The Origins of Modern Town Planning

by Leonardo Benevolo

Exploring the social origins and history of town planning in nineteenth-century England and France. Carefully documented and copiously illustrated, Origins of Modern Town Planning delves into the social origins and history of town planning in nineteenth-century England and France.The touchstone of Benevolo's research is the relationship between town planning and politics. The twofold origin of the planning concept found expression in two schools of nineteenth-century the Utopians—Owen, Saint-Simon, Fourier—and their active vision of the town as a self-sufficient, coherent organism are contrasted with the specialists and officials who endeavored to remedy each urban defect individually by introducing new health regulations and social legislation into already existing towns. Despite the conceptual difference, however, Benevolo points out the shared ideology which inspired all achievements of thought and action—even the purely technical—and establishes its correspondence in spirit up to the time of modern socialism.

Genres: Architecture, Art

154 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

Reviews

[Ջոն (John Goolvart) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pubblicazione di forte carattere politico, guidata dalle convinzioni del suo autore. Tipico dell’ambiente architettonico italiano prettamente di sinistra degli anni sessanta, ma perciò per poco neutrale in ogni caso. È il libro giusto se cercate un discorso su proto-comunismi e le origini della sinistra moderna, con alcuni accenni sui progetti urbanistici rudimentali prodotti da tali correnti. Al contempo, altrove arriva solo fino a Haussmann. Risultano particolarmente eccessive le pagine di citazioni da una fonte o l’altra, che in verità spesso non contengono informazioni assolutamente indispensabili.

[Vanlilith]

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[graceofgod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear and informative.