Nagpur is divided naturally into two parts, the city proper lying east and south of Sitabaldi fort and the railway station, and the civil station lying to the west and north of these.

The traveler entering the city from the present cramped railway station , soon to be rebuilt on a much larger scale, passes first along the bank of the Juma Talao, a large rectangular lake built by the Bhonslas and improved in later years. The northern banks is occupied by the buildings of the Empress Mills, and on the southern bank behind the Nedham Park stand the Swadeshi Mills. Beyond this lake the old main street runs below the Juna Darwaza, a remnant of the city wall, and leads directly to the centre of the city. Here stood the old Bhonsla palace, which was burnt down in 1864. Part of its site is occupied by a small modern palace building and part by the Town Hall.  Opposite this is the new police Station-house, and close by is the daily market, for which new building are being planned. Beyond the Town Hall stands the old fort and palace of the Gond Rajas now partly demolished. To the south lies the Sakardara garden, the present residence of the Bhonsla Raja of Deor. There are here no building of any importance, but an interesting menagerie is maintained and there is a fine natural amphitheatre where the townspeople assemble to witness wrestling and other sports. The main business street of the city is now the Hansapuri road which runs from west to east through its northern wards. On this stands the tahsil office, and at the eastern end, where the Bhandara road runs out is the site of the Itwari bazaar, or weekly Sunday market. This like most of the present sites and buildings, is now too small for the needs of the city. Fifty years ago Nagpur could be described only as a mere huddle of habitations. It has no metalled roads or wide streets but only narrow lance and paths of beaten clay which became bogs of mud in the autumn, and it contained many unsightly and insanitary ponds and waste spaces. There are still great areas of huddled huts and narrow lanes and some stagnant ponds and gravel pits, but wide new streets are being pushed further each year into the crowded areas and the waste land is being steadily reclaimed. Through the northern wards the line of the new Umrer-Chanda railway is being cut, which will connect the present railway station with another placed beside the Itwari bazaar, and a contract has been given for the construction of electric tramways along the main streets. The water-supply  form Ambajheri lake, first brought to the city in 1873 and since then from time to time enlarged, is now quite inadequate. A large new reservoir is to be built in the high land to the north-west. The city has very fair natural drainage into the Nag river. Small local improvements are annually being made and a second comprehensive drainage scheme is now being formulated. The city has no great claim to picturesque beauty but when viewed from the higher lands the slopes of Sitabaldi hill form a fine background to the waters of the Juma lake, and the crowded lanes are so screened by the greenery of many trees that only the chimneys of the hills and factories reveal the presence of a city.