A presentation on the cities and their design principles.

Urban design chapter-2

What are traditional hindu cities?

RIG VEDA

SAM VEDA

YAJUR VEDA

ATHAR VEDA.

THE HINDU CITY

Mayamata, Manasara, Bishvakarma-vaastushastra, samarangansutradhara, aparajitha- PricchaManasollasa, Prasadamandanada, Shilparamama etcAre treatise on Architecture based on Vedic Hymns

There are innumerable references in RIGVEDA which indicate very advances vastu shilpa.

City and its ffunctions

A traditional nagara(city) is one where the sacred and the secular mingle.

Temples- the link between Cosmic and Huma (worship)

Cultural centres :festive and ritual activitiesEducation : pathashallaSocial lofe- public meetings and social gatheringsSignificant part in economy of village donations goes for the nagara development and employmentsMathas monastic centre of Education ad pilgrim Rest house.

City in Literary and Epic Narratives

Sanskrit Epics- Ramayana; Ayodhya and Srilanka- advanced stage of

city life- -Mahabharata

- Tmail epic poesm- Silappadigaram- city of technical order- vibrant

wealthy and a hetrogeneous city.- Manimegalai.- Kautilya Arthashastra; A treatise on statecraft and

polit image of a well planned city where people of diverse occupations interact, although within the given framework.

City as a site of Liberation and AlienationCity rvides locale for pusuit and fulfilment of four aims of life- PurushartasDharma- Duty, righteousness, moralityKarma- PleasureArtha- WealthMoksha- LiberationIn some brahmanical texts, the city is also seen as a place to be avoidd (apastamba) Dharmasutra, as the quest for liberation is impossible in a city.The Bauddhayana declares that it is impossible for the one to obtain salvation, who lives in town covered with dust.

Town PlanningSthapaty Veda – Layout of a citySmrithi Shastra – Street Layouts (micro and Macro)Vaastu Shastra- treatises on Architecure planning and construction and Design, Matters relate to site selection site planning and orientation quality of soil water resources, planting of trees and graves.Arthashastra-Environmental ManagementManasara shaipla shastra- Grama Vidhana and Nagara VidhanaMayamat Vishwakarma.A traditional city is designed to the principles of sacred geometre was based on cosmological theories of Vaastu pusush Mandal.

Vaastu shastra recommends five shapes of a town

Chandura : A squareAgatara RectangleVritta CircleKritta Vritta – EllipticalGlolla Vritta- Full circle.

Kautilya’s ArthashastraIs considered to be a comprehensive treaty and addresses those entire essential fundamentss aspecific to the practices of design and developments of human settlements

Town planning

Shilpashastras These Refer to four distinct categories of habitations settlements

Janabhavanas- Houses for common MassRajbhavanas – palaces and gorgeous mansions for ruling classDevabhavanas – Religious ShrinesThe public buildings such as public rest house, public gardens, public librarie, reservois, wellsThese shastras donot put emphasis upon the secular Architecture i.e the JanabhavanasManasara, Mayamata and Visvakarma Prakara laid emphassis on planninf and architecure of Janabhavanas

SamaranaganasutradharaArchitect of Human DwellingsHas given a list of 50 establishments including asmiistrative and domestic structures.

Town planning

Allocation based on varnasharma dharma or the idea of social and spiritual order.The sanskrot word varnasharma is formed by varna and asrama

Which are 4 in each kindVarnas (Social order or caste )Brahamana- intellectual classKshatriya- Admiistrative or Ruling ClassVaisya- Business ClassSudra- Working Class

Ashrama (Spiritual order of life’s Culture)Sanyasa- Renounced orderVanaprastha- Intermediate stage betweeen Grihasta and SaanyasaGrihastha- An ideal married person, who contributes most to societyBrahmachary- Acelibate does Academic learning under a bonafide guru.

Vaastu Shastra and Urban Design

Nagara Vidhana-Grid-iron pattern : Main Streets.Primary, scondary, teritiary layout.Street with green plant borders.Pedestrain footpath betweent street and green beltJuntion of main axis – BrahmastancaPublic space- public accessibiltiy- public buildingDiscard land that has depression in the middle area corresponding to brahmastana.Mixed ude on main streets .The streets that run around the layout can have buildings on one side. These buildings can relate to schools, colleges public libraries, offices, guest houses.The smaller streets can have residential buildings on both sides. Each segments or block can have uniform height and appearance.People of similar proffessions, age, group, health can be housed in same quartersCreamatoriums are placed outside the layout mandala

-Samarangana SutradharaRecomeenda 34 roads in a model town running for e- & n-sImportance of gardens (mentions a belt of trees and plants surrounding town)Banyan tree recommended in a centre of town serving for a council hallUdak (source of water)Most essentially primary elemnts of natureSource of lifeTrading routes (sea shore and rivers)The drains and sewers are sloped towards east and North

ManasaraTown based on plans ranging from pechaka (plan of 4 square ) to asana (plan of 100 square )It speaks of the street that is on border of the treet (mangalaveedhi) and the street surrounds brahmasthanaLaying out should start from NE (easanaya)Aprosperous town is normally situated along a sea or a river coast.A stream on the north border of the city unning to east or the concept of megacity as an island will indeed contribut to its global success.

MADURAI- Temple CityThe city of Madurai was originally named after Meenakshi Temple,Rectangular streets named after the tamil months of aad, chithirai and maasi surround the temple symbolizing the stucture of cosmos.

What are Islamic Cities?

The settlement in islam, more importantly stand for the ground for peoples interaction with ALLAH the creator and lord. Space, the environment , given that settlements is where they LIVE WORK PLAY LEARN WORSHIP RISE AND FALL.

The outcome of these and other activities which the people engage themselves in settlements, especially urban ones, is what we call CULTURES AND CIVILIZATIONS.

THE ISLAMIC CITY

DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF ISLAMIC CITY

NATURAL LAWS: The first principle that defined much of the

character of the Muslim city is the adaptation of the built form and plan of the city to natural circumstances expressed through weather conditions and topography. These were expressed in the adoption of concepts such as courtyard, terrace, narrow covered streets and gar dens. Such elements were designed for coping with hot weather conditions dominating the Muslim environment. RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL BELIEFS:

The religious beliefs and practices formed the Centre of cultural life for these populations, thus giving the mosque the central position in spatial and institutional hierarchies. The cultural beliefs separating public and private lives regulated the spatial order between uses and areas. Thus, the town plan consisted of narrow streets and cul-de-sacs separating private and public domains, while the land use emphasized the separation of male and female users. Consequently, economic activity that involved exchange and public presence was separated from residential (private dwellings) use and concentrated in public areas and in the main streets. VASTU-SHASTRA :

The street plan seems to have followed vastu shastra text which contains directions for constructing buildings and for laying out and dividing settlements of different kinds.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF ISLAMIC CITY

DESIGN PRINCIPLES STEMMED FROM SHARIA LAW:

The Muslim city also reflected the rules of Sharia (Islamic Law) in terms of physical and social relations between public and private realms, and between neighbors and social groups. The privacy principle was made into a law which sets the height of the wall above the height of a camel rider. This as well as the laws of the property rights, for example, were all factors determining the form of the Muslim city .

SOCIAL PRINCIPLES:

The social organization of the urban society was based on social groupings sharing the same blood, ethnic origin and cultural perspectives. Development was therefore directed towards meeting these social needs especially in terms of kinship solidarity, defense, social order and religious practices. Such groups included; Arabs, Moors, Jews and other groups such as And alusians, Turkish, and Berbers as in cities of the Maghreb. These were reflected in the concept of quarters known as Ahiaa (in the Mashraq) or Huma (in the Maghreb) .

DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF ISLAMIC CITY

The main objectives of SHARI’AH , was to preserve and sustain

RELIGIONSELF INTELLECTDESCENDENTSWEALTH AND RESOURCES

Absence of NEIGHBOURLINESSStrong Neighbourhood RelationshipsPreservation of Neighbours Rights.

Attached roof s in isfahan houses are a reflection of trust and sollidarity among neighbours

Majlis (visitor’s Room) is provided in houses to strengthen ties between Neighbours.

Laws

Built environment in muslim cities was an outcome of activities, that were guided by principles of islamic law.

The lagal matrix of the islamic law to which a public action should refer is establishing and undertaking public projects and public activities.

The Recruitment process as a way to deconstruct the complexity of urban fabric. In hamamet city, Tunisa from bottom left to top Right

1st level of sub division into Block Lands

2nd level of subdivision of blocks into housing units

3rd level of subdivision of houses into rooms and domestic spaces.

KEY CONSTITUENTS OF AN ISLAMIC CITY’S PHYSICAL FABRIC.- A centrally located Friday Mosque.

- A bazaar around it with very distinct soci-economic differentiations from centre to the periphery.

- A fortified city wall- An imposing Citadel- Intraurban almost labyrinthesque

divisions of living quarters.- Blind Alleys

- Traditional Islamic city Algeria-

1. Mosque2. Suqs3. Citadel4. Residentail Quarters5. Street Networks6. Wall 7. Exterior

DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF ISLAMIC CITY

ISLAMIC PRINCIPLES OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT

URBAN BYELAWS:

These principles and guidelines are used by the Islamic planners while planning cities and are also used to resolve the conflicts between people relating to construction and land ownership and usage. 

Harm: the spirit is that one should exercise one’s full rights on whatever is duly his, provided that his action will not do any harm to others. Privacy: literally it refers to personal clothing and private area of the house. It also refers to the privacy of communication. The privacy of others must be respected and its invasion is prohibited, e.g. via direct visual corridors into private domain of others.Rights of usage: this principle is used in resolving conflicts related to ownership and rights of party walls, location of windows, doors, etc

Width of streets: a public street should have a minimum width of 7 cubits(3.23m – 3.50m). The basis of this width is to allow to fully loaded camels to pass. It is preferred that the height be also 7 cubits (3.23m – 3.50m) as this corresponds to the maximum vertical height of the camel with highest load

 Any public street should not be obstructed by temporary or permanent obstructions.

Water should not be barred from others: people must share water, and the owner must give to others any surplus water he has for drinking or irrigation. This principle resulted in public water fountains in the streets of Islamic cities.

ISLAMIC PRINCIPLES OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT

The right of usage of exterior setbacks belong to the owner of the house or building which abuts it. Sources of unpleasant smell, and uses that generate noise should not be located adjacent to or near masjids: this principle influenced the layout of the souq (market) which was built typically adjacent to the major city mosque.

BASIC LAYOUT OF ISLAMIC CITY

THE MAIN MOSQUE: It occupied the heart of the town and was usually surrounded by the Suq (market). Attached to it there was the Madrassa providing religious and scientific teaching.

SUQS: Located outside the main mosque provided the economic activity in the town. Goods sold were usually spatially distributed corresponding to their nature. The central area was also the gathering of other public activities such as social services, administration, trade, arts and crafts and baths (Hammam) and hotels (Funduq and Waqala). CITADEL:

Also known as Casbah, representing the palace of the governor, the citadel was surrounded by its own walls and constituted a district on its own with its own mosque, guards, offices, and residence.

RESIDENTIAL QUARTERS:

They were described by Eikelman ( 1981) as clusters of households of particular quality of life based on closeness (Qaraba) which is manifested in personal ties, common interests and shared moral unity. They were usually dense and each quarter had its own mosque used only for daily prayers, Quranic school (Madrassa), bakery, shops and other first necessity objects. They even had their own gates which were usually closed at night after last prayers and opened early morning at early prayers time such was the case of Algiers and Tunis .

BASIC LAYOUT OF ISLAMIC CITY

STREET NETWORK: Connecting between these quarters and to the central place was a

network of narrow winding streets consisting of public and private and semi-private streets and cul de sacs.

(A STREET OR A PASSAGE CLOSED AT ONE END)

WALL: A well-defended wall surrounded the town with a number of gates.

EXTERIOR: there were the cemeteries (Muslim and Jews cemeteries), a weekly market just outside the main gate where most animal suqs were held in addition to private gardens and fields.

ISLAMIC PRINCIPLES OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT

CASE STUDY- SHAHJAHANABAD