The most serious urban problems rampant today, i.e., over crowdedness, traffic congestion, environmental hazards, and housing shortage, have their origins rooted back in the early era of the industrial revolution. Via the revolution, the cities have e...
The most serious urban problems rampant today, i.e., over crowdedness, traffic congestion, environmental hazards, and housing shortage, have their origins rooted back in the early era of the industrial revolution. Via the revolution, the cities have experienced radical changes that the world has never witnessed before and such changes, having culminated in the 19th century, diffused tremendous urban problems and social conflicts. Lavedan, a famous urban historian, stated that, while the history of the cities in the 19th century has been the history of the malady, that of the 20th century was the history of remedy and medicament that tried to revive the perishing cities. As such, the 19th century has not only suffered from the new urban ailments-the detriments accrued from the rapid industrialization-but also fostered the first trials to cure and rectify such deteriorated urban conditions. The new paradigms and technologies in the fields of architecture and urban planning have emerged in an attempt to foreshadow and prepare for the next century.
The purpose of this study, in this context, is to analyze the proposals for the 'ideal cities' that are representative among the aforementioned movements. In particular, it tries to examine their attributes as well as their influences on the contemporary urban planning of the 20th century in an effort to properly understand the implications and the future directions of the urban planning practices.