Evolutionary Theories

2. CONTENT
1. Introduction
1.1. Term : Best practice
1.2. Historical background
2. Location (Geographical context)
3. Planning concept of Mohenjo-Daro as best practices
4. Architecture and urban infrastructure
4.1. Town plan
4.2. The courtyard house
4.3. Street pattern
4.4. Modular concepts
4.5. Water supply and sanitation
5. Present context
6. Inferences

3. INTRODUCTION
BEST PRACTICE
 A best practice is a technique or methodology that, through
experience and research, has proven to reliably lead to a desired result.
 The Indus Valley Civilization has regularity and order in the town
planning and is considered as best practice of its time and as being
followed till now also.
 The twin cities of Indus Valley Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were center
of all activities.
 Good example to study urban settlement, lead to understand each
aspects of the city which is being follow till now as Best Practice.
 The inhabitants of Indus were living in houses, growing crops,
perfecting architecture by building sewage system.

4. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
 The Civilization that was far more advance
then words can describe.
 Mohenjo-Daro means “mound of the dead”.
 Mohenjo-Daro was a well fortified city.
 Mohenjo-Daro were generally oriented from
north to south, with connecting streets running
east to west.
 It was built around – 2600BCE
abandoned – 1900BCE
Re-discovered – 1922
 The city may had at least 35,000 residents. Old city of Mohenjo-Daro

5. LOCATION
 Mohenjo-Daro is located in the Sindh province, on the right bank of the
Indus River.
 The site is situated in a central position between the Indus river valley on
the west.
Map Shows Ancient cities
Indus River
Valley

6. PLANNING CONCEPT OF MOHENJO-DARO AND HARAPPAN
CIVILIZATION As best practice
 The Harappans have given systematic town planning, fortification of
citadel, elaborate drainage system, standardization of brick sizes, weights
and measures, geometric instruments e.g. right angles, linear scale.
 Invention of zero and numbers were done in this civilization.
 The use of bricks in the construction found here.
 Street Patterns here were in grid. These all leads to understanding the
“Modular” concept.
 Modular concept of planning helps in estimation and specification.
 The Harappan settlements are found built of mud bricks, burnt bricks
and chiseled stones.

7. ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE
TOWN PLAN
 Mohenjo-Daro, is an ancient planned city laid out on a grid of streets.
 The western end of the site is an area known as the Citadel.
 The large platform, called the
‘Citadel’ is presumed to be the
administrative seat.
 The southern portion of the Citadel
mound was excavated several interesting
large structure were found, including a
building known as the ‘Assembly Hall’.

8. N
Southern part
‘Assembly Hall’
Eastern part
Buddhist stupa
The Great Bath
The street layout
shows an
understanding of the
basic principles of
traffic, with rounded
corners to allow the
turning of carts
easily.
The widest streets
run north-south,
straight through town.

9. Detail view of The Great Bath
The Bath is 12 meters long, 7
meters wide and reaches a depth
of 2.4 meters in some places.
Made out of baked bricks lined
with bitumen indicating that it
was meant to hold water.
A place for ritual bathing, or
religious ceremonies.

10. The house was planned as a series
of rooms opening on to a central
courtyard providing an open
space inside for community
activities.
Plan showing Courtyard House
THE COURTYARD HOUSE

11. The street layout shows an
understanding of the basic
principles of traffic, with rounded
corners to allow the turning of
carts easily.
Main Streets were wider run
north-south straight through
town.
Secondary streets were about
half the width of the main
street run east-west.
Street Pattern worked out in Grid
STREET PATTERN

12. Invention of zero and
numbers were done in this
civilization. Even, the use of
bricks in the construction
found here. Street Patterns
here were in grid. All these are
the end product of
understanding of “Modular”
Concept.
 The bricks we use today
are made in much the
same way.
Mud Brick
Standard Brick
MODULAR CONCEPT

13. For Example:
Considering, 1 brick thick wall having 10 m length and 5m height. (Consider 1cm
mortar)
At Mohenjo-Daro,
Mud brick size = 7 x 14 x 28 cm
= 0.002744 m3
Volume of wall = 10 x 5 x 0.14 = 7 m3
Size of brick with mortar = 8 x 14 x 29 cm
No of bricks required = 7 /0.08 x 0.14 x 0.29
= say 2155 nos.
For the same construction, i.e. for the construction of wall of 7 m3,
As per today’s technology,
Standard brick size = 20 x 10 x 10 cm
= 0.002 m3
Size of brick with mortar = 20 x 11x 11 cm
No of bricks required = 7 / 0.2 x 0.11 x 0.11
= say 2892 nos.

14. This example concludes,
 As per their modular size of a brick, no. of bricks required is less than the
today’s module.
 No. of joints in the construction would be less, which results into better
strength achievement.
 Because of the Modular size the saving of material by avoiding wastage.
This is how Material saving leads to Cost saving and also the ecological
balance.

15. WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION
For water, the big houses had their
own wells, other wells would serve
groups of smaller.
Well, for water supply
Drainage
Drains were built with a slight slope.
This allowed water to drain away from
the city.
Solid waste collected in square brick
pits. Some drains had covers-just like
our drains today.

16. Movie shows the whole
scenario of Mohenjo-Daro
planning.

17. PRESENT CONTEXT
TESSELLATION PLANNING
• In designing the layout for housing, arrangement of housing in rows is a
common feature but another method of subdividing land, which produces better
social, environmental and aesthetic outcomes, and in a way that also uses land
more efficiently is nothing but Tessellation Planning.
• In geometry, to tessellate means to cover a plane with a pattern without
having any gap or overlap.
• Using tessellation, we can create a complex visual effect through simple
construction.
• Tessellation geometry is used to sub-divide land using modular concept. One unit
designed, which shall be the module (shape wise, form wise and dimension wise) for
Tessellation planning.

18. CUL–DE-SAC
• concept of Cul-de-sac can be explained as a
cluster of houses having only one access and
central courtyard.
• People like to live in cul-de-sacs.
• According to an American study by Eran Joseph
in 1995, between the ‘grid’, ‘loops’ and cul-de-sacs,
the latter were the most popular.
• In Malaysia, this planning system has been
implemented. Cul-de-sac

19. DESIGNING NEIGHBORHOOD
Example
• This is a small community of, in this example, 16 houses.
All the houses face the common garden in the middle of a
looping road. There is a clear boundary which is the party wall and
fence that runs across the back of the houses. There is only one
road leading into this cluster. Because the area in the middle of the
houses forms a sort of courtyard, we call this arrangement a
‘courtyard neighborhood’.
• Now, by combining three almost identical tiles together
we have 36 houses in a ‘cul-de-sac neighborhood’ with a
population of 180 persons.
This is a bigger neighborhood, less intimate, less focused,
but still defined by a single entry.

20. • There are about 250 houses in this example bounded by a
distribution road.
• At the edges are some courts, which are the cul-de-sacs
courtyards dissected into two.
• A central park for older children is provided in the
middle of the block. This open area also allows footpaths to
run from one cul-de-sac to another. The population here
would be about 1250.

21. Further, to create a bigger community equivalent to 7 of the block neighborhoods
described above to form a township. The residential areas are arrayed around a
central area that comprises a primary school and other communal amenities. The
number of houses, about 1750 units, and the population is 8750 persons. This is
the community size that accords with the term "neighborhood unit".
In Honeycomb housing, a hierarchical concept
of community is adopted - with neighborhoods at
the level of courtyards, cul-de-sacs, blocks, and
township. And community planning should start at
the bottom of this hierarchy, at the first cluster of
houses, because that where it is most important.

22. HONEYCOMB Cul-de-sac Housing
• In Malaysia, only the rich can afford to live in a single-family house.
• An interlocking arrangement of cul-de-sacs is created such that each building
lot would face at least two cul-de-sacs.
• If the buildings in this layout are designed as detached houses, they may be in
the top range of the market.
• In Honeycomb housing, the buildings are
sub-divided into 2, 3, 4 or 6, to create duplex,
triplex, quadruplex or sextuplex units.
• As the buildings are divided, the land area and the
built-up area become smaller, the number of units
in the layout and the density of the development
go up.

23. • As the buildings are divided, the land area and the built-up area become
smaller, the number of units in the layout and the density of the development
go up.
• The quality of the external environment is not compromised – only that more
units share it!
View shows cluster of houses – which is
having central open space which work as
community space and concept is derived
from Mohenjo-Daro grid pattern.

24. IMPROVING LAND USE EFFICIENCY
• The shorter the cul-de-sac, the less the area taken up by the road.
• A square cul-de-sac neighborhood has less road area than a long rectangular
one. A circular one by itself would be the most efficient.
• The circle does not tessellate. But hexagonal
neighborhoods interlock without gap or overlap.
• The perimeter of a hexagonal precinct is 7%
shorter than the perimeter of a square one of
the same area.

25. The truncated triangle shape of 6000 square
feet yields a higher plinth area compared to
a typical 60’ x 100’ site.
The honeycomb alternative produces less
roads and more residential land.

26. Merit of physical planning of Cul-de-sac:
Central open courtyard of Cul-de-sac provides protected area for children to play.
Community spaced designed in Cul-de-sac offers personalized space to the adults
within the community.
Only single access to the cluster helps to avoid hazard of heavy / cross traffic on the
main road.
De-Merit of physical planning of Cul-de-sac:
During times of military / emergency large columns of armies / defense personal face
great difficulty to pass / guard property.

27. CONCLUSIONS
Systematic Grid Pattern having distinct features of Main Street with wider dimensions
than the secondary street having narrower dimensions for achieving efficient road
network and urban scale environment .
Best practice as this concept is continuously followed till today all over the world for
any town planning.
Considering majority to be democratic set up in modern times, Cul-de-sacs are
acceptable means of lay out with advantages overweighing disadvantages.