Town Planning Flashcards
Introduction
The urban design and civil engineering works reveal the Harappans as rather skilled, creative
and pragmatic techie
Planned city (citadel and lower town)
Public Area: Cities are divided into two parts – upper town and lower town.
Walls
o The city walls that remain are not very high, so probably it was meant for more
flood protection than for defense.
Area divided into sectors
o The upper town (= citadel) was on a
raised/high platform and surrounded by walls. It must have been an area of some
elite class, as all the important buildings
are located here. There were also
shared community spaces: Assembly
halls, stadiums,fire altars, great bath markets etc.
o Generally, the lower city was unfortified
and meant for common people. It was a
mixed zone of residential and
commercial establishments.
o Polluting industries like brick-kilns,
potters as well as cemeteries were
located outside the city.
Network of roads
cutting at right angle in
grid/crisscross/chessboard pattern along E-W and
N-S directions.
o Mohenjo-Daro: Main Street is about 9 m
wide. Makn road bisects the city. Secondary streets are rather
narrow, while some lanes are just 1m
broad.
Secondary street meet main road at 90°
o Corners of the roads are rounded.
Sanitation and hygiene
Harappans built the
first planned cities with urban sanitation in the world. It is the most wonderful,
remarkable concern for sanitation and health.
There must have been presence of municipal governance placing priority to hygiene
Harappans were the first to build public baths in the ancient world. (Great Bath at
Mohenjodaro)
Drainage system: Great height of ancient civil engineering
▪ Slope/gradient
▪ Service drains from houses
▪ Main road: manholes
▪ All these drains are covered with burnt brick
Cities have well planned drainage and sewage system. Kitchen and toilet are connected to the drain. This drain joins the main drain along the main road.
Sewage from houses didn’t flow on street
drains directly. It first entered a cesspit in which
it deposited solid matter. Then the water
overflowed into the main drain. Main drain takes the waste out of city in river/sea or to a cesspit
Drains are generally covered by brick stone and have stamps and manholes indicating regular cleaning
At the end of a sewage line a wooden screen was fit to stop the solid waste
2 types of toilets were used:
1) Flush toilets, connected to drainage system
2) pit toilets, connected to soak pits via terracotta ring wells
Garbage
System of disposal for household garbage.
▪ There were public dustbins on side streets.
To ensure civil regulations, there were police check-
posts along the main streets, small single rooms placed
at regular intervals.
o There was provision for street lighting at regular
intervals.
Safety provision
To ensure civil regulations, there were police check-
posts along the main streets, small single rooms placed
at regular intervals.
o There was provision for street lighting at regular
intervals.
Domestic architecture
No ornamentation, but stark utilitarianism.
Diversity of structures
o All houses, though they varied greatly in size, were of similar design.
o Class differences: Poor people lived in tiny one/two room tenements, while
merchant princes houses were large.
Features of houses
Majority of the houses were single storey, whereas double and tripple storey houses are also found
Houses are made of baked bricks(1:2:4) and flat roof
Houses are built arround central courtyard and all the rooms open into courtyard
No room has any windom/door opening outside
Majority of houses have their own kitchen, toilet, bathroom and well for drinking water.
o No door/window opening on the main road. They opened in rear or on side.
o Inside the house – open courtyard
o Not a single piece of furniture has survived.
Water and sanitation inside house
o Nearly all houses have a bath area – showing
personal hygiene.
o Private toilets with slope to throw down the
lane.
o Many houses had their own wells in
Mohenjodaro.
o Rich people had private wells in the houses,
but most people used public wells which
were numerous and often places in the blind alleys between two houses.
Material
o Uniform Bricks
▪ Ration 1:2:4 – universal
▪ English bond
o Timber was presumably also extensively used in the construction.
Egalitarian town planning
1) even the smallest house made on the edge of city is connected to Streets and sewage system indicating egalitarian town planning and absence of ghetto
2) majority population of city appears to be artisans and traders
3) unlike contemporary mesopotamian and Egyptian civilisation indus valley civilization marked by absence of monumental structure like palaces, tombs, large temples, army cantonments etc
Large structure of ivc have sign of public utility, not of ruling class like granaries, great bath, fortification wall
Unlike other contemporary civilisation and latter empire town planning of IVC was egalitarian, utilitarian and symmetrical with features like grid pattern, all accessible sanitation and roads, absence of oppressive features like king, large army etcs is most remarkable features of ivc and town planning
