Early 20th Century & the Modern Movement (1900–1945)

New Delhi (Lutyens’ Plan)

1911–1931 · India · South Asia · National modernization and capital-city building · Planned by Edwin Lutyens & Herbert Baker

1931 plan map of Delhi showing the geometry of Lutyens' and Baker's newly-built New Delhi (the hexagonal/radial layout with Kingsway and the central vista) alongside Old Delhi. · public-domain

Core idea

Ceremonial axis (Rajpath), hexagonal patterns

Why it matters

Iconic imperial capital form

Description

Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker designed New Delhi (1911–1931) as the imperial capital of British India, with broad ceremonial avenues, hexagonal road geometries, and monumental classical-Indian government buildings arranged around the axial Rajpath leading to the Viceroy's House.

Significance

New Delhi is a culminating example of imperial capital design, projecting British power through monumental axial planning. After independence it became the seat of Indian democracy, its imperial armature repurposed for a new nation.

What shaped it

Plan of Chicago (1909)
The British Empire and modern colonialism (1600 – 20th c.)
The garden suburb (1903)
The boulevard (17th–19th c.)

Plans it influenced

Delhi Master Plan MPD-2021 (2007)
Delhi MPD-2041 (2021)
Amaravati Capital City (stalled) (2015–)
Chandigarh (1951–1965)
Canberra (1913)
Putrajaya Masterplan (Malaysia) (1993–)

Sources

Open it on the interactive timeline →

hub.toekom.st — History of Urbanism · an interactive timeline of 850 planned cities across 6,000 years.