Planning History, Theories & Classical Models – Notes + 50 MCQ
This post covers planning history, major theorists, classical models and key terms for competitive planning
exams (including DDA Assistant Director – Planning). Use the notes for revision and then attempt the
50 MCQs at the end with instant score and per-question feedback.
Quick Index
Revision Notes – Planning History, Theory & Classical Models
1. Key Thinkers & Their Major Ideas
Ebenezer Howard (1850–1928)
Key work: To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform (1898), later republished as Garden Cities of To-morrow (1902).
- Proposed the Garden City as a balance of town and country – the famous “Town–Country magnet”.
- Planned population around 32,000, surrounded by a permanent agricultural green belt.
- Self-contained communities with mixed social classes and decentralised employment.
- Land owned/managed collectively (cooperative or trust), so that rising land values benefit the community.
- Real examples: Letchworth (1903) and Welwyn Garden City (1920) in England.
- Strong influence on New Town movement and later satellite town policies.
Patrick Geddes (1854–1932)
Key work: Cities in Evolution (1915).
- Often called the Father of Regional Planning and Civic Survey.
- Famous triads:
- Place – Work – Folk (region as a living whole: environment, economy, people).
- Survey – Analysis – Plan (diagnostic planning approach).
- Introduced the term Conurbation for large continuous urban regions.
- Opposed purely geometric “blueprint” planning; stressed ecology and social context.
Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)
Key work: The City in History (1961).
- Viewed city evolution as a sequence of stages:
- Eopolis – early village stage.
- Polis – city-state, civic culture.
- Metropolis – large mother city.
- Megalopolis – vast urban region.
- Tyrannopolis – oppressive, over-centralised city.
- Necropolis – “city of the dead”, city in decline or dominated by death-like functions.
- Critic of uncontrolled megalopolitan growth and car-dominated suburban sprawl.
Clarence Perry (1872–1944)
- Developed the Neighbourhood Unit concept (1920s) for the Regional Plan of New York.
- Ideal population of about 5,000–9,000, based on one primary school catchment.
- Primary school at the centre, within safe walking distance (≈ 400–800 m).
- Major roads form the boundary; internal streets discourage through traffic.
- Shops and higher-order facilities grouped at the edges on arterial roads.
- Ample open spaces and playgrounds inside the neighbourhood.
Tony Garnier (1869–1948)
- Proposal of Cité Industrielle (“Industrial City”) around 1904–1917.
- Early example of functional zoning – separate areas for industry, housing and civic services.
- Modern infrastructure and rational layout, anticipating later modernist planning.
Le Corbusier (1887–1965)
- Key ideas in The City of Tomorrow and Ville Radieuse (Radiant City).
- Promoted high-rise towers in park-like settings, strict separation of functions: dwelling, work, leisure, circulation.
- In India, chief planner of Chandigarh: sectors as self-contained units, 7Vs road hierarchy, Capitol Complex.
Kevin Lynch (1918–1984)
Key work: The Image of the City (1960).
- Introduced five elements of city imageability: paths, edges, districts, nodes, landmarks.
- Focused on mental maps, legibility and wayfinding.
Jane Jacobs (1916–2006)
Key work: The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961).
- Criticised top-down, modernist planning and urban renewal projects.
- Promoted:
- Mixed uses and fine-grain blocks.
- Short blocks and frequent intersections.
- “Eyes on the street” – natural surveillance for safety.
- Diversity of building types and ages.
Constantinos A. Doxiadis (1913–1975)
- Developed the science of Ekistics – study of human settlements.
- Hierarchy of settlements: room → house → small community → large community → city → region → Megalopolis → Ecumenopolis (world city).
- Stressed human scale, infrastructure networks and dynamic growth patterns.
Christaller & Losch
- Walter Christaller – Central Places in Southern Germany (1933). Central Place Theory (CPT).
- Key ideas:
- Settlements act as central places providing goods and services to surrounding hinterlands.
- Assumes homogeneous plain, even population, uniform purchasing power.
- Hexagonal market areas; lower-order centres are more numerous.
- K-values: Marketing principle K=3, Transport K=4, Administrative K=7.
- August Losch – refined CPT for economic optimisation of market areas.
Burgess, Hoyt, Harris & Ullman
- Ernest Burgess (1925) – Concentric Zone Model (for Chicago).
- Rings from centre: CBD → zone of transition → zone of independent workers’ homes → zone of better residences → commuter zone.
- Explains invasion–succession of land uses.
- Homer Hoyt (1939) – Sector Model.
- City grows in sectors (wedges) along major transport corridors.
- High-income housing follows clean, amenity-rich sectors; low-income along industrial/rail sectors.
- Harris & Ullman (1945) – Multiple Nuclei Model.
- City has several specialised centres (CBD, industry, university, retail, airport etc.).
- Reflects complex land-use patterns of large metropolitan regions.
2. Classic Models & Concepts – Exam Points
Concentric Zone Model (Burgess)
- Developed for Chicago in the 1920s.
- Land use arranged in concentric rings around CBD.
- Zone of transition between CBD and working-class ring is most dynamic and unstable.
Sector Model (Hoyt)
- Land uses develop as sectors or wedges radiating from CBD along transport lines.
- Highlights importance of railways, major roads and air quality.
Multiple Nuclei Model (Harris & Ullman)
- City structure based on multiple centres, not just one CBD.
- Appropriate for large, diversified metropolitan areas.
Central Place Theory (Christaller)
- Explains hierarchy of settlements according to the goods and services they provide.
- Concepts: threshold (minimum population to support a service) and range (maximum distance people are willing to travel).
- Assumes homogeneous plain, equal transport cost, and rational behaviour.
Rank–Size Rule
- Population of the nth city ≈ population of the largest city ÷ n.
- Helps identify primate city dominance or balanced urban system.
3. Major Planning Movements / Approaches
Garden City Movement
- Response to overcrowded industrial cities.
- Aim: combine advantages of town (jobs, services) and country (green, clean air).
- Features:
- Limited size garden city (~32,000 population).
- Permanent green belt around city.
- Land held in trust/cooperative ownership.
- Satellite garden cities around a mother city.
City Beautiful Movement
- Origin in late 19th–early 20th century USA (e.g., Chicago World’s Fair 1893, Daniel Burnham).
- Characteristics:
- Grand boulevards and radial streets.
- Monumental civic buildings and plazas.
- Beaux-Arts classical architecture and formal layouts.
- Example: Lutyens’ New Delhi.
Radburn Layout (Clarence Stein & Henry Wright)
- “Town for the motor age” in Radburn, New Jersey.
- Key features:
- Superblocks with internal green spaces.
- Separation of pedestrian and vehicular traffic (cul-de-sacs, underpasses).
New Towns
- Post-war planned towns to decongest big cities.
- Self-contained: housing + employment + social infrastructure + open spaces.
- Examples: Milton Keynes, Stevenage (UK); philosophy influenced Indian new towns like Navi Mumbai, Gandhinagar, Bhubaneswar.
4. Core Terms & Definitions (High-Yield)
- Eopolis – early village stage in city evolution (Mumford).
- Polis – classical city-state (Greek).
- Metropolis – mother city dominating a region.
- Megalopolis – continuous urban region formed by merging of multiple metropolitan areas.
- Necropolis – “city of the dead”; city in decline (Mumford’s stage).
- Conurbation – large urban area formed by merging of several towns/cities (term by Patrick Geddes).
- Ekistics – science of human settlements (C. A. Doxiadis).
- Neighbourhood Unit – planning unit based on walking distance to primary school, internal community life, arterial roads at the boundary (Clarence Perry).
- Green Belt – ring of permanently protected open land around a city to contain urban sprawl.
- Zoning – legal division of city land into districts with specified uses, densities and building controls.
MCQ Practice – Planning History & Classical Models (50 Questions)
Attempt all 50 questions, then click “Check Answers” to see your score.
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and red feedback for incorrect / unattempted.
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