Origin of towns: Topographical Features

• It is quite likely that people have often found to stay in groups or societies to safeguard themselves from dangers of theft.
• The humans by nature are social animal and they get much satisfaction of living their life in the company of friends and community.
•  An urban man can develop contacts and make friends with like-minded people having common interest.
• The urban dwellers can maintain a very high degree of privacy.
• The urban are provide with reliable water supply, good market for business, large amount of opportunities to succeed, etc.

•  Aerial ports : In some cases, the airports plays an important role in the growth of a town.
• Railways : If the town is connected with railways, there will be increase of passengers and goods traffic even from long distances.
• Roadways : The neighbouring area is connected with the town and it leads to overall expansion of trade and industry.
• Waterways : If facilities of waterways are available, the town can grow as a harbour with possibility of foreign trade and business.

•  It is the natural tendency of the people to be as near as possible to town or city, therefore the town develops in form of concentric rings with nucleus as town.
• These type of growth create many complicated problems such as traffic congestion, narrow streets,concentration of population, improper housing, etc.
• The town growth is represented by a series of concentric circles or rings.
• The first zone represents central business like commercial and social life of the town.
• The second zone represents low-income housing, better-class residences and high-class residences are subsequently formed.
• The idea of concentric spread is based on the fact that similar or functionally related activities will be located at the same distance from the centre of an urban area.

• It has been observed that because of improvement of road surface and growth of motor traffic, everyone build or occupy the places as near as possible to the main road.
• The building activity therefore expands in a natural way along the sides of main road and long fingers or ribbons of houses, factories, shops, etc., develop as show in figure below.

•  As houses extend in a long strip or ribbon, there is increase in cost of utility services such as water supply and electricity, postal deliveries, etc.
• It results into wastage of available resources.
• It lacks social life as ribbon development causes scatter of community.
• The future improvement becomes costly and difficult, in some place it becomes impossible.
• The interior place are left undeveloped which results in wastage of valuable land.
• It causes accidents and traffic delays (jams) due to pedestrians on the main road.
• The traffic capacity and efficiency of main road are reduced.
• The ribbon development spoils the countryside view as it becomes non-visible at least for road users.
• The problem of ribbon development is complex involving social-economic, political, technical and legal measures for its solution.

•  It has its own local government and corporate life.
• It is a town in the full sense but it depends to a certain extent upon a nearby large town or city.
• It is connected to the parent city by local trains, buses, etc. in such a way the people can reach to the parent city easily.
• It is free to decide its economic, social and cultural activities.
• It is generally situated beyond the green belt of the parent city.
• It is mainly residential area having only local shops, schools for children, etc.
• No industries are permitted, the people will have to depend on the parent city for employment opportunities.
• It is neither a village nor a suburb.
• It need not have zoning regulations.
• Its size and development are controlled in such a way that it does not affect the parent town in future.
• The satellite may even be considered to be the part of market for some goods and services from the parent town.
• The workers living in particular satellite may belong to the labour force of a certain industry. It gives a wider choice to the employers of such industries for finding the best man for the job.

• The main disadvantage of satellite growth is the necessity of the long journey to work. (It may be long journey in distance does not necessarily mean a long journey in time due to efficient modes of transport and traffic).
• Satellite growth may be deprived of entertainment and cultural activity.
• It is responsible for preventing the development of a community spirit.
• Lack of community centres and halls.

• The growth of the town takes place in very irregular way.
• It results in traffic congestion.
• Encroachment of industries on residential areas.
• Development of slums.
• Lack of parks and various other problems which prove to be too difficult to be solved in future.

• In general, there will be saving in cost as the buildings will usually consist of two or three floors.
• It does not require the service of high technical personnel.
• Maximum possible use of the natural light in the buildings.
• The density of the population can be restricted.
• There is economy of floor space as the provision of columns, lifts, etc. will not be required.
• The surrounding marginal space can be utilized for developing gardens.

•  It uses more land and hence, it will prove to be uneconomical where the land value are very high.
• The foundation cost per unit area will be more.
• There will be absence of group living.

•  A sense of group living and unity develops as many families live in same building.
• The foundation cost will be distributed between all the floors, therefore the foundation cost per unit area will be in the reasonable limit.
• For floor above certain height, the natural sceneries such as sea view, river view, etc. can be enjoyed in a better way.
• It will be possible to make maximum use of the modern technology such as fire-proofing, sound-proofing, heat insulation, air-conditioning, high speed elevators, etc.
• There will be considerable saving in land and hence, it will prove to be economical where land values are very high.
• There will be economy in construction cost as the buildings will be designed as framed structures with repetition of a typical floor plan at each floor level.

• In case of natural calamities such as earthquakes or fire, it will be difficult for the inhabitants (dwellers) of the upper floors to escape safely.
• The density of population will be more.
• The design of flats will be stereo-typed and there is no scope for personal likes or dislikes.
• The evils of group living will have to be tolerated.
• The failure of lift, pumps, etc. will cause great inconvenience.
• The people staying at upper floors will be deprived of natural living near the ground level.
• There will be some wastage of floor space as lifts, supporting columns, etc. will have to be provided.