Spatial Pattern of Housing in Varanasi: A Case for Urban Planning

摘要

In this paper the authors have tried to make a spatial analysis of the types and pattern of housing in Varanasi city based on the primary data. The housing typology has been attempted on the basis of three criteria viz size, income group and housing density. On the basis of size the dwelling units have been grouped in to three classes viz. small, medium and big which share about 22%, 68% and 10% of the total hosung units of Varanasi. On the basis of income group, the M.I.G. houses account for the highest percentage (44.2%) followed by L.I.G. houses (42.5%), and H.I.G. houses (14.3%). Similarly, on the basis of housing density, the highest percentage (52.6%) is occupied by the high density houses followed by medium density (38.2%) and low density (9.2%) houses. The spatial pattern of different types of housing units has also been attempted from the C.B.D. to the peripheral areas. This analysis shows that due to the high land values, dense concentration of business and heavy crowd of pilgrims, tourists, generalpublic etc. the high density small and medium size houses are mostly found in the central part of the city. However H.I.G. mixed with M.I.G. and L.I.G. houses arefound in the Central part, but towards peripheral areas bigh and low density houses predominate. Thefindings of the present study will help to the residential planning of the Varanasi Urban area.