ABSTRACT
Colonial town planning, that is town planning based on laws introduced by British colonial authorities as opposed to indigenous or traditional or national town planning, did not commence in the colonies after World War Two. In East Africa, town planning operated initially through public health laws which provided the formal raison d’etre for segregation. A Colonial Housing and Town Planning Advisory Panel was set up and advised both the Colonial Office and different colonies on housing and town planning matters. C. S. Chandrasekhara noted that while town planning Acts existed in many provinces prior to independence, they only permitted zoning schemes that were partial and not comprehensive either in scope of extent. The leading town planning lawyer of that era, Desmond Heap, was certainly of that opinion and reacted rather vigorously to suggestions that town planning laws of the colonies should deviate from the British model.
