2. INTRODUCTION
Chandigarh, also called The City Beautiful, is a city
in India that serves as the capital of
two states, Punjab and Haryana, and is a union territory of
India. The name translates from Hindi to English as "the
fort of Chandi",Chandi being a Hindu Goddess.
Known internationally for its architecture and urban
planning, Chandigarh is home to numerous architectural
projects of Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Matthew
Nowicki, and Albert Mayer. The city boasts a high standard
of living with the highest per capita income in the country
and tops the list of Indian States and Union Territories with
a Human Development Index of 0.987.
3. GEOGRAPHY
Chandigarh is located near the foothills of
the Shivalik range of the Himalayas in
Northwest India. It covers an area of approximately
44 sq mi or 114 km². and shares its borders with the states
of Haryana in the south and Punjab in the north. The
exact cartographic co-ordinates
of Chandigarh are 30.74,76.79. It has an average
elevation of 321 metres (1053 feet). The surrounding
districts are
of Mohali, Patiala and Ropar in Punjab and Panchkul
a and Ambala in Haryana. The boundary of the state
of Himachal Pradesh are not too far from its north.
4. ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN
PLANNING
Le Corbusier's plan of modern Chandigarh Taking over
from Albert Mayer, Le Corbusier produced a plan for
Chandigarh that conformed to the modern city planning
principles of Congres International d’Architecture
Moderne CIAM.
The initial plan had two phases: the first for a population
of 150,000 and the second taking the total population to
500,000. Le Corbusier divided the city into units called
"sectors", each representing a theoretically self-sufficient
entity with space for living, working and leisure. The
sectors were linked to each other by a road and path
network developed along the line of the 7 Vs, or a hierarchy
of seven types of circulation patterns. At the highest point
in this network was the V1, the highways connecting the
city to others, and at the lowest were the V7s, the streets
leading to individual houses. Later a V8 was added: cycle
and pedestrian paths.
5. The city plan is laid down in a grid pattern. The whole
city has been divided into rectangular patterns, forming
identical looking sectors, each sector measures 800 m x
1200 m. The sectors were to act as self-sufficient
neighbourhoods, each with its own market, places of
worship, schools and colleges - all within 10 minutes
walking distance from within the sector. The original two
phases of the plan delineated sectors from 1 to 47, with
the exception of 13 (Number 13 is considered unlucky).
The Assembly, the secretariat and the high court, all
located in Sector - 1 are the three monumental buildings
designed by Le Corbusier in which he showcased his
architectural genius to the maximum. The city was to be
surrounded by a 16 kilometer wide greenbelt that was to
ensure that no development could take place in the
immediate vicinity of the town, thus checking suburbs and
urban sprawl; hence is famous for its greenness too.
Chandigarh has two satellite
cities: Panchkula and Mohali. Sometimes, the triangle of
these three cities is collectively called the Chandigarh
Tricity.
6. DEMOGRAPHICS
As of 2001 India census, Chandigarh had a
population of 900,635, making for a density of
about 7900 persons per square kilometre. Males constitute 56% of the
population and females 44%. The sex ratio is 777 females for every
1,000 males – which is the lowest in the country. Chandigarh has an
average literacy rate of 81.9%, higher than the national average of
64.8%; with male literacy of 86.1% and female literacy of 76.5%. About
12% of the population is under 6 years of age. The main religions in
Chandigarh are Hinduism(78.6%), Sikhism (16.1%), Islam (3.9%),
and Christianity (0.8%). Hindi and Punjabi are the main languages
spoken in Chandigarh, although these days English has also gained
some popularity. People speaking Tamil form the third biggest linguistic
group in Chandigarh. (Census of India 1991). A small number of people
also speak Urdu. However, the most common language for informal
communication, especially among the youth of the city is Hindi.
7. ECONOMY
The government is a major employer in Chandigarh with three
governments having their base here. A significant percentage
of Chandigarh‟s population therefore consists of people who
are either working for one of these governments or have
retired from government service. For this reason, Chandigarh
is often called a “Pensioner's Paradise”. There are about 15
medium to large industrial including two in the Public sector.
In addition Chandigarh has over 2500 units are registered
under small scale sector. The important industries are paper
manufacturing, basic metals and alloys and machinery. Other
industries are relating to food products, sanitary ware, auto
parts, machine tools, pharmaceuticals and electrical
appliances. Yet, with a Per Capita Income of Rs. 99,262,
Chandigarh is the richest city in India. Chandigarh's gross
state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at $2.2 billion
in current prices.
8. Chandigarh IT Park (also Chandigarh Technology Park) is the
city's attempt to break into the IT world. Chandigarh's
infrastructure, proximity to Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, and the
IT talent pool attracts IT businesses looking for office space
in the area. Major Indian firms and multinational
corporations like Quark, Infosys, Dell, Webart Softech have
offices in the city and it's suburbs. According to a recent
Global Services Survey conducted by Cyber Media, Chandigarh
is ranked 9th in the top 50 cities identified globally as
„emerging outsourcing and IT services destinations.
Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park (RGCTP), was
conceived in 2001 by Chandigarh administration this was to
promote and provide planned facilities to the IT companies and
young entrepreneurs. Located in the foothills of Shivaliks, close
to Sukhna lake. The Department of Information Technology
Chandigarh is this official department under Chandigarh
administration dealing with IT policies and promotion of IT
park.
9. EDUCATION
Chandigarh is known for its quality school education. The schools
are affiliated to different types of school curricula. The colleges
in Chandigarh include many good colleges like GGDSD
College (Sector 32), DAV College (Sector 10), Punjab
University,etc. There are model schools set up by the
government in various sectors, originally aimed to cater the
needs of each sector. It is a major study hub for students all
over Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K and Uttaranchal,
and also for the students from South-East Asia.
Some
of the notable schools in Chandigarh are:
Bhavan Vidyalaya Chandigarh, Sector 27
St. John's High School Chandigarh, Sector 26
St. Kabir Public School Chandigarh, Sector 26
St. Stephen's School Chandigarh, Sector 45 B
Carmel Convent School, Sector 9
Sacred Heart School, Sector 26
AKS International Public School Chandigarh, Sector 41
12. GARDENS
Rose Garden, Sector 16
Bougenvilla Garden, Sector 3
Japanese Garden, Sector 16
Topiary Garden, Sector 35
Fragrance Garden, Sector 36
Leisure Valley, Sector 10
Terraced Garden, Sector 33
Sukhna Lake Park, Sector 6
Cactus Garden, Panchkula
Rock Garden, Sector 1
Rajendra Park, Sector 1
Botanical Garden,khuda lahora
Bamboo Valley, Sector 23
13. THE ROCK GARDEN
Nek Chand Saini is an Indian self-taught artist, famous for
building the Rock Garden of Chandigarh, a forty-acre
(160,000 m²) sculpture garden in the city of Chandigarh, India. In
his spare time, Chand began collecting materials from demolition
sites around the city. He recycled these materials into his own
vision of the divine kingdom of Sukrani, choosing a gorge in a
forest near Sukhna Lake for his work. The gorge had been
designated as a land conservancy, a forest buffer established in
1902 that nothing could be built on. The Rock Garden is still
made out of recycled materials; and with the government’s help,
Chand was able to set up collection centers around the city for
waste, especially rags and broken ceramics.
