Urban Planning & Settlement Patterns

Urban planning and settlement patterns reveal how human societies organized space to meet economic, administrative, and social needs. In the Indian context, these patterns evolved from Neolithic rural settlements to the planned cities of the Indus Valley, through fortified medieval towns, and finally to colonial and modern urban centres.

• Each phase mirrors the technological capacity, social hierarchy, and cultural priorities of its time. Archaeological, literary, and architectural evidence together show that India’s urbanization was not linear but cyclical, with alternating phases of expansion and decline.

Era-Wise Development

Neolithic and Chalcolithic Settlements

• Early rural settlements emerged in fertile regions like ....