FACTORS OF MISSING 13 SECTOR

After studying Chandigarh 's plan one finds that there is no sector 13 .People often say that Le Corbusier was superstitious and therefore did not have number 13  in the city . But , they say, number 13 appeared in a more persistent from . Add the number of any two consecutive sectors vertically and the result will be thirteen or a miltiple of that . Thus 2+11=13 , 3+10= 13 ........then continue in the next two rows : 11+15=26,10+16= 26...... Which are 13×2 each . Thus , it appears to go down the line .But this surreptitious surfacing of number 13 is not true for the city; if we try this exercise on sectors 26,27,28,29,30 and all the sectors south of Dakshin Marg  we find that the number 13 does not appear.

The truth is that Le Corbusier harboured no superstitious in his heart.  If  one is to study the first Master Plan of Chandigarh , one will find that the lower halves of sectors 10&11 were shown in green colour to demarcate the area as ' culture zone' . and were given number 12 & 13 .Later on , it was felt that giving a separate number to a part of any sector which is zoned to serve some other function is not desirable.It cause confused .So numbers 12 & 13 were removed .As it happened , number 13 found a place in the residual area at the edge of the city , west of sector 11 , which had been given no number earlier . This area is a continuation of the ' culture zone' .But there was no place to give to number 13 , so it was left out . That explains the missing sector 13 .

Now about sectors 26,27,28,29and 30 . The first master plan finished at sector 25 that was south of Sector 14 in which Punjab University is located . When it was felt necessary to the city in the first phase, there was space available east of sectors7,19and 20 .These having been brought into the 'grid' were simply given the numbers 26,27,28,29 and 30 .This explains why after 7 one suddenly comes to sector 26 .However confusing they may be to an unaccustomed person , these oddities add certain slice to the plain salt of Chandigarh .

While we are at the oddities it will be worthwhile to know something about two others sectors -7&8.As started earlier ,the residential sectors are divided into four parts : A, B, C & D .But these two sectors have only three parts , and their layout does not fellow the same system .This is because they are developed according to the concept proposed by the first planner of the city ---Albert Mayer--- to give his concept some recognised .In his concept , a sector was divided into three parts of which the amenities were concentrated .Thus , it was a , what may be described as ,"centralized " concept ; wherever Le Corbusier created a " linear" concept .One will notice that sector 8 of Chandigarh has an entirely different configuration . The location of its market area in the middle around a central green space is most prominent . This distinction has made this sector more  popular .In case of sector 7, a partial compromise was made in that its shopping area was made 'linear' like in all other sectors , although the division was retained in three parts only.