Rural development,

Urban planning and

City Design are not
the same and
adopting a common
planning is
disastrous.

Patrick Geddes Theory

of Evolution in Cities
(Biologist, sociologist, geographer and Town Planner)

GEDDISIAN TRIAD PATRICK GEDDES

Father of modern
town planning.
First to link
sociological
concept into town
planning.
Survey before
plan i.e. diagnosis
before treatment.

ABOUT SIR PATRICK GEDDES

Sir Patrick Geddes(2 October 185417 April 1923)
was a Scottish biologist, sociologist, geographer,
philanthropist and pioneering town planner.
He is known for his innovative thinking in the fields
of urban planning and sociology.
He introduced the concept of region to architecture
and planning and coined the term Conurbation.
Geddes was the founder of the College des
Ecossaise (scots college) an international teaching
establishment in Montpellier, France.
He studied at the royal college of mines in london
under Thomas Henry Huxley between 1874 and
1878, and lectured in zoology at Edinburgh
University from 1880 to 1888.

 His principles for town planning in Bombay demonstrate his views

on the relationship between social processes and spatial form,
and the intimate and causal connections between the social
development of the individual and the cultural and physical
environment. They included: ( Bombay Town Planning Act of
1915")
Preservation of human life and energy, rather than superficial
beautification.
Conformity to an orderly development plan carried out in stages.
Purchasing land suitable for building.
Promoting trade and commerce.
Preserving historic buildings and buildings of religious
significance.
Developing a city worthy of civic pride, not an imitation of
European cities.
Promoting the happiness, health and comfort of all residents,
rather than focusing on roads and parks available only to the rich.
Control over future growth with adequate provision for future
requirements.

CONCEPT
Patrick Geddes explained an organisms relationship to
its environment as follows:
The environment acts, through function, upon the organism and
conversely the organism acts, through function, upon the
environment.(Cities in Evolution, 1915)
In human terms this can be understood as a place
acting through climatic and geographic processes upon
people and thus shaping them. At the same time
people act, through economic processes such as
farming and construction, on a place and thus shape it.
Thus both place and folk are linked and through work
are in constant transition.

GEDDISIAN TRIAD Important Dates

GEDDIAN TRIO REPRESENTATION

 Patrick Geddes was influenced by social theorists such as

Herbert Spencer (18201903) and French theorist Frederic
Le Play (18061882) and expanded upon earlier
theoretical developments that lead to the concept of
regional planning.
He adopted Spencer's theory that the concept of
biological evolution could be applied to explain the
evolution of society, and drew on Le Play's analysis of the
key units of society as constituting "Lieu, Travail, Famille"
("Place, Work, Family"), but changing the last from
"family" to "folk". In this theory, the family is viewed as
the central "biological unit of human society "from which
all else develops.

According to Geddes, it is from "stable, healthy homes"

providing the necessary conditions for mental and moral
development that come beautiful and healthy children
who are able "to fully participate in life".

GEDDES AND THE VALLEY SECTION

Geddes first published his idea of the valley section
in 1909 to illustrate his idea of the 'region-city'.
The region is expressed in the city and the city
spreads influence of the highest level into the region.
To put it another way, Geddes said that "it takes a
whole region to make the city.
The valley section illustrated the application of
Geddes's trilogy of 'folk/work/place' to analysis of the
region.
The valley section is a complex model, which
combines physical condition- geology and
geomorphology and their biological associations with so-called natural or basic occupations such as
miner, hunter, shepherd or fisher, and with the

 Geddes illustrated the section using the locally

available landscapes of Edinburgh and its
hinterland

CONURBATION

CONURBATIONS THEORY
The term "conurbation" was coined in 1915
byPatrick Geddesin his bookCities In Evolution.
Internationally, the term "urban agglomeration" is
often used to convey a similar meaning to
"conurbation".
He drew attention to the ability of the (then) new
technology of electric power and motorised
transport to allow cities to spread and agglomerate
together, and gave as examples "Midland ton" in
England, theRuhrin Germany,Ramstadin
theNetherlands,New York-Bostonin theUnited
States,theGreater Tokyo Areaand Taiheiy Beltin
Japan andNCR of Delhi in India.

 Aconurbationis a region comprising a number

ofcities, largetowns, and otherurban areasthat,
throughpopulation growthand physical
expansion, have merged to form one continuous
urban and industrially developed area.
In most cases, a conurbation is a
polycentricurban agglomeration, in which
transportation has developed to link areas to
create a single urbanlabour marketortravel to
work area.
The term is used in North America, a metropolitan
area can be defined by the Census Bureau or it
may consist of acentral cityand itssuburbs, while
a conurbation consists of adjacent metropolitan

CONURBATION THEORY
CONURBATION
waves of population
inflow to large cities,
followed by
overcrowding and
slum formation, and
then the wave
backflow the whole
process resulting in
amorphous sprawl,
waste and
unnecessary
obsolescence.

EXAMPLES OF CONURBATION
NEW YORK
The expansive concept of theNew York metropolitan
area(theTri-State Region) centred on New York City,
including 30 counties spread betweenNew York
State,New Jersey,Connecticut, andPennsylvania,
with an estimated population of 21,961,994 in 2007.
Approximately one-fifteenth of all U.S. residents live
in the Greater New York City area.
This conurbation is the result of several central
cities whose urban areas have merged.

UNITED KINGDOM
Industrial and housing growth in theUnited
Kingdomduring the 19th and early 20th centuries
produced many conurbations.
Greater Londonis by far the largest urban area and is
usually counted as a conurbation in statistical terms,
but differs from the others in the degree to which it is
focused on a single central area.

In the mid-1950s
theGreen Beltwas
introduced to stem the
further urbanisation of
the countryside in UK.
The term "conurbation" is
closer to the meaning
ofurban agglomeration.

The list below shows the most populous urban

areas in the UK as defined by theOffice for
National Statistics(ONS). The Greater London
Urban Area contains the whole of what is
commonly calledLondon, but ONS definitions
divide London into a large number of smaller
localities of which the largest is Croydon.

INDIA
Mumbai Metropolitan
Region(MMR) is a metropolitan area consisting of
the metropolis of Mumbai and its satellite towns.
Developing over a period of about 20 years, it
consists of seven municipal corporations and
fifteen smaller municipal councils.

 The region has an area of 4,355km and with a

population of 20,998,395, it is among the top ten
most populated urban agglomeration in the world.
It is linked with Mumbai through the Mumbai
Suburban Railway system and a large network of
roads.
TheNational Capital Region(NCR) is a name for
the conurbation or metropolitan area which
encompasses the entire National Capital Territory
of Delhi as well as urban areas ringing it in
neighbouring states ofUP,HaryanaandRajasthan.
With a total area of about 33,578km2(12,965 sq
mi) it had an estimated population of 21,961,994 in
2007.

CONSTELLATION THEORY

 As we all saw in the map, prominent cities in

Maharashtra are shown to be connected
forming a CONSTELLATION shape.
This CONSTELLATION THEORY was also coined
by Sir Patrick Geddes , 4 or more cities,
which are not economically, politically, socially
equal come together in developing a whole
region
This theory is mostly used for administrative
purpose in all countries worldwide.
Such theory is most prominently used
because planning cities in a particular shape
pattern is not possible in Todays times.

MAHARASHTRA- A CASE STUDY

Mumbai- Economic and Capital
city
Nasik- Religious city
Aurangabad- Administrative city
Nagpur- Political city
Pune-Educational importance city

 Since, all the five factors necessary for

development of a region are divided with five
different place , the administration of that region
has a gradual progressing path, because a certain
region doesnt have the
Maharashtra state has gained prime importance
for the country in the last few decade in spite of
being formed in early 60s, contributing 15% to
countrys industrial output and 13.3% GDP.
Production, Manufacturing, automobile, Thermal
Electricity projects have been an active part in
the growth of the state.
The distance between the cities in Maharashtra,
ranges mostly in 100km-300km making
transportation, connectivity, inter-dependency

prosper within the state.

 Maharashtra is divided into six revenue

divisions, which are further divided into
thirty-fivedistricts.
These thirty-five districts are further
divided into 109 sub-divisions of the
districts and 357Talukas in Maharashtra.
The six administrative divisions in
Maharashtra state areAmravati
Division,Aurangabad Division,Konkan
Division,Nagpur Division,Nashik Division,
and Pune Division.
The Admistrational aspect of Maharashtra
is quite a unique factor since six divisions
are set up as a network working together