The most notable critic of the reconstruction of Lucknow was Sir Patrick Geddes. He published a detailed critique of bylaws in 1916. He termed this as “Destruction of artistic and hygienic tradition”.
The social costs of this massive reconstruction were difficult to reckon. He claimed that all the roads built in the Napierian era were wide and ugly as well as costly. He had urged to restore some of the splendor of the old city and also the value of the streets as places for commercial and social transactions.
Yet these laws devised by early sanitarians for English manufacturing towns were imposed. These rules favored men of means who were willing to construct homes closer to the norm of bungalow.
After 1877 Lucknow lost its status as capital to Allahabad. The nawabi city was now reduced to a provincial town.
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The author has shown through her use of local historical sources that the development of the city was not integral to the lives of the people. It was envisaged as safe and clean from the rulers' point of view. In Britain, the demands of industry influenced the morphology of old cities while in the empire the need for political control and safety dictated new civic design in older cities. It catered to Britain’s industrial or imperial imperative rather than to socio-ecological needs of inhabitants.
