lined avenues large plots
and spacious bungalows set in them. The President's House was set on a central avenue surrounded by
government buildings and residential bungalows.
Lutyens unveiled his plan in 1912 and the new city, occupying 19.12 sq km, was built over 20 years.
Lutyens had initially designed Delhi with all the streets crossing at right angles, much like in New York.
However, Lord Hardinge

told him of the dust
storms that sweep
the landscape in
these parts,
insisting on
roundabouts,
hedges and trees to
break their force.
Lutyens’ Delhi was
planned on the most
spacious garden city lines
with the great avenues decorated with classical buildings with lush
landscape.
The layout of Lutyens Delhi was governed by three major visual corridors, linking the government complex with:
Jama Masjid, Indraprastha and Safdarjungs Tom
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 C.A.Perry - NEIGHBOURHOOD CONCEPT

• Clarence Arthur Perry (1872-1944) was an American planner.
• He formulated his early ideas about the neighborhood unit and community life which
is 5-minute walk to define walking distances from residential to non-residential
components.
• Perry was very concerned about the walkability to and from schools. His ideas were
realized in neighborhoods like Radburn through the work of Clarence Stein.
Vision of Neighbourhood
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The Neighbourhood is the planning unit for a Town
Clarence A. Perry (1929) was one of the first to give some consideration to the physical form of the neighbourhood unit.
Perry’s neighbourhood unit concept began as a means of insulating the community from the ill-effects of burgeoning sea
of vehicular traffic. However, it evolved to serve a much broader purpose of providing a discernible identity for the
concept of the neighbourhood, and of offerings to designers a framework for disseminating the city into smaller subareas.
He said” the underlying principle of the scheme is that an urban neighbourhood should be regarded both as a unit of
larger whole and a distinct entity in itself.
There are certain facilities, functions or aspects that are strictly local and peculiar to a well arranged- residential
community. They may be classified under four heads:
1. The elementary school
2. Small parks and playgrounds
3. Local shops and
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4. Residential environment, other neighbourhood institutions and

services are sometimes found, but there are practically universal.
He laid down the fundamental elements on which he intended the

neighbourhood unit should be based on size, boundaries, open spaces,
institutional sites, local shops and internal road system.
SIX BASIC PRINCIPLES OF NEIGHBOURHOOD THEORY
[1] Major arterials and Traffic routes should not pass through residential
neighbourhood.Instead, these streets should provide the boundaries of
the neighbourhood.
[2] Interior street pattern should be designed and constructed through use
of cul-de-sacs, curve layout and light duty surfacing, so as to encourage a
quiet,safe,low volume traffic movement and preservation of the
residential atmosphere.
[3] The population of the neighbourhood should be that which is necessary

to support its elementary school.(when Perry formulated his theory, this population was estimated at about 5,000
persons, current elementary school size standards probably would lower the figure to 3,000 – 4,000 persons)
[4] The neighbourhood focal point should be the elementary school centrally located on a common or green along with
other institutions that have services area coincident with the neighbourhood boundaries.
[5] The radius of the neighbourhood should be a maximum of 1/4 mile, thus precluding a walk of more than that distance
for any elementary school child.
[6] Shopping districts should be sited at the edge of the neighbourhood. Preferably at major street intersection.
C.Perry,in effort to rectify the ills of the metropolis,orginated the idea of neighbourhood as a planned community, self –
contained with respect to the basic needs of collective living and large enough to maintain an elementary school.
He believed and demonstrated that the school, if properly conceived, could be used to bring the people of a school district
together, and to generate social consciousness.
In essence, Perry and his followers endeavoured to design social neighbourhood, or the community.
To contemporary planners there is nothing startling or complex about Perry’s ideas. The remarkable thing about them is
their continued application, with minor variations, over the years.
The examples of local use of Perry’s basic theory as the standard for neighbourhood development are
myriad.ie,Tulsa,Okla,South field ,Mich:Berkeley, Calif: Wichita,Kan.
A complete listing of cities in the United States, Canada and Europe that have embraced the neighbourhood unit theory.
Principles of Neighbourhood
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Updated Neighbourhood unit
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HUMAN SETTLEMENTS PLANNING TERMS
CONURBATION:
an extended urban area, typically consisting
of several towns merging with the suburbs of a
central city.
 Patrick geddies - CONSERVATIVE SURGERY CONCEPT

Father of modern town planning.
Sir Patrick Geddes (2 October 1854 – 17 April 1932) was a Scottish biologist,
sociologist, geographer, philanthropist and pioneering town planner.
He is known for his innovative thinking in the fields of urban planning and sociology.
He introduced the concept of "region" to architecture and planning and coined the
term "conurbation".
First to link sociological concepts into town planning
“Survey before plan ”………………………………………. i.e. Diagnosis before treatment
The theories of Patrick Geddes were realized during the late 1940s and 1950s, it was after the second world war that his
influence overcame the opinions of the earlier generations of architectural modernists. His works concentrated on the
interaction between man and his environment.
He created diagrams which portrayed his trial of thoughts which he described as “calls for action to improve the built and
natural environment”.
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Geddes viewed the city as a super structure raised on a formwork developed by place, work and folk.
In his book “cities in evolution “ – published in 1915 – Geddes coined the term “ conurbation” to describe the waves of
population inflow to large cities, followed by overcrowding and slum formation, and then the wave of back flow – the
whole process resulting in amorphous sprawl, waste, and unnecessary obsolescence.
IDEOLOGY OF PLANNING
a) The concept of place, work and folk
b) Diagnostic survey and conservative surgery
c) The outlook tower and public participation in planning
d) Valley section principles
 THE CONCEPT OF PLACE, WORK AND FOLK
The town planning primarily meant establishing organic relationship among “Folk, place and work", which corresponds
to triad ( Geddisian triad) of organism, function and environment. Geddes was keen that the task of planning should not
force people into new places against their associations, wishes and interests. Instead the task must be to find the right
places for the right kind of people where they would flourish. He insisted on a socio-economic survey while developing a
city or while planning a entirely new town
 CONCEPTS
Patrick Geddes explained an organ i s m”s relationship to its environment

as follows:
“The environment acts, through function, upon the organism and

conversely the organism acts, through function, upon the environment.“
(Cities in Evolution, 1915)
In human terms this can be understood as a place acting through climatic

and geographic processes upon people and thus shaping them. At the same
time people act, through economic processes such as farming and
construction, on a place and thus shape it. Thus both place and folk are
linked and through work are in constant transition.
GEDDISIAN TRIAD
Geddian Trio Representation
Organic relationship between Socio Physical & Economical

Environment
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 Geddes was concerned with the relationship between people and cities and how they affect one another.
 He emphasized that people do not merely needed shelter, but also food and work, the recreation and social life.
This makes the house an inseparable part of the neighbourhood, the city and the surrounding open country and
the region.
THE OUTLOOK TOWER AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN PLANNING

Public participation is an important concept stressed by Geddes. Any city development programme is bound to be a failure
without active public participation. He insisted on the establishment of Outlook towers in all cities from where citizens can
view the cities and know the problems faced by the growing cities.
Patrick Geddes took over the buildings formerly known as “short’s observatory” in 1892.From the prospect roof of the
outlook tower are spectacular views across the firth of forth and the surrounding city region. Positioned at the top of the
Edinburgh’s high street, it holds the camera obscura,which refracts an image onto a white table within, for study and
survey. A mirror at the top of the dome picks up images and reflects them through a lens which in turn focuses the picture
on to a white surfaces as on a film camera.
The tower was conceived as a tool for regional analysis, index-museum and the “world’s first sociological laboratory". It
represents the essence of Geddes’s thought – his holism, visual thinking and commitment to understanding the city in the
region. He said of it “our greatest need today is to conceive life as a whole, to see its many sides in their proper relations,
but we must have a practical as well as a philosophic interest in such an integrated view of life.
Hence the first contribution of this Tower towards understanding life is purely visual, for from here everyone can make a
start towards seeing completely that portion of the world he can survey. He can also grasp what a natural region actually
is and how a great city is linked to such a region. Now the tower is home to the Patrick Geddes centre for planning studies,
Where an archive and exhibition are housed.
VALLEY SECTION PRINCIPLES

The valley section is applicable to any country, region and in particular to Great Britain.In the valley section Geddes
correlates as to how the topography is associated with the primary occupation of man.
Accordingly the miner,woodman and hunter are at a higher elevation, the shepherd on the grassy slopes,the poor peasant
on the lower slopes,the rich peasant on the plains and finally the fishermen at the seacoast.
This location is not only controlled geographically but is also conditioned by their environment and occupation which is
manifested in their settlements.Geddes also emphasises that the violation of this principle will not only the result in daily
economic waste but will also end in aesthetic ruin.
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Geddes was the originator of the idea and technique of Regional survey and city survey.
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DIAGNOSTIC SURVEY AND CONSERVATIVE SURGERY
In his technique called Diagnostic Survey, Geddes framed new ways of observing and analysing cities. He laid emphasis on
"survey before plan” ie. Diagnosis before treatment to make correct diagnosis of various ills from which the town suffers
and then prescribe the correct remedies for its cure. These are the physical and social economic surveys.
It involved the collection of all known data of a city and its surroundings such as its origin,geography,climate,traditions and
present socio economic structure. Thus the diagnostic survey formed the storehouse of information that helps in
preparing a long term practical strategy for social development.
The cities always face short term problems such as growing slums, increasing traffic, urban renewal etc. To address these
short term issues Geddes developed a technique called as Conservative Surgery.
In later life he spent ten years in India, advising on the renovation of the poor slum parts of several cities by what he called
“conservative surgery", that is opening the streets up to air and light by demolishing the worst houses, while saving and
renovating where at all possible. Congestion is always high at the intersections. He wanted to create smooth traffic flow
by pulling down carefully identified houses which are old and dilapidated.
CONSERVATIVE SURGERY CONCEPT |Planning concept
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OUTLOOK TOWER
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 Le Corbusier 1887-1965
 He was a French architect whose ideas have greatly influenced the modern town planning
 Corbusier wanted man to live in urban life in truth with security and ease collectively and individually.
 The meaning and idea of visual order and relationship and the city as a synthesis of form embracing verities of
 structures and systems is the theme repeatedly proclaimed by him.
 He tried to create totally different world from the exiting ones . He wanted to grow with the machine and take
full advantage of its potential for speed and verticality .
 eg. 1.Contemporary city 2. Radiant city (La ville Radieuse, 1930) 3. Linear city ,1945
(La villa contemporine ,1922)
(Plan voisin ,1925)
3 million population
1.5 million Population
55 |
Background of city development in the early 20th century
Its impact and influence can be seen mainly in the following aspects:
1) The growth of industry in city attracted a large number of people flowing into the city causing the
increase of the density
of urban population.
2) The traditional urban pattern has been broken by the industrialization needs, and a new structure with
the commercial and industrial centers, transport hub centers has been formed.
3) The industrial development as well as population expansion has led to the traffic congestions.
4) The city has been polluted because of the industrial production and the living condition was very poor.
Le Corbusier’s principles of reconstruction and development of cities
Corbusier advocated urban centralism and believed

that this form can bring energy to the city.
By centralization of the space and transformation of
function the new urban environment can be created to
meet the requirement of modern society. Le Corbusier
considered that the main problems in city were the
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greatly increasing density of population in city center, the conflict between the growth of the number
and speed of transportation and the existing road system and the lack of enough green land and public
space to provide enough sunshine, good ventilation and outdoor activities.
LE CORBUSIER'S FOUR PRINCIPLE IN CITY PLANNING
1) Decrease the congestion in the city center

2) Increase the density of population in city center
3) Diversify ways of transportation
4) Expand the green area
Le Corbusier 1.Contemporary city Le Corbusier's City for Three Million
57 |
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Le Corbusier 2.Radial city
Dwelling area
59 |
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Le Corbusier - Linear city
61 |
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Le Corbusier - Chandigarh planning

Genesis of the city
CHANDIGARH was the first planned city after independence from British rule in 1947. It is the capital city of the states of
Punjab and Haryana.
The city is located at the picturesque junction of foothills of the Himalayas Mountain range and the Ganges plains.
It houses a population of 1 ,054,600 inhabitants (2001 ) and is one of the richest cities of the nation.
American architects Albert Mayer and Mathew Novicki were the first architects to be appointed for the project.
After the death of Novicki in 1950, Le Corbusier was commissioned.
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The basic planning of the city is a sector:

 To accommodate 3,000 to 25,000 persons.
 30 sectors in Chandigarh
 24 are residential.
 The sectors surrounded by high speed roads
 bus stops every 400m.
 The main principle of the sector is that never
a door will open on the surrounding of fast
vehicular road.
 The size of the sector is based on the concept
of no pedestrian need to walk for more than 10min
.
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The primary module of city’s design is a Sector, a neighborhood

unit of size 800 meters x 1200 meters.
Each SECTOR is a self-sufficient unit having shops, school,

health centers and places of recreations and worship.
The population of a sector varies between 3000 and 20000

depending upon the sizes of plots and the topography of the
area.
A Hierarchy of Green Spaces can be observed in the layout

ranging from Public Greens at City Level to Semi-Private to
Private
Green The Leisure Valley is a green sprawling space
Areas extending North-East to South-West along a
seasonal river let gradient and was conceived by
Le Corbusier as the lungs of the city.
Apart from large Public Parks and special Botanical

Gardens, it houses series of Fitness Trails,
amphitheaters and spaces for open-air
exhibitions.
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Planning Concepts of Ebenezer Howard

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UNIT 3 – PLANNING CONCEPTS AR 6902 HUMAN SETTLEMENTS AND PLANNING

UNIT III PLANNING CONCEPTS

 Ebenezer Howard - Garden city concepts and contents

 GARDEN CITY - Ebenezer Howard

• Garden city most potent(strong) planning in western urban planning

• Created by Ebenezer howard in 1898 to solve urban and rural problems

• Source of many key planning ideas during 20th century.

Garden cities were intended to be planned,

Redirecting the urban growth into new

These towns were called Garden Cities

GARDEN CITY |THE CONCEPT

THE THREE MAGNETS namely the town magnet, country

• Naturally people preferred the third one namely

Howard wanted to combine the best of the new industrial

Core garden city principles

These were to be achieved by:

 Unified owner ship of land to prevent individual land

Salient features of Garden city

 Each city was divided into smaller neighbourhoods of

 the possibility of speculation of land and

 Six magnificent boulevards each 36m wide traverse

 In the centre is a circular space forming the central park

 Public buildings like hospital,library,theatre,town

 The central park is surrounded by a shopping street

 The central park and shopping streets are surrounded by

 A permanent agricultural belt of 5000 hectares surrounds

A wide road in a city, usually with trees on each side or along

 Emergence of neighbourhood concept

GARDEN CITY – APPLICATION

EVOLUTION OF GARDEN CITY - CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

However, Lord Hardinge

 C.A.Perry - NEIGHBOURHOOD CONCEPT

The Neighbourhood is the planning unit for a Town

1. The elementary school

2. Small parks and playgrounds

3. Local shops and

4. Residential environment, other neighbourhood institutions and

He laid down the fundamental elements on which he intended the

SIX BASIC PRINCIPLES OF NEIGHBOURHOOD THEORY

[3] The population of the neighbourhood should be that which is necessary

Updated Neighbourhood unit

HUMAN SETTLEMENTS PLANNING TERMS

an extended urban area, typically consisting

of several towns merging with the suburbs of a

 Patrick geddies - CONSERVATIVE SURGERY CONCEPT

First to link sociological concepts into town planning

“Survey before plan ”………………………………………. i.e. Diagnosis before treatment

a) The concept of place, work and folk

b) Diagnostic survey and conservative surgery

c) The outlook tower and public participation in planning

d) Valley section principles

 THE CONCEPT OF PLACE, WORK AND FOLK

Patrick Geddes explained an organ i s m”s relationship to its environment

“The environment acts, through function, upon the organism and

In human terms this can be understood as a place acting through climatic

Geddian Trio Representation

Organic relationship between Socio Physical & Economical

THE OUTLOOK TOWER AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN PLANNING

VALLEY SECTION PRINCIPLES

DIAGNOSTIC SURVEY AND CONSERVATIVE SURGERY

CONSERVATIVE SURGERY CONCEPT |Planning concept

1.5 million Population

Background of city development in the early 20th century