History

• Architectural History of Human Settlement is a course necessary for Architects
• Homosapiens were identified 500,000 years ago
• Homosapiens were nomads, normally hunters and gatherers
• History is the systematic study and documentation of the past, specifically that of humans. It involves various methods and means of recording information.
• Sense of the Past


  Everything has a specific history
• Biography


  The written history of an individual
• Only human societies have histories, based on collective memories from which they reconstruct their past
• Before History emerged as a way of recounting past events, there were Myths, Legends and Epics
• To be a true history

  • It must not only retell what happened, but must also relate events and people to each other
  • It must inquire into causes and effects
  • It must present the evidence which conclusions are based on
• Settlements grow as a direct response to natural resources features as forestry, irrigation, fishing, mining etc.
• Settlements are surrounded by systems of defense like walls, riverfronts and hillsides
• The built environment


  • It is in harmony with the exogenic (natural) factors
  • It is anthropocentric and follows a hierarchy at human scale
• Anthropocentrism


  The idea that the human experience is the center from which to structure and organize the world
• Eco Consciousness - People continue to value human life above ecological preservation thus fail to make drastic changes as a species to preserve ecological balance
• Agglomeration


  The concentration, accumulation, the mass, the collection or the assemblage of things, individuals or animals geological bodies
• Most settlements


  • Bear social stratification based on occupation, class, caste etc. portrayed through zoning, clustering and plot size
• Social stratification


  The society's categorization of its people into rankings based on factors like wealth, income, education, family background and power
• Settlements are a result of the collective process of the community
• Historic cities follow an organic pattern in built form and growth
• Settlements foster the notion of sustenance, survival built form and growth be it in the worship of natural phenomenon, supernatural power, art or architecture
• Settlements


  • Have broad zoning with mixed land use
  • Allow local governments to regulate which areas under their jurisdiction have real estate or land used for particular purposes
• Settlements exhibit a balance between individual and community ambitions with the latter being paramount
• The urban form of settlements like Sienna, Mohenjodaro and Harappa are witness to this phenomenon
• Modern planning approaches have been mechanical and technology driven, insensitive to the patterns of human evolution and failed to correlate to the dynamics of the city and its people
• Utopian diagrams and ideals fed to learning minds have been the main culprit, as practices lead the process of learning in any vocational profession
• It is necessary to make the planning process more interactive and understanding in accordance to the behavioural attitudes of the society and its evolutionary trends
• The cultural patterns in the history of human settlements are rational and time tested but none less subtle and intuitive
• It becomes imperative to decode this language with careful skills and constant practice that should start in early days
• Upcoming breed of planners should be acquainted to the subject of culture, settlements and evolution through active and participatory learning
• The 17 Wonders of the World are epitomes and wonders for which our ancestors constructed with sheer brilliance
• A panel was formed by an organization called to select the new 7 Wonders of the World in 2007, based on over 100,000,000 votes from across the world