The planning of new capital cities in developing countrie

The study is meant to give a descriptive analysis of the newly-created capital cities in the developing countries and of the circumstances from which they arose, and to critically examine their design and planning principles for the future urban development. There is no doubt that capital cities harbour an increasingly dominant share of national wealth in developed countries as well as in developing countries. It is also widely acknowledged that cities in industrialised countries interact among themselves in many complex ways, while cities in developing countries interact and mould the growth of their surrounding settlements. Unlike developed countries, the intensity and diversity of the interactions of new cities and the implications of these interactions have not been fully identified and appreciated in developing countries. The views and proposals offered in this dissertation hope to establish a firm basis for the exchange of information, knowledge and guidelines for urban designers and planning authorities of new cities in the developing countries, in making effective improvements in public policy and planning action and urban settlements. The study will be of immediate interest to the urban development planning and design practitioners, research students of urban studies and urban administrators in developing countries who may be faced with new cities' planning problems and implementation. Specifically the dissertation is divided into three parts. Part one, with only one chapter, discusses the background to the study, the rationale for building new capital cities in developing countries and the design and development objectives. It also explains the aims, scope and the limitations of the study as well as the approaches adopted. Part two, which is the case studies, contains Chapters two, three and four. Chapter two deals with the case study of Chandigarh and its environs in the regional context. It goes further, (1) to assess its growth potential as well as its surrounding settlements, (2) to quantify the urban interactions between the new city and other towns within its orbit, and (3) to examine the typology of these settlements and suggest a possible and feasible growth pattern for the city and its region. Chapter three focusses on Brasilia and Washington D.C. This chapter examines the system by which the two capital cities were developed, serviced and their future evolution guided. Chapter four is subdivided into A and B. Part A is a brief historical appraisal of Lagos city. This gives an insight into why the city is no more suitable as a national capital city. Part B highlights the uncertainties in the planning and development of Abuja, the new capital city of Nigeria. Part three consists of two chapters. Chapter Five outlines the planning lessons learnt and experiences gained from the case studies in Part Two. Chapter six is the final and concluding chapter based on Chapters 2-5. It finally draws empirical examples as widely as possible from many newly-created towns/cities throughout the world, particularly from the developing countries for providing a base for the development of future new-capital city.