Philosophy of Patrick Geddes:

To solve the complicated activities of the 19th century ,an effort to improve the living environment was felt. Slowly there rose some public consciousness also. In 1892, Geddes formed the Outlook Tower in Edinburgh and through this medium he presented the whole complexities of the Urban life. He insisted upon the integration of physical planning with social and economical planning. He also gave voice to the necessity of Regional Planning (in 1910) as against the German Town Extension Garden City and the Parisian concept of Boulevard and vista.

Geddes advocated that there is a need of simultaneous thinking in the fields of:

a) FOLK i.e. Organismb) WORK i.e. Function andc) PLACE i.e. Environment

In his book Cities in Evolution published in 1915, he advocated the sequence of planning to be:

i. Regional Surveyii. Rural development

iii. Town Planning andiv. City Design

These steps were required to be kept constantly up to date.

Geddes also advocated the theory of Conservatory Surgery. In this approach, the planners suggest that the organic growth of cities should be controlled by initiating planning bye-laws like ‘zonal regulations’, ‘height zoning’ etc., eliminating only the ‘malignant’ part of the structure(s). To implement this theory a method known as ‘Urban Renewal’ is adopted; which includes:

a) Fixation of project area and action area.b) Surveysc) Identification of problemd) Making Plans ande) Implementation.

Geddes visited India in 1915-16 at the invitation of some of the rulers of the Princely states for rendering advice on town planning of some of their capital cities. He invited many cities in India such as Vadodara(Baroda), Varanasi(Banaras), Bangalore amongst others and his recommendations were published in a book ‘Patrick Geddes in India’. His visit has not , however , created any impact on the general development concepts of towns in this country.