Le Corbusier was one of the founding fathers of the modernist movement and of what has
come to be known as the International Style in architecture.
Le Corbusier’s real impact came not from cities he designed and built himself but from cities
that were built by others incorporating the planning principles that he pioneered.
Vision > laid out in a rigidly symmetrical grid pattern, the city consisted of neatly spaced rows
of identical, strictly geometrical skyscrapers. > the vision has truly transformed the global
urban environment
‘The existing congestion (ophoping) in the centre must be eliminated.’
A CONTEMPORARY (HUIDIGE) CITY OF THREE MILLION INHABITANTS
My object was not to overcome the existing state of things, but by constructing a theoretically
watertight formula to arrive at the fundamental principles of modern town planning.
We must have fundamental principles for modern town planning.
Site
In all those places where traffic becomes over-intensified the level site gives a chance of a
normal solution to the problem. Where there is less traffic, differences in level matter less.
Population
This consists of the citizens proper; of suburban dwellers; and of those of a mixed kind.
a. Citizens are of the city: those who work and live in it
b. Suburban dwellers are those who work in the outer industrial zone and who do not
come into the city: they live in garden cities
c. The mixed sort are those who work in the business parts of the city but bring up their
families in garden cities.
They are classified in three sections. Then you see this problems:
1. The City, as a business and residential centre.
2. The Industrial City in relation to the Garden Cities
3. The Garden Cities and the daily transport of the workers
Density of population
The more dense the population of a city is the less are the distances that have to be
covered. The moral, therefore, is that we must increase the density of the centres of our
cities, where business affairs are carried on.
Lungs
The towns of today can only increase in density at the expense of the open spaces which
are the lungs of a city.
The street
The modern street in the true sense of the word is a new type of organism, a sort of
stretched-out workshop, a home for many complicated and delicate organs, such as gas,
water and electric mains.
The modern street should be a masterpiece of civil engineering and no longer a job for
navvies (grondwerkers).
come to be known as the International Style in architecture.
Le Corbusier’s real impact came not from cities he designed and built himself but from cities
that were built by others incorporating the planning principles that he pioneered.
Vision > laid out in a rigidly symmetrical grid pattern, the city consisted of neatly spaced rows
of identical, strictly geometrical skyscrapers. > the vision has truly transformed the global
urban environment
‘The existing congestion (ophoping) in the centre must be eliminated.’
A CONTEMPORARY (HUIDIGE) CITY OF THREE MILLION INHABITANTS
My object was not to overcome the existing state of things, but by constructing a theoretically
watertight formula to arrive at the fundamental principles of modern town planning.
We must have fundamental principles for modern town planning.
Site
In all those places where traffic becomes over-intensified the level site gives a chance of a
normal solution to the problem. Where there is less traffic, differences in level matter less.
Population
This consists of the citizens proper; of suburban dwellers; and of those of a mixed kind.
a. Citizens are of the city: those who work and live in it
b. Suburban dwellers are those who work in the outer industrial zone and who do not
come into the city: they live in garden cities
c. The mixed sort are those who work in the business parts of the city but bring up their
families in garden cities.
They are classified in three sections. Then you see this problems:
1. The City, as a business and residential centre.
2. The Industrial City in relation to the Garden Cities
3. The Garden Cities and the daily transport of the workers
Density of population
The more dense the population of a city is the less are the distances that have to be
covered. The moral, therefore, is that we must increase the density of the centres of our
cities, where business affairs are carried on.
Lungs
The towns of today can only increase in density at the expense of the open spaces which
are the lungs of a city.
The street
The modern street in the true sense of the word is a new type of organism, a sort of
stretched-out workshop, a home for many complicated and delicate organs, such as gas,
water and electric mains.
The modern street should be a masterpiece of civil engineering and no longer a job for
navvies (grondwerkers).
