EiABC

INTRODUCTION
TO
URBAN
PLANNING

ROBEL YESHITELA
HISTORICAL
OVERVIEW
Civilization literally means
living in a city- the word is
derived from the Latin for
city, civitas. The origin of the
idea of a city was probably
that of a citadel: a defensible
stronghold in which people
could retreat when
threatened by invaders.
There are different theories as to why cities initially formed.
Some assumptions:

 favourable climate and availability of water and the need

for its management

 Surplus production from the self-sustaining village

economy leading to larger agglomeration.
 Religious ceremonies as key factors leading to the
aggregation of people in one location - the role of
theological factors and the ceremonial influence of the
town as holy place.

 division of labour and class

 military and common defence,

 politics
WHAT IS THE REASON BEHIND ADDIS
ABABA’S FORMATION?
 Even if not ‘designed’ in advance, all towns have a plan.
Lets look at some historic examples and see what
influenced their ‘plans’ .

 Catal Huyuk 6,000 BCE

 Iron Age Hut 600 BCE
 Greek-Roman Town 79 CE
 Medieval City 1300 CE
 Baroque City 1750 CE

[BCE=Before Common Era CE=Common Era]

 A City 6000BCE
The world’s oldest city is
said to be Catal Huyuk
(pronounced ‘chatal
hooyook’) in Central
Turkey. Access to the
dwellings was from roof
level. Living here, you
had to behave in a much
more ‘civic’ manner than
living in a rough hut on a
bare hill.
 Iron Age Camp
This is how people who did not live in ‘cities’ lived, all over
Europe, until the Roman conquest. The only ‘planning’
principle was a ring of defences, to make a Hill Fort
 The City in 79 AD: Pompeii
Pompeii was buried by
Vesuvius and can
represent most of the
‘planned’ cities in
Europe from 500 BC to
500 AD, as well as most
of the colonial cities (eg
in South America) from
1452-1700 AD). It was a
walled city, designed to
be able to defend itself.
 Photographs of Pompeii

The main features of

Pompeii are exactly
as described by
Vitruvius
 A grid of streets
 Pavements +
stepping stones
 Water supply
 Drainage system
 Public buildings at
important positions
 No windows
 Internal courts
 The Medieval City (c1300)

The main consideration was

defence, provided by a high
wall and narrow streets

Nuremberg in 1516 (above, from

Benevolo) The city was founded
in 1040 AD.
 The Baroque City 1750

Baroque cities were

dominated by stars
of avenues,
designed to glorify
the autocrat and
facilitate the
movement of
soldiers and the
firing of canon at
revolting peasants,
Industrial City (1900)

= baroque city
+
more buildings
+
Railways
+
parks
+
sewers
 Organising Principles:
mostly single–objective
 Catal Huyuk: Defence against nomadic herders
 Iron Age Hut: Defence against other agriculturalists
 Greek-Roman Town: Defence against armies
 Medieval City: Defence against knights
 Baroque City: Defence against revolutionaries
 Industrial City: Defence against cholera
 SO WHAT IS THE
ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE IN THE
21st CENTURY CITY ?
URBAN FORM

Characteristically the form of an urban settlement at

any given period is the result of locally effective
determinants.

Analysis of past and present urban forms creates an

understanding of the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of present
urban circumstances.
NATURAL DETERMINANTS

Topography- has played a

main part in the creation
of the urban third
dimension: Its
magnificent visual effect.
Good topographic
Circumstances lead to
settlement and A- Sea front, island and
subsequent growth. Peninsular origins
B- Riverbank origin, initially
with ferry or ford limitation
on cross-river settlement
and awaiting late (modern)
construction technology for
significant bridgehead
development.
Both locations usually
resulted in growth
directions away form the
nucleus
C- hill and ridge top origins
D- flat, open ‘prairie location

CLIMATE
Shelter has been a fundamental human need, of
varying significance and takes different forms
depending local climatic conditions.
For example at Ur

 temperature rises dangerously high during the day

and falls unpleasantly low at night.

 shelter takes the form a grouping of rooms on

one, or two stories, seldom higher , around a
courtyard where there is always some space in
shade together with a degree of ventilated air
movement.
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS AND
TECHNOLOGY
In history, for all but the comparatively few religious,
royal ,civic and other monumental buildings, for which
materials could be transported in bulk, there was no
alternative but to use local materials.

These are mainly brick (either mud or burnt clay); stone

or timber leading to vernacular building styles.
MAN MADE DETERMINANTS

 These set of factors have major determining effects on

historic urban morphology, but also singly, or in
combination, they have been mainly responsible for
urban formation and growth.
These set of artificial factors include:

 Economic
 The gird iron
 Religious
 Aesthetic
 Defensive reasons
 Legislation
 Aggrandizement
 Urban infrastructure
 Urban mobility and
 Leisure
Aggrandizement: the vertical dimension is exaggerated

A- A typical Sumerian city, with its

ziggurat-as Ur
B- An Harappan city, with its western
citadel-as Mohenjo-daro
C-An ancient Greek city, with the
temple on its acropolis-as Athens
D-A Norman castle in eleventh century
England
 E- The church in medieval
European village
 F- The church in a Latin
American city
 G- A royal statue square in
Paris
SPATIAL STRUCTURE OF CITIES

Morphological patterns of towns is determined by

two fundamental elements
 the size and shape of plots of land/again the type
and use of housing
 the lay out of streets and this varies according to
the historical, economic and socio cultural
conditions
Some major forms became
Dominant first in terms of
plots the morphological
frame work provided
traditionally was
rectilinear because of

 The ease of surveying

 The ease of laying streets
 And the efficient use of
land
Second was the continuous curvilinear form with wide
shallow plots ,a loop local road with cul-de-sacs assumed
to be originated in the mid to late nineteenth century /in
Chicago suburbs.

And wide spread in Europe starting from 1950s and

become a dominant model in other developed countries
since 1970s.
Morphogenesis - a process that create and
reshape the physical urban form over time

Due to
 New urban fabrics
 Modification and change of basic elements
influenced by social, economic, technological cultural
forces
The fundamental of morphological change within the
city is a twin process

Outward extension and internal reorganization

In which each phase adds new fabric
 The process of outward extension results in the
kind of ring pattern of growth
 The process of reorganization is a complete inside
accretion/changes to individual buildings at the
level of city blocks or neighbourhood level
According to the studies undertaken the process of
reorganization takes place due to-

 change of uses on sites and in buildings

 reorganization with in the building
 extension into the un-built areas of plots and
blocks, densification
 increase in the number of storeys
 linking of plots
 alteration of the whole or relevant parts of a block
 Changes in the size of the block
 alteration to a large area consisting of a number of
blocks
 changes to a whole quarter or part

In general the oldest innermost zones of the city

are especially subject to internal reorganization
The factors shaping 21st-century cities,

 the environmental challenges of climate change and

cities’ excessive dependence on fossil fuel-powered
cars;

 the challenges and opportunities of increasing

democratization of decision-making as well as
increasing awareness of social and economic rights
among ordinary people.
 the demographic challenges of rapid urbanization,
rapid growth of small- and medium-sized towns
and an expanding youth population in developing
nations

 And in developed nations, the challenges of

shrinking cities, ageing and the increasing
multicultural composition of cities;
 the economic challenges of uncertain future growth
and fundamental doubts about market-led
approaches that the current global financial crisis
have engendered, as well as increasing informality in
urban activities;

 increasing socio-spatial challenges, especially social

and spatial inequalities, urban sprawl and unplanned
periurbanization; and
These are all factors that will significantly reshape towns
and cities in the century ahead and all of them need to be
effectively addressed if cities are to be SUSTAINABLE,
that is, Environmentally safe, Economically productive
and Socially inclusive.
ELEMENTS OF
URBAN PLANS
Urban plans must contain necessary elements that
are sufficient to guide the orderly development of a
planning area. The description of elements is limited
to basic characteristics of each plan type.
1. General Land Use,
2. Infrastructure and circulation;
3. Open Space and environmental aspects;
4. Housing
1. General Land Use

 must indicate the

distribution and
extent of land use
categories
 and be sufficiently
descriptive to
distinguish between
levels of intensity and
allowable uses.
 Land is one of the basic resources that needs to be
planned for better utilization. One method of doing
so is by zoning.

 Zoning is defined as the creation by law of the

section or zones to be used for different urban
functions.
• It prevents encroachment of incompatible uses on
to other use classes and it also helps to coordinate
the provision of various public amenities like water
supply, drainage, electricity, and transport.

• There are different classifications of zoning, Use

zoning, Height zoning and Density zoning.
Use Zoning
 refers to the allocation of land to different urban
functions.

The process of use zoning follows

 the identification of distinct use classes,
 determining the land area requirement for each
function,
 and determination of the compatibility and
allowable mix of functions.
Factors to consider
 Determine the total planning area for an urban
centre (total land bank),

 Conduct suitability analysis (slope,

environmental considerations such as hazards,
natural resources, and forests, etc.)
 Survey the existing structures and determine the
dominant function of an area,
 Conduct projection of land requirement for the
planning period,
 Conduct compatibility analysis,
 Determine the optimum location of different
functions.
Its usually categorised into three:
 permitted,
 limited
 prohibited.

The use zoning type and the level of flexibility,

however, might depend on the type and level of the
town.
Common Land Use categories
Height Zoning

Based on the use of the land, topography, soil type,

surrounding built up area it is necessary to
control the height and volume of the buildings.

It helps to Prevent height disparity in neighboring

buildings; it also helps to establish minimum standard
in terms of light, air and open space thereby creating
healthy conditions.
In the determination of height zones the factors to
be considered include:
 Centrality or demand pressure for land,
 The carrying capacity of land (taking into
consideration geological conditions, allowable
construction methods
 Functional considerations to suit work flow
 Height limiting factors such as aerodrome field,
historic sites, visual lines to important buildings
and sites, technology used (presence of lifts), etc.

The height zones should be provided in ranges for

all areas. The ranges could be in increments of one to
three storeys for the lower zones and in increments
of five to seven storeys for the next higher buildings
and so forth
Aerodrome field
of A.A
Height zones have
important implications on
the provision of open
spaces.

The planner has to balance

between height
regulations and open
space standards
Density zoning

The use of land has to be maximized to the

appropriate level .

In density zoning the built up space per unit area of

land and the served population size are the two
measures.

Density of buildings is measured through Building

Area Ratio (BAR) and Floor Area Ratio (FAR)
• The gross density is the average density of
population per unit area of residential zone
including open spaces and area under non-
residential units such as, schools, road, shops and
other public institutions.

• The net density is the average density per unit

housing area including local roads only.
The following factors need to be considered:

 The minimum size of plots.

 The number of buildings (houses) per unit area.
 The ratio of total plot area to the total built up area
(BAR)
 The ratio of total floor area to total plot area (FAR).
 Quiz (10%)
1. Write a brief summery of today’s class…..