Foundation of urban settlement was laid when human beings mastered the skills of cultivation and got surplus production. The surplus paved the ways trade which raised the standards of living of the peopel. This led to the change in the construction style of the houses and planned settlements bega to appear.
This article delineates the history of urban planning, a technical and political process concerned with the use of land and design of the urban environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas such as transportation and distribution networks.
The history of urban planning runs parallel to the history of the city, as planning is in evidence at some of the earliest known urban sites.
Pre-classical
The pre-Classical and Classical periods saw a number of cities laid out according to fixed plans, though many tended to develop organically. Designed cities were characteristic of the Minoan, Mesopotamian, Harrapan, and Egyptian civilisations of the third millennium BC (see Urban planning in ancient Egypt). The first recorded description of urban planning appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh: "Go up on to the wall of Uruk and walk around. Inspect the foundation platform and scrutinise the brickwork. Testify that its bricks are baked bricks, And that the Seven Counsellors must have laid its foundations. One square mile is city, one square mile is orchards, one square mile is claypits, as well as the open ground of Ishtar's temple.Three square miles and the open ground comprise Uruk. Look for the copper tablet-box, Undo its bronze lock, Open the door to its secret, Lift out the lapis lazuli tablet and read." [1]
Distinct characteristics of urban planning from remains of the cities of Harappa, Lothal, Dholavira, and Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley Civilisation (in modern-day northwestern India and Pakistan) lead archeologists to interpret them as the earliest known examples of deliberately planned and managed cities.[2][3] The streets of many of these early cities were paved and laid out at right angles in a grid pattern, with a hierarchy of streets from major boulevards to residential alleys. Archaeological evidence suggests that many Harrapan houses were laid out to protect from noise and to enhance residential privacy; many also had their own water wells, probably both for sanitary and for ritual purposes. These ancient cities were unique in that they often had drainage systems, seemingly tied to a well-developed ideal of urban sanitation.[2] Cities laid out on the grid plan could have been an outgrowth of agriculture based on rectangular fields.[4]
Many Central American civilisations also planned their cities, including sewage systems and running water. In Mexico, Tenochtitlan, built on an island in Lake Texcoco in the present-day the Federal District in central Mexico, served as the capital of the Aztec empire. At its height, Tenochtitlan was one of the largest cities in the world, with over 200,000 inhabitants.