Jawaharlal Nehru, Le Corbusier and an Attempt to Construct the ‘Ideal City’ in South Asia

In this article an attempt is made to sketch the history of Chandigarh as the new ideal city in India and the capital first of Punjab and later of Punjab and Haryana. The analysis of the personal role of India’s Prime-Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and world’s leading architect Le Corbusier in the construction of Chandigarh is made. It is argued by the authors that the role of Jawaharlal Nehru in the planning and construction of Chandigarh was vital for its success. The importance of Chandigarh as the ideal city and the pattern for construction of new cities in India is investigated. The good sides and the bad sides of Chandigarh are studied. The authors stress the importance of Jawaharlal Nehru’s role as the initiator of the construction and the person who chose first Meyer and Nowicky and later Le Corbusier as the main architects of the city. It was Le Corbusier who made Chandigarh famous. The authors argue that it was Chandigarh that helped Le Corbusier With the most ambitious plan of the construction of a new modern city, the ideal city and the city of the future. Political turmoil, however, put the ideal city of Chandigarh into the fire pan of dispute over it between the new states of Punjab and Haryana. The authors trace the origins and the main stages of the conflict and suggest their own solution of the ‘Chandigarh problem’.