Page 1 of 5
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 07
August 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 315
Introduction to Urban Planning
Shashikant Nishant Sharma
Urban Planner and Consultant
Email: editor@developmentdiscourse.com
Introduction
Before we discuss the plan, planning, urban
and regional planning, we will discuss the
origin of human settlements. The organized
form of human settlement started in the real
sense of the term after the development of
the agricultural practices. For looking after
the cultivated crops, human had to make
their shelter nearby so that they can work in
the fields and protect the crops from wild
animals. The practice of agriculture is a
collective endeavour and hence the group of
settlements started to evolve. This group of
settlements led to the formation of clusters
and then community. To manage the growth
of the settlements, planning evolved as a
rational approach to the utilization of the
resources for the sustenance of the
community.
Town planning that started with Malthus
(Hippodamus had planned this town who is
also referred as the father of planning) and
the Towns of Indus Valley civilization got
evolved through different phases of the
history. In the term of viz. ancient, medieval,
Renaissance, industrial and post-industrial
phases which later gave way to the modern
form of the planning.
The study of the human settlements will give
us not only the idea of the evolution of the
planning, but also an insight into the
understanding of the social fabric and
changes. The study is more important for the
students of the planning, architecture, civil
engineers and sociologist who works for the
sustenance and gradual modification in the
human settlements to suit and meet the
need of the residents. To resolve the issues
of the current urban problems, it is
necessary to have an insight into the human
settlements and sociology.
Before we discuss the evolution of the
human settlements and the planning in the
different phases of the history, we need to
have a better understanding of the concepts
of the plan and planning.
Plan and Planning
Plan
The common perception and understanding of
the term along with the dictionary meaning.
1. A detailed proposal for doing or
achieving something.
2. An intention or decision about what one
is going to do.
3. Decide on and make arrangements for in
advance.
4. Design or make a plan of (something to
be done or built).
According to Armstrong (1986), “The most
popular ways to describe plans are by their
breadth, time frame, and specificity; however,
Page 2 of 5
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 07
August 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 316
these planning classifications are not
independent of one another”.
The plan can be defined by many experts in
different fields like architecture, economics
and planning in a different manner. The
essence of the different planning definition
is that it is the work schedule envisaged for
the future, which can be completed within a
stipulated time frame using the available
resources.
So, if you plan then is must have some
process, the time period for completion,
resources which can be used to get a desired
outcome.
According to the American Planning
Association, “Planning, also called urban
planning or city and regional planning, is a
dynamic profession that works to improve
the welfare of people and their communities
by creating more convenient, equitable,
healthful, efficient, and attractive places for
present and future generations”.
It we can have a look at the definition
mentioned by Institute of Town Planning,
India (ITPI). They state, “Planning is a
balancing act between constructing modern
communities and conserving our natural and
built heritage to create diverse, vibrant and
sustainable places where people want to
live, work and play. Balance means poise,
stability, fairness, neutrality - all qualities
indispensable for planners”.
From the above definitions and it can be
interpreted that planning is a process of
making plans through the use of the rational
decision making to achieve or try to achieve
intended outcomes within a particular
period of time with the available resources.
In planning, we may use different statistical
methods, economic analysis methods and
rational decision making based on the
alternatives that we might get used different
approaches to the resolve the development
issue or to achieve some intended goal of
development.
Here it is necessary to understand the term,
development which a structural change
which should be assessed in the physical
term. Like changes in the landuse, changes in
the FAR, changes in the density etc.
Terminologies used in Planning
Landuse
“Land use involves the management and
modification of natural environment or the built
environment. It also has been defined as "the
arrangements, activities and inputs people
undertake in a certain land cover type to
produce, change or maintain it" (Guttenberg,
1959).
The proposed distribution and segregation of
activities in spatial terms in knowing as landuse.
It is usually a part of the Master plan or
development plan document in the form of a
plan wherein different uses viz. residential,
commercial. Industrial, recreational, public and
semi-public, utilities, water bodies and
agriculture, institutional and transportation.
Ground Coverage
It is the area of the built up space that one floor
building will take. The area of a plot is usually the
ground coverage of that plot.
FAR
Floor area ratio (FAR) (also floor space ratio
(FSR), floor space index (FSI), site ratio and plot
ratio) is the ratio of a building's total floor area
Page 3 of 5
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 07
August 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 317
(gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land
upon which it is built. The terms can also refer to
limits imposed on such a ratio (Dwight, 2004).
As a formula:
Floor area ratio = (total covered area of all
floors of all buildings on a certain plot, gross
floor area) / (area of the plot)
FAR i.e, the floor area ration is the method of
calculation or estimation of the build-up space
which can be generated on a particular plot of
land. The floor space of a plot is termed as 1 FAR
and if we plan a number of floors than the value
of FAR will increase. This in turn is used as a
mechanism for controlling the built up space
that can be allowed in a particular use zone.
Zoning
The provision of the segregation of the different
landuse into different groups or location is
zoned. In urban planning, the areas of the town
which might have some sort of homogeneous
character need special attention, like the inner
or older areas of the town, areas having
architectural and cultural importance, areas
having an eco-sensitive ecology etc. For the
convenience of the planning and development
projects such areas are classified into zones.
Special zoning regulations are devised which
might not be available in the master plan. Or it
can be a detailed approach to the provision
suggested in the master plan.
Central Business District (CBD)
Central Business District is the prime location of
the transport, commerce, industry etc. Usually
the core of the city is also the CBD of the town as
most of the high end facilities and commercial
activities will be concentrated there. Some of the
metropolitan towns like Delhi will have more
than one CBD. For example, in Delhi, we can find
CBD located at Connaought Place, Nehru Place,
Saket, Laxmi Nagar, Chandni Chowk, Rajiv Chowk
etc.
Nodes
Nodes are the major junctions of the transport
network in the city and other things that can
make a place a node is the concentration of the
commercial activities and institutional areas.
There are the major points of the town which
comes into the picture when one visits a town. In
smaller urban centres the number of nodes will
be limited and most of the small town will have
a single node in the urban areas. But on the
contrary, a metropolitan town will have more
number of the nodes.
One the major distinction between CBD and
node is the expanse of the area of the influence.
Usually the CBD will be spread over a
comparatively larger area than a node. In the
mode of the cases the nodes and the CBD will be
same.
Suburbs
The areas near by a town which may or may not
be within the municipal limit of the town. These
areas are the developed areas along the major
transportation corridor of the town connecting
to some other towns. The suburbs are urban in
look and nature, but they are devoid of the
density, and urban infrastructures, services and
utilities which are available in towns.
Green Belts
Green belts are the patches of the open spaces
vegetated or non-vegetated. The extent of such
open spaces is usually large and they might be
interconnected with other open space. If we take
the case of Chandigarh, then we will find that the
lower hierarchy of the road along with the open
spaces constitute the green belts. But in the case
of Delhi, the green belt is the open agricultural
lands adjoining the town. The existence of the
