URBAN PLANNING

The Neighbourhood Unit

Concept as an Urban Space
Raja M Shambharkar

CHANDIGARH MASTER PLAN

Defining principles of neighbourhood unit for urban developmen

CONCPET OF NEIGHBOURHOOD UNIT

The concept of neighbourhood unit was evolved due to the advent of industrial revolution and degradation of me city environment caused due to high congestion, heavy traffic movement through the city, insecurity to school going childrens, distant location of shopping and recreation activities; etc. Hence to create a safely healthy physical environment in which children will

have no traffic streets to cross on their way to school, schools which are withinwalking distance from home; an environment in which women may have an easy walk to a shopping centre where they may get the daily households goods, employed people may find convenient transportation to and from work. It is an environment in which a well equipped playground is located near the house where children may play in safety with their friends for healthy development of their mind and spirit.

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With consideration to all the above physical factor's the Neighborhood concept was evolved.

CLARENCE A. PERRY CONCEPTION OF NEIGHBOUHOOD UNIT

C.A. PERRY was the first one to specify the physical form of the neighbourhood unit (1872-1944). C.A. Perry described the neighbourhood unit as that populated area which would require and support an elementary school with an enrollment of between 1000 to 1200 pupils. This would mean a population of between 5,000 and 6,000 people. The neighbourhood unit is bounded by arterial roads or other boundaries, with open spaces, school, community centre and local shops, the latter bring on the circumference. Most importantly there was no through traffic within the Neighbourhood unit. C.A. PERRY wrote that there principles, if complied with, "will result in a neighbourhood community in which the fundamental needs of family life will be met more completely. The Settlement House movement which began in London about 1885 was the first conscious recognition of the Neighbourhood as a basic unit in the urban structure or planning. Population criteria may variy from place to place but it depends mainly upon the size of the neighborhood unit. In 1972, the American Institute of Architects adopted the neighborhood unit as the recommended "GROWTH UNIT" for future urban growth. The growth unit would range in size from 500 to 3,000 dwelling units (population of between 1,700 and 10,000).

of a neighbourhood unit, in relation to convenient walking distance to most essential social services as schools for children up to twelve years of age and local shopping centres. 2) STREET SYSTEM Major arterial roads and through traffic route should not pass through residential neighbourhood. Instead these streets should provide the boundaries of the neighbourhood. Interior street pattern should be designed and constructed through use of cul-de-sacs, curved layout and light duty surfacing, so as to encourage a quiet, safe, low volume traffic movement and preservation of the residential atmosphere. The minor streets or development roads, being the means of connecting the dwelling unit in a housing group, cannot be properly defined until the actual building group is designed. They are the integral part of the design of the dwelling and should not be shown on the neighbourhood plan. 3) FACILITIES Neighbourhood unit should consist of orderly arrangement of all those facilities which are to be shared in common by the residents. The facilities primarily includes primary school, shopping centre, shopping adjacent to main road, spaces for outdoor recreation; community centre, sports centre etc. 4) POPULATION The population of neighbourhood should be that which is optimal to support its elementary school. When Perry formulated his theory the population was estimated about 5,000 persons for enrollment of between 1000 to 1200 pupils. Current elementary school size standard probably would higher the figure to 3000 to 4000 persons.

In general, it may range from 3000 to 12000 people. For Chicago, in 1942 the range was from 4000 to 12,000. In the Greater London plan, 1944 by Abercrombic and Forshaw, the unit size was 6000 to 10,000 people. The American Institute of Architects adopted the unit range between 1700 to 10000 people. Despite the variation the principle of the neighbourhood unit run's through all considerations for social, physical and political organizations of the city. It represents an unit of the population with basic common needs for educational, recreational and other services. It is the standard for their facilities from which the size and design of the neighbourhood emerge. 5) SECTOR Sector is a combinations of two or more neighbourhood units. It is considered because the facilities which are not covered in the neighbourhood unit should have to be covered in a sector, like secondary school, entertainment centres, big markets, major parks and large site recreation spaces. The size of the population equivalent to the number of neighbourhood units is equal to twelve to fifteen thousand persons suitable for a sector. 6) SIZE AND DENSITY The size of the unit decides upon the maximum walking distance from the extreme dwelling unit to the elementary school and shopping centres. This walking distance considered by C.A. Perry is mile. Hence the physical form of the neighbourhood unit considered by C.A. Perry is mile radius which suggests that the maximum radiaus for walking distance from home to the community centre should be mile. Density should be 10 families per acre.
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PRINCIPLES OF NEIGHBOURHOOD THEORY

1) UNIT OF URBAN PLANNING It is a unit of urban planning considering population as a criteria to decide the size

7) NEIGHBOURHOOD WALKWAYS It is stressed to have an independent system of footway complimenting the vehicular system. Such a system will run through the inner heart of the neighbourhood, linking together school sites, play areas and shopping centres. Neighbourhood walkway's emerged as a primary element of the plan. 8) PROTECTIVE STRIPS There are necessary to protect the units from annoyance of the traffic and to provide suitable facilities for developing parks, playgrounds and road widening in future.

one half mile radius of all residents in the neighbourhood, local shopping centres located near the school. Residential streets are suggested as CUL-DE-SACS to eliminate through traffic and park space flows into the neighbourhood as applied in the Radburn plan.

URBAN SPACES IN A NEIGHBOURHOOD UNIT

Urban space :The space is geometrically bounded by a variety of elevations of the buildings. It is only the clear legitibility of geometric characteristics and aesthetic quality which allows us to preserve the external space as the urban space.

In Neighbourhood unit concept, which is being used as the planning unit for the town or city consists of following urban spaces for public assemblies. : 1. Streets and squares 2. Parks and Maidan 3. Precinct 4. Recreation green 5. Civic and Religious Building 6. Sports 7. Shopping Complexes 8. Community centres for public assembly

CLARENCE STEIN'S CONCEPTION OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD UNIT

In the figure B, show's grouping of three neighbourhood units is served by a high school and one or two commercial centres. Walking distance radius is one mile. In the figure A, elementary school is the centre of the unit and within a

CASE: CHANDIGARH MASTER PLAN

MASTER PLAN OF CHANDIGARH The master plan for the new town was prepared by Architect Le-Corbusier assisted by Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew of England. The master plan aimed to accommodate about 1,50,000 persons with future expansion upto about 5,00,000 persons.

FUNCTIONAL URBAN SPACES

The activities of the town takes place in public spaces. In the city there are wide range of public spaces which are differentiated by the pattern of their functions and circulations system.

Fig. A 32 ARCHITECTURE - Time Space & People October 2008

Fig. B

exact area of the block and the density of development adopted. There are usually three to four neighbourhood units in each block. Le - Corbusier conceptualized the Idea of the design of Chandigarh from the human body. The Government building forms the head; the business area or commercial centre is the heart; the university area and the museum are the brain; the industrial areas are the hands, the leisure valley and parks are the lungs, the roads are the arteries. URBAN ORGNAISATION :Le - Corbusier's specific contribution for this urban organization is important. He gave to the differentiation between means of locomotion and the hierarchy within the road grid. His previous theories led him to distinguish four functions of planning i.e. living; working; care of the body and spirit and circulation. The location of capital consists of four main government buildings, situated at the northern end of the town; the buildings are the Assembly hall, the Secretariat, the High court and the Governor's palace. The Southern sector is reserved for the industrial development and is segregated by a wide green belt from the residential zone. The central sector contains the city's civic and commercial buildings which serves to all the residential sectors. The cultural centre with the university in a park is situated in the north-west side. Thus the city plan contains clear and well defined "URBAN ORGANISATION CENTRES".

PRINCIPLES OF PLANNING :Chandigarh is planned on the principle of precincts or superblock and they are termed as Sectors. Each sector measures about 1.21km in length and 0.81 km in width. The rectangular sectors are framed with the layout of grid of the main roads. Each sector accommodates population ranging from 15,000 to 25,000 depending upon the

NEIGHBOURHOOD AS AN URBAN SPACE

Each sector is bisected on its long axis by a strip of continuous open space or green strip for recreation and on its shorter axis, by a street called the bazaar
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street containing local shops, market, and recreation buildings. The cycle tracks and footpaths are accommodated in green strip and thus they are segregated from the main thoroughfares. On the other hand, schools health centres etc. are located in the interior of each sector so that children and others need not cross the main roads for their normal daily requirements. The sector contains the schools, shops, clinics, clubs, social centres, places of worship etc. and is virtually a self contained unit, as an urban space, for city planning. The larger public buildings are well distributed in the town in suitable locations and some of them are placed in the town centre. PART TO WHOLE CONCEPT All the while the neighbourhood unit is itself self sufficient of having variety of

urban spaces but at higher level the urban spaces are distributed for the whole population of the city. Hence at city level the urban spaces has consideration of highly ranked activities like civic centre, town park, auditoriums, theatres, commercial complexes, universities, stadiums, play ground etc. which are partly served by neighbourhood itself and the combination of urban spaces from neighbourhood unit to town level fulfills the part to whole concept of urban spaces. Hence the neighbourhood concept gives the effect of an urban spaces which are required for various basic needs to perform in it. It is a self sufficient unit for the urban planning.

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and Design. By : Arthur B. Gallion Simon Elsner Theory for planning. By : Shean Mc Connel Town and Country Planning and Housing. By H.V. Modak and V.N. Ambdekar Town and Country Planning and Housing. By : H.V. Modak and V.N. Ambdekar Architecture in India. By : Electa Moniteur

REFERENCES
1) New Towns. By : Frederic , Osborn and Arnold Whittick. 2) The urban pattern city planning

Prof. R.M. Shambharkar, B.Arch., MIRPM, M.Tech. (Urban Planning). Working as a Chairman of Board of Studies, Architecture in Amravati University, Amravati. Asstt. Professor, in School of Architecture College of Engg. & Tech., Akola Photographs: Courtesy the Author.

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