UNIT 1 notes hsp NTRODUCTION TO HUMAN SETTLEMENTS PDF

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UNIT 1INTRODUCTIONPROLOGUE:In 1976 in Vancouver, Canada, the United Nations held its first conference on the issue of physical and spatial organization of human life on this planet, and on the national and international actions needed to accommodate the growing number of population in urban and rura...

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UNIT 1 INTRODUCTION PROLOGUE: In 1976 in Vancouver, Canada, the United Nations held its first conference on the issue of physical and spatial organization of human life on this planet, and on the national and international actions needed to accommodate the growing number of population in urban and rural communities. This conference, called Habitat: United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, established the concept of human settlements to consist of several elements that had been previously considered separately from one another - housing, building, planning and the relationship of these and such other activities as environmental change and national and international development. The definition of human settlement is as given below: “The fabric of human settlements consists of physical elements and services to which these elements provide the material support. The physical components comprise shelter, i.e. the superstructures of different shape, size, type and materials erected by mankind for security, privacy, and protection from the elements and for his singularity within a community; infrastructure, i.e. the complex networks designed to deliver or remove from the shelter people, goods, energy of information. Services cover those required by a community for the fulfillment of its functions as a social body, such as education, health, culture, welfare, recreation and nutrition.” Vancouver declaration defined human settlements as follows: Human settlements means the totality of the human community - whether city, town or village - with all the social, material, organizational, spiritual and cultural elements that sustain it. The fabric of human settlements consists of physical elements and services to which these elements provide the material support. The physical components comprise,  Shelter, i.e. the superstructures of different shapes, size, type and materials erected by mankind for security, privacy and protection from the elements and for his singularity within a community;  Infrastructure, i.e. the complex networks designed to deliver to or remove from the shelter people, goods, energy or information;  Services cover those required by a community for the fulfillment of its functions as a social body, such as education, health, culture, welfare, recreation and nutrition. IMPORTANT FEATURES: 1

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It is now contended that human settlements are the spatial dimension as well as the physical expression of economic and social activity. No creative act takes place without being influenced by settlement conditions. In turn, the creation of workable human settlements inevitably becomes an objective of, an indicator of and a prerequisite for social and economic development. Settlements are an objective of development in that places where people can live, learn and work in conditions of safety, comfort and efficiency are a fundamental and elementary need. Settlements are also an indicator, in that they are the most visible expression of a society's ability to satisfy some of the fundamental needs of its members: they can mark accomplishments as well as expose destitution,neglect and inequality. Finally, settlements are a prerequisite for social and economic development, in that no social progress for sustainable economic growth can occur without efficient settlements systems and settlement networks.

ELEMENTS OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS: NATURE NETWORK

SHELL

MAN

SOCIETY

These elements always interact with one another. A human being has some invisible spheres around him. These spheres are the spheres of the senses like touch, smell, sight, hearing and also supernatural or spiritual. The spiritual sphere is directly proportional to his intellect. People interact with one another by direct interaction of these spheres. Human habitation requires a certain amount of overlapping of these spheres, and the planning of habitation would mean, social planning’. Human desires and endurances have remained the same throughout the years and manifestations of which have changed by evolution. EKISTICS: The term Ekistics (coined by Konstantinos Apostolos Doxiadis in 1942) applies to the science of human settlements. 

It includes regional, city, community planning and dwelling design.

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It involves the study of all kinds of human settlements, with a view to geography and ecology — the physical environment — and human psychology and anthropology, and cultural, political, and occasionally aesthetics. As a scientific mode of study is currently found to rely on statistics and description, organized in five ekistic elements: nature, anthropos, society, shells, and networks. It is generally a more academic field than "urban planning", and has considerable overlap with some of the less restrained fields of architectural theory.

SCOPE OF EKISTICS: In terms of outdoor recreation, the term ekistic relationship is used to describe one's relationship with the natural world and how they view the resources with in it. The notion of ekistics implies that understanding the interaction between and within human groups—infrastructure, agriculture, shelter, function (job) -- in conjunction with their environment directly affects their well-being (individual and collective). The subject begins to elucidate the ways in which collective settlements form and how they inter-relate. By doing so, humans begin to understand how they 'fit' into a species, i.e. homo sapiens, and how homo sapiens 'should' be living in order to manifest our potential—at least as far as this species is concerned (as the text stands now). Ekistics in some cases argues that in order for human settlements to expand efficiently and economically we must reorganize the way in which the villages, towns,cities, metropolis are formed. Finally, he formulated a general theory which considers human settlements as living organisms capable of evolution, an evolution that might be guided by Man using "Ekistic knowledge". EKISTIC UNITS: Doxiadis believed that the conclusion from biological and social experience was clear: to avoid chaos we must organize our system of life from Anthropos (individual) to Ecumenopolis (global city) in hierarchical levels, represented by human settlements. So he articulated a general hierarchical scale with fifteen levels of Ekistic Units : * Names of Units and Population Scale (final version, from C.A.Doxiadis' last book, ACTION for Human Settlements, p. 186, Athens Center of Ekistics,1976)

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Note: The population figures below are for Doxiadis' ideal future ekistic units for the year 2100 at which time he estimated (in 1968) that Earth would achieve zero population growth at a population of 50,000,000,000 with human civilization being powered by fusion energy. Ekistic Units: Anthropos – 1 room – 2 house – 5 housegroup (hamlet) – 40 small neighborhood (village) – 250 neighborhood – 1,500 small polis (town) – 10,000 polis (city) – 75,000 small metropolis – 500,000 metropolis – 4 million small megalopolis – 25 million megalopolis – 150 million small eperopolis – 750 million eperopolis – 7,500 million Ecumenopolis – 50,000 million In comparison the United Nations population estimate, for the year 2100, at a constant growth rate, Uganda would form a small eperopolis, with a population of about 1 billion people, in an area of about 250,000 km² (4600 people/km², comparable to greater Tokyo today). Elements of Human Settlement: Human settlements consist of several elements; Nature, the earth and the natural site on which they are built; Man, who creates and inhabits them; Society which is formed mainly in them and whose Networks 4

functions allow them to survive and grow; and shells (Structures), which are built to transform the first and to house the other three elements.

Man, society and Networks are the contents of human settlements; Nature and Shell form the container.

Elements of Human Settlement: Goal of ekistics: Human happiness, leading to the evolution of better human species by the formation of appropriate human settlements achieved through the best combination of the five elements of ekistics. In order to attain the goal of ekistics, we must be aware that we can only act in the following ways; 1. Study the whole subject of human settlements; 2. Conceive their future; 3. Act to shape the physical habitat; that is its nature, its functions and its shell, in order to implement the image we have conceived.

Elements of Human Settlement: 1. NATURE: The system of nature and man usually evolves through three phases;  First, attack by nature, Second, counterattack by man which ranges from burning the forests to global pollution by some chemicals. This seems to be especially characteristic during man’s explosions.

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Third, peace between the two, either by adaption of man to nature or of nature to man or by a compromise. This is an eternal process. Today man is simply repeating his attacks and mistakes and he has two choices;  to reverse scientific and technological progress, which is impossible, or  to repeat the age old and wiser process of achieving his goals by creating a new balance between nature and his actions.

2. ANTHROPOS (MAN):

Man is usually presented with his body surrounded by a circle. (As showed by Leonardo da vinci) – But this visual aspect concentrates our attention of the body of man. Recently Edward T.Hall and the idea of a human bubble reaching beyond the body – step towards a better understanding of man.

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But, in reality Man transcends his bubble, or first sphere, by many other concentric spheres defined by his senses. No sensation can be overlooked: a sweet or a bitter taste, caressing a marble carving or a loved one, walking on sand with bare feet; smells, sounds, sights and all physical sensation; and then all metaphysical ones like science, faith, religion and imagination which be take man beyond even the cosmos. The mind of man carries him into areas which cannot be reached through the senses.

Body, sense, mind, and soul are only partial aspects of man, but they cannot be separated.

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After clarifying that man is not only a body, we have to clarify that he is also not only an adult male as we often tend to think. Anthropos comprises all sexes (they are not only two), all age groups, all situations in terms of health and so on.

Relationship of units of space: People who live in one or two story, single family houses along a common public street, we see that they develop much greater relationships withone another then people who live in multistory buildings. People living at the same level have head to head, feet to feet relationship, while people living at superimposed levels have a head to feet relationship, which does not help them to make contact with each other.

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3. SOCIETY: TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION: The territorial organization of human settlements is based on the daily movements of people. Up to 1825, the speed was constant (5Km per hour) and life and organization were based on the principle that people belonged to communities (villages and cities) whose centers, services and administration could easily be reached at this speed.

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When the population became too big, a new subdivision was created which helped everybody to belong both to the big city (its center, one hour’s maximum distance) and to a local community. This happened in ancient greece, in the arab world, in china and in other civilizations. Today is everything is changed – the kinetic fields define the distances people desire to cross in order to come together. How can we build a settlement that both brings people together in community and keeps them apart in their personal privacy? The two goals for the city of today should be freedom of movement in all directions and the total time-distance between any two destinations should be minimal. Man, by trial and error, arrived at the same conclusion at nearly the same time in several parts of the world – the conclusion that he needed an urban settlement with certain characteristics in order to organize his urban life and facilitate his rural life. its main characteristics – arose from the fact that people do not want to have to walk for more than ten minutes in order to reach the center of their settlement from the periphery. This fact leads to a city with the following characteristics; 

They were compact urban settlements; the area they occupied was no larger than two by two kilometers;

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They had no more than 50,000 inhabitants;

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The kinetic fields set their maximum physical limits – walking.

Capital cities had to grow beyond a population of 50,000 because of the great number of people needed to run the empire. At the peak of their development they had populations as high as a million people. as a result – these capitals grew beyond an area of two by two kilometers to as much as six by six kilometers, and this meant that the corresponding kinetic fields expanded from circles having a radius of one kilometer to circles having a radius of three kilometers, equivalent to more than 30 minutes of walking time. - this is a too much walking, and therefore people used horse drawn carts; for these they paved their roads and made them straight. In spite of such efforts, the lack of advanced technology made it difficult for the capital cities or the empires to hold together. (Rome was a striking example which collapsed after the fall the empire)

A study of the maximum times spent by man upon his daily movements shows that, as a hunter, movement occupied many hours each day; as a farmer, he decreased his traveling time to two hours a day; as an urbanized citizen to half an hour. this seems to 10

be man’s optimum, because he held to it for some thousands of years, only abandoning it gradually around 1800 AD under the pressure of a growing urban population and insufficient means of rapid transport. We can now project into the future and state that in the long run we should reckon with man’s desire not to spend more than 30 minutes a day in travel – or 10 minutes for his longest journey – and that he can achieve this by devoting more and more of the total energy available to him by means of personal transportation.

4. SHELLS: HOUSING FOR EVERYBODY In its first stage, a settlement can seldom afford to establish all types of community services, ranging from the simplest corner shop to the most elaborate cultural centers and including every possible service. Further, usually no provisions are made to reserve for their inclusion when the time comes for them to be built. Thus, implementation takes place at a much lower level then desired and at a much higher cost than is reasonable. In this way the land can be used even without buildings. People can have an open air market or make a school with tents. 11

An urban land policy should be worked out within the frame of the overall national development plan. Land prices in the urban areas should not be permitted to rise and defeat every effort of housing as has happened in many countries. Ekistics requirements impose certain social policies; for instance, the acquisition of urban land at reasonable prices. Ekistics policies should be the main initiator of urban land reform. There is much talk in all developing countries about rural land reform but it is urban land reform which is the key to many of their national problems. It is impossible to have development in any area without having continuous dynamic changes in the settlements, their size, their interrelationship, their contents and their structure. It is essential to understand these changes in advance in order to serve any area with housing programs. In travelling around the world we see many examples of low-income farming with large houses, far too large in relation to their economic standing. Why? these large farm houses are not built by one generation; they are built over several generations. It takes time – maybe even 100 years – to create the big farmhouses we see in low-income agricultural areas. In city life a house had to be finished within a generation; the next generation, the sons and daughter, may move into a different city, a different profession, a different social class. The urban house has the length of a human lifetime as its economic and social criterion. The rural house lives for generations, sometimes for centuries.

5. NETWORKS: Among the five elements of human settlements, network is the youngest. it is very upsetting to find people who are very concerned with changing nature or man or society, but fail to consider that nature, as a system on this earth, has operated for a least 4.5 billion years, that man has spent at least 1 million years experimenting on how to behave; perhaps we do not realize it, but man still experiments through trial and error. Society has operated for at least 100,000 years; and our shells have been organized for about 8,000 to 10,000 years. It is only the networks which are so young; for we cannot start seriously speaking of networks until the first railroads began connecting cities about 150 years ago.

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We start with the same transportation times that determined the size of the ancient citystate – that is, an average of ten minutes walking time for the radius of the builtup area and of eight hours for the radius of the city-state as a whole. With today’s technology we still have a city within whose built-up area man can move from point to point, by foot or vehicle, in ten minutes and from which he can reach the most distant point in the city’s area of influence in eight hours, but now this areas of influence will have become the whole world. If we assume that if man travels at 2000 kilometers per hour. At such a speed man can cover in ten minutes about 330 kilometers, or when allowance is made for lower starting and stopping speeds, about 150 kilometers. - This is very close to the average radius for major urban areas of many of today’s cities. To achieve this, we can proceed in two important phases 1. We must built all networks for movement of goods (gas, liquids and solids) underground, to free the surface of the earth of this unnecessary burden. 2. When we have learned more and when we can afford it financially, we should bring man’s system of mechanical transportation underground, to free much more of the surface of the earth for man’s use and enjoyment. First problem – transportation is only a part of anthropos movement and by overlooking this truth we benefit the machines and causes losses to anthropos. Second problem – the existing transportation networks lack overall coordination. Third problem – transportation implies only persons and goods. Thus we forget the existence of water (Clean or otherwise), moving in pipes, of gas, oil and electricity; of the movement of messages; the telephone system and so forth.

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Solutions: 1. Separate the human street from the mechanical street. 2. Need for a unified system for example, ports and airports should be brought together as LANWAIR Knots. Such a proposal has been submitted to the greet government and is now under examination. 3. It is the creation of coordinated transportation and utility corridors. This can result in saving higher than 80% of the total area of land occupied today.

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CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS: Classification of Settlement: Settlements can broadly be divided into two types – i)Rural and ii)Urban. Basic differences between rural and urban areas : (i) The major difference between rural and urban areas is the function. Rural areas have predominantly primary activities, whereas urban areas have domination of secondary and tertiary activities. (ii) Generally the rural areas have low density of population than urban. 1. Types of Rural Settlements / CLASSIFICATION BASED ON FORM &...