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Atlas of the Functional City. CIAM 4 and Comparative Urban Analysis | Gregor Harbusch, Kees Somer, Daniel Weiss, Evelien van Es, Muriel Perez | 9789068686487

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Atlas of the Functional City

CIAM 4 and Comparative Urban Analysis

Author:Gregor Harbusch, Kees Somer, Daniel Weiss, Evelien van Es, Muriel Perez

Publisher:THOTH

ISBN: 978-90-6868-648-7

  • Hardcover
  • English
  • 480 Pages
  • Nov 1, 2014

The CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne), established in 1928,  was a trend-setting movement for renewal in the fields of architecture and urban planning which organized a series of working conferences between 1928 and 1959. CIAM 4, the legendary fourth congress, which took place on board a ship in the Mediterranean in 1933, was led by the architect Le Corbusier, the urban planner Cornelis van Eesteren and the art historian Sigfried Giedion.

The theme of the conference was ‘The Functional City’. With its universal programmatic agenda, it was a climax in thinking about urban planning. The conference participants analysed a total of 34 cities on the basis of maps produced especially for this event, and from them extrapolated general insights with regard to cities and urban planning. In 1935 the results were shown in the successful ‘The Functional City’ exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Preparations for an academic publication of the conference results were halted by the outbreak of World War II, so that the material has remained unpublished until now.

Comparative analysis and mapping, as modern ideas and aids for understanding the city as they were applied during CIAM 4, have been the subject of recent international research. The material will still be published. The Atlas of the Functional City is the first systematic survey of the urban maps from CIAM 4, and offers a new perspective on a crucial moment  in the history of modern urban planning.

The CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne), established in 1928,  was a trend-setting movement for renewal in the fields of architecture and urban planning which organized a series of working conferences between 1928 and 1959. CIAM 4, the legendary fourth congress, which took place on board a ship in the Mediterranean in 1933, was led by the architect Le Corbusier, the urban planner Cornelis van Eesteren and the art historian Sigfried Giedion.

The theme of the conference was ‘The Functional City’. With its universal programmatic agenda, it was a climax in thinking about urban planning. The conference participants analysed a total of 34 cities on the basis of maps produced especially for this event, and from them extrapolated general insights with regard to cities and urban planning. In 1935 the results were shown in the successful ‘The Functional City’ exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Preparations for an academic publication of the conference results were halted by the outbreak of World War II, so that the material has remained unpublished until now.

Comparative analysis and mapping, as modern ideas and aids for understanding the city as they were applied during CIAM 4, have been the subject of recent international research. The material will still be published. The Atlas of the Functional City is the first systematic survey of the urban maps from CIAM 4, and offers a new perspective on a crucial moment  in the history of modern urban planning.

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