The main criticisms against the modernist plan

The most important question that we need to address as sociologists evaluating urban planning is what are the guiding principles for evaluating a plan? Moreover, what is the time frame for evaluating a plan—when the construction is over or when it has been put into practice for some time?

• The capital complex built on the north side of the city like the Radiant City was separated from the housing area. This separation has been particularly criticized. Moreover, critics point out that the buildings were too dispersed for officials to walk from one building to another; nor was it possible to appreciate their physical relationships, except at a distance. One observer noted: “The beauty of Le Corbusier’s government buildings is in fact marred by the naivety of his landscape design and his failure to learn the Mogul lessons regarding the scale of external space.”

Now architectural historians have mainly reserved their critique to the capital area, and several have become side-tracked in the symbolism of Chandigarh. One of the main criticisms was that the city sector development destroyed the sense of unity and sense of place. Nehru himself had called the capital ‘unIndian’.