Urban Planning

Module II
Le Corbusier (1887-1965)
 Le Corbusier (1887-1965)
Profile
➢ One of the pioneers of Modern Architecture
➢ Architect, Painter, Designer, Urban Planner and Writer

Citizen
➢ He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930.

Five Decades
➢ His career spanned about five decades and his main contributions were
distributed in Europe, America and India.

Association with famous Architects

➢ He worked with Peter Behrens and met Mies Van der Rohe and Walter Gropius.
Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

Concept of a Town

Principles of Town Planning

Contemporary City

Radiant City

Major works in Town planning

Chandigarh
 Le Corbusier Concept of a Town
Biological Phenomenon
Head ➢ Government buildings
Heart ➢ Commercial Buildings / City Centre
Limbs ➢ Industries / Educational Buildings
Lungs ➢ Parks / Play grounds / Green belt.

Arteries ➢ Roads / Foot paths

Principles of Town Planning

1. Core of the City
➢ Core of the City should be decongested by removing the excess population.
➢ Should be inhabited at Satellite towns outside countryside.
 Le Corbusier Principles of Town Planning
2. Transportation ➢ Provision of speedy transportation

3. Open Spaces ➢ Plenty of Open spaces within the city itself.

4. Tall buildings / Skyscrapers

➢ High density tall towers
➢ Linked underground with shopping centers and civic centers.
➢ Between the towers, Open areas, parks and recreations centers are to be planned.

Basic Concept
➢ High rise, high density development in Cities.
➢ Family should not be enclosed in a compound wall.
➢ Buildings should be lifted up and the landscape goes below.
➢ People can enjoy the beauty around the country side.
 Le Corbusier Contemporary City/ Concentric City -1922
Addressing Two serious issues: Europe / Paris
➢ A severe housing shortage and an increase in the use of private vehicles in cities designed for horse-
drawn traffic.
➢ High density and Overcrowding.
➢ A room whose dimensions are suitable for accommodating one to two persons becomes occupied
during the night by six to ten persons with children. People in these hovels sleep in two shifts just as
they work two shifts in the factory, and beds crowded with two to three persons never cool down: after
the night shift has left the bed, the day shift arrives to get its sleep.

New Idea of Urbanity

➢ “The time has therefore come to put forward the problem of the house, of the street and of the town,
and to deal with both the architect and the engineer”.
➢ “Modern life demands, and is waiting for, a new kind of plan both for houses and for the city”.
➢ classical vistas, parks with curving paths, transportation lines on different levels. It formed his very idea
of urbanity”.
 Le Corbusier Contemporary City
Paris - 1922
➢ Huge Transportation hub at the Centre,
Buses, Trains, Airport
➢ Steel framed office buildings.
➢ Large rectangular park like open
spaces.
➢ Skyscraper apartments
➢ Low story zig zag apartment block
outside the city.

➢ He admitted that his solution was “a rough one and completely uncompromising”
➢ A monocentric city with a symmetrical street layout.
➢ Interestingly, the city itself was planned for 600,000 inhabitants, while two million or more were to be
housed in surrounding garden cities, serviced by an extensive suburban railway network.
 Le Corbusier Contemporary City
Contemporary City compared with Washington
Le Corbusier Contemporary City
 Le Corbusier Radiant City
Inspiration 01: Linear city concept - Arturo Soria y Mata -1882
➢ “A continuous pattern of urban growth stretching through the countryside on either side of a rapid-
transit spine route, incorporating both old and new urban centers”

Inspiration 02: City concept – Nicolai Milutin

➢ The concept consisted of “narrow, parallel strips of land running through the countryside,
incorporating the old town centers where they occurred: a railway zone, a factory, workshop and
technical college zone, a green belt with a main highway, a residential zone, a park and sports area,
and a wide belt of farmland”

Radiant City
➢ Both Mata and Milutin's ideas could have served as precedents for Le Corbusier’s basic concept for
the Radiant City
 Le Corbusier Radiant City
➢ A linear and ordered Metropolis for the future.
➢ Le Corbusier rearranged the key features of the Concentric city.
➢ The basic ideas of free circulation and greenery were still present, but the juxtaposition of different
land uses had changed. For example, the central area was now residential instead of a skyscraper
office core
Le Corbusier Major works in Town planning
1922 Contemporary City- Paris

1930 Radiant City

1930 Algiers Buildings- Aqueduct-Highway Concept. Elevated roadways, Dwellings below.

1933 Barcelona Vernacular Arab pattern in housing and layouts – Spain

1933 Stockholm Exploring the Redent typology with irregular and curved forms.

1935 Paris Refined plan for Paris city

1948 La Sainte- Baume 188 Unit Housing Project- France

1952 Chandigarh First planned City in India.

Clarence Stein (1882-1975)
 Clarence Stein (1882-1975)
Profile
➢ American Architect, Urban Planner and Writer
➢ Joined in the office of conservative Architects Bertam Gudhue
1911
and Ralph Adams
1915- Panama ➢ Presented the Master Plan and Individual
California Exposition buildings of California Institute of Technology.
1919 ➢ Started his own practice in New York.

1923- RPAA
➢ Co-founded the Regional Planning Association of America (RPAA)
➢ To address large scale planning issues like, Urban sprawl, Conservation problems, Affordable housing.

Major Projects Radburn, Sunnyside.

 Clarence Stein Neighborhood Planning
Super Block concept
➢ Overall planning of the Neighborhood as a Super
block with all facilities.

Elements in Planning

➢ Walking distance radius as One mile

➢ An Elementary school is the center of the unit and
within a walking distance, all the residents of the
Neighborhood and local shopping centers near the
school.
➢ Community Parks: Parks, Play grounds, Open areas
inside the Neighborhood and on the Periphery also.
 Clarence Stein Neighborhood Planning
Road system
No grid iron pattern: Greatest enemy of traffic and road users.
Main Roads: Super blocks are enclosed by main roads.
Internal roads: Through streets for major internal circulation.
Residential streets: Residential streets are suggested as Cul-de-
sacs, to eliminate through traffic and park space flows in to the
neighborhood.

Housing design

➢ Kitchen, Work area and store should face the main roads.
➢ Drawing, Dining and Bedrooms on the rear side.
➢ Related with road system and proper maintenance of all areas.
 Clarence Stein Radburn
Basic concept- Clarence Stein
➢ We did our best to follow Aristotle’s recommendations that a city should be built to give its inhabitants
security and happiness.
➢ Town for the motor age and town for tomorrow.

Location and Planning

➢ Radburn is located 12 miles from New York City.
➢ Planned community developed by Clarence Stein and Henry wright.

Major features of the Neighborhood

Single Houses: 430
1929: Radburn created
Row houses: 90
Population: 25000
Semi detached houses: 54
Area: 149 Acres
Apartment units: 93
 Clarence Stein Radburn: Major Features
Super block
➢ The superblock is a large block of land surrounded by
main roads. The houses are grouped around small cul-de-
sacs (dead end streets), each of which has an access road
coming from the main roads

Transportation
➢ Separation of vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
➢ Walkways are designed such that pedestrians can reach
social places without crossing automobile street.

Parks and Community centers

Large areas for parks and community facilities for recreation.
 Clarence Stein Radburn: Major Features
Residential
➢ The houses were oriented in reverse of the conventional
placement on the plot.
➢ Kitchens and garages faced the road, living rooms and
bedrooms turned toward the garden.
➢ Since automobiles were given limited access to the ‘backs’ of
the houses, the ‘fronts’ of the house were relatively quiet,
therefore, the bedrooms were always placed on this side of
the house.
All Notable features

Hierarchical transportation systems Cul-de-sacs Footpath systems

Shopping center Ideal size of 30,000 people Homogeneity
Clustered superblock Mixed-use Interior parks and play grounds.
Community center. Turned around houses
 Clarence Stein Radburn Concept: Applications
USA Virginia and Columbia, Maryland, Reston, Baldwin Hills, Los Angles, Kitimat

ENGLAND Coventry, Stevenage, Bracknelll, Cumbernaud.

SWEDEN Wallingby, Barmbackavna, Orebro, Beskopsgaden, Gotenberg.

INDIA Chandigarh

BRASIL Brasilia

Failures of Radburn Planning

➢ The design of Radburn believed that people would actively use the front of the houses facing the
greenways. In reality, people come and "leave" from the back of the houses and the vehicles, not pedestrian
access.
➢ More people and children were walking and playing in the little driveways and cul-de-sacs than on the
actual greenways.