In India the practice of urban planning was in vogue since ancient times. Architecture of Mansar, Arthashastra (Kautilya) etc provide several plans for city lay out and build up. The remains of Mohenjodaro, Harappa and Lothal belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization bear testimony for city planning.
In Mohenjodaro city there were 4 main roads (width 10 meters) and a number of small roads (width 7 m) which intersected at right angles. Buildings along the road junctions had curved frontline. The drainage system was underground. During Vedic period cities like Ayodhya, Janakpur, Hastinapur, Mathura, Vaishali, Pataliputra, Kaushambi, Sanchi, Kanchipuram, Madurai etc were built on planned basis. Ayodhya city occupied an area of 5,500 m in length and 1,370 m in breadth. It had many wide roads with shady trees and arrangement for drinking water.
According to Megasthenese Pataliputra city covered an area of 16 kmx3.2 km and was surrounded by deep moat all-around. Its fort had 60 doors. King’s palace occupied the central part of the city and was decorated with parks, fountains and pools.
Mughal rulers took great interest in city planning. Cities like Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Srinagar, Shahjahanbad present good examples for city planning. Shahjahanbad (Old Delhi) occupied an area of 500 hectares housing a population of 60,000. It was surrounded by a wall made of quartzites with four gates (Delhi, Kashmiri, Ajameri and Lahauri). The city had arc like shape. It had two main n which intersected each other at right anj this area was known as Chandni Chowl Faiz Market. The residential area folio zoning system in which elite class locality called ‘Haveli’ and that of business menandarti as ‘Katra’.
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Jaipur is another planned city of the medieval period which was built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh in 1727 AD with the help of famous architect Howel. It has a rectangular plan with total area of 8 sq. km and surrounded by 6 m high wall. The city lay out is based on gridrone plan in which all roads intersect at right angles. The city had six gates. The king’s palace occupied the northern part of the city. The entire city was made of pink sandstone.
British regime gave opportunity for adopting Western models in city planning in which greater attention was focused on administrative and military objectives. This gave birth to military cantonments and civil lines in Indian cities. On the recommendation of eminent town planner Patric Giddies the work of town planning was entrusted to municipalities as a result of which improvement trusts were established in Mumbai (1898), Mysore (1903), Kolkata (1911), Lucknow (1919), Kanpur (1919) and Allahabad (1920). Mumbai improvement trust executed 71 development plans within a span of 45 years.
In December 1911 the work for planning New Delhi was taken up. This was the first garden city of the country built on an area of 1,280 hectares to accommodate 65,000 people. The layout is based on the hexagonal pattern surrounded by actuate roads. Another city of Jamshedpur was planned by Julian Kenedy in 1911 which is based on the principle of nearest neighbour.
Since Independence many planned cities like Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar, Gandhinagar, Itanagar etc. and port cities like Kandla, Paradwip, Haldia etc have been built using latest techniques in city planning. Similarly Development Authorities and Improvement Agencies are functioning in old cities to plan new colonies and to prepare Master Plans for city redevelopment shows the Master Plan of Allahabad City prepared in 1958.