Representing the state : capital city planning in the early twentieth century / Wolfgang Sonne.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sonne, Wolfgang, 1965-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

City planning--History--20th century.

City planning.

History.

City planning--Political aspects.

Physical Description:

367 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Munich ; New York : Prestel, 2003.

Summary:

In this work of exceptional scholarship, Wolfgang Sonne examines the relationship between city planning and politics. He analyzes a handful of exemplary cities--Washington, D.C., Berlin, Canberra, and New Delhi--each of which underwent major reconstruction during the years spanning the turn of the twentieth century and the advent of World War I. He also discusses the failed plans for the World Centre of Communication, and attempt at creating an international city of peace in 1913. Because this era was marked by the heyday of Imperialism and its related illusions of grandeur, the book evokes the clashing and melding of political and architectural ideals--a conundrum that continues to plague city planners today.

Contents:

I. Introduction: The Political Iconography of the City 29

1. What is a Capital City? The Definition of the Topic 32

2. What is Representation? On the Role of Symbolism in Politics 35

a. Representation 36

b. Symbol and Politics 37

3. Reconstructing Meaning: Remarks on the Method 40

4. Capital City Planning in Context: Urban Design in the Early Twentieth Century 44

a. The Tasks of Urban Design 44

b. National Schools and International Connections 46

II. Washington 1902: National Self-presentation of a Consolidated Democracy 50

1. Events up to 1902 50

2. First Plans 52

3. The Senate Park Commission Plan 55

a. The Comprehensive Plan 56

b. The Public Buildings 58

c. The Mall 59

d. Design Means 62

4. Protagonists and Positions 63

a. Beauty, Unity, Civic Pride: Architects Supporting the Plan 63

b. Patriotism, Democracy, Public Education: Politicians and Public Representatives Supporting the Plan 70

c. Formalism, Autocracy: Architects Opposing the Plan 77

d. Extravagance, Absolutism: Politicians and Press Opposing the Plan 79

5. Steps towards Implementation after 1902 81

a. Bills 82

b. Buildings 83

c. Monuments 86

6. Imperial Representation on the Philippines: Manila and Baguio 89

a. Manila 90

b. Baguio 92

7. "Washington of the North": Ottawa 94

a. First Plans 94

b. The Federal Plan Commission 1913-15 97

III. Greater Berlin 1910: Raising a European Capital to Imperial World Status 101

1. State Buildings in Berlin 101

2. Launching the Competition 104

3. Ideas and Expectations 105

a. Government and Citizen Representatives: Health and Power 105

b. Architects and City Planners: Monumental Expression of National Greatness 106

4. The Competition Designs 110

a. A First Prize: Hermann Jansen 111

b. A First Prize: Joseph Brix and Felix Genzmer 114

c. Third Prize: Bruno Mohring, Rudolf Eberstadt and Richard Petersen 114

d. Fourth Prize: Bruno Schmitz, Otto Blum, Havestadt & Contag 117

e. Acquisitions and Other Designs 121

5. Uniformity, Metropolis, Internationality, Democracy 123

6. Picturesque, Small Town, Nation, Hierarchy 130

7. Sentiment, Nature, Necessity 133

a. Architecture as a Language of Sentiments 133

b. Urban Design as a Product of Nature 135

c. Necessary Expression through Fulfilment of Purpose 137

8. Consequences 138

9. Other European Capital Cities 140

IV. Canberra 1912: Searching for Democratic Monumentality 149

1. Events 149

2. Australian Ideas 151

a. Politicians: Greatness, Height and Centrality 151

b. Architects: Meaningful Plan and Picturesque Elevation 152

3. First Prize in the Competition: Walter Burley Griffin's Plan and His Comments 155

a. Functional Fulfilment of Democratic Needs 156

b. Symbolic Representation of Democratic Values 156

c. Searching for a Democratic Language of Architecture 158

d. Rooting Democratic Urban Design in Nature 161

4. Other Award-winning Competition Plans 162

a. Second and Third Prizes: Saarinen and Agache 162

b. Prizewinners of the Minority Vote: Griffiths, Coulter & Caswell, Comey and Gellerstedt 166

c. Acquisitions: Magonigle and Schaufelberg, Rees & Gummer 169

5. Eliminated Competition Entries 170

a. Comprehensive City Types: Radio-concentric, Grid and Informal 170

b. Government District Types: Ring, Axis, Mall, Forum and Castle 172

6. Reactions to the Competition and Other Consequences 178

a. Overseas: Democratic Spirit and National Sensibility 178

b. Australia: Griffin, the Progressive Rebel, and Canberra, the City of Freedom 179

7. The Failure of the 1914 Competition for the Houses of Parliament 183

a. A New Democratic Style 184

b. Democratic Monumentality 185

V. New Delhi 1913: Manifestation of the Empire's Supremacy 189

1. Positions and Plans in the Empire 189

a. The Urbanistic Debate in Great Britain 189

b. Plans for an Imperial London 194

c. The Union Buildings in Pretoria 199

2. New Delhi: Events 201

3. Positions and Opinions of the Participants 207

a. Politicians: Enduring Rule through Selective Adaptation 207

b. Architects: Western Superiority through Universal Classicism 213

4. The Plan and the Buildings 220

a. The Plan of the Delhi Town Planning Committee 220

b. The Buildings by Edwin Landseer Lutyens and Herbert Baker 223

5. Reactions and Critiques 230

a. Travel Guides and History Books: Delhi as the Indian Rome and Key to Rule over India 230

b. Newspapers and Journals: A Combination of Styles for a Co-operative Empire 231

c. Architecture Journals: Imperial Politics between Colonial Export of Style and Benevolent Support for Regional Traditions 234

VI. World Centre of Communication 1913: The Futile Invention of an International City of Peace 241

1. Academic and Other Ideal City Plans 241

a. Austria 241

b. France 242

2. Peace Traditions 253

a. The Hague: Peace Conferences, Peace Palace and World Capital of Peace 253

b. Brussels: Paul Otlet, Henri La Fontaine and the International Organisation of Knowledge 257

3. The World Centre of Communication by Hendrik Christian Andersen and Ernest Hebrard 258

a. Layout 259

b. Political Goals: Communication, Progress and Peace 267

4. Reactions and Criticism 269

a. Dignitaries: Approval and Restraint 270

b. Newspapers and Journals: Enthusiasm, Derision and Some Criticism 272

5. Aftermath 277

a. The League of Nations and the League of Nations Palace 278

b. Otlet and the Mundaneum 280

c. Andersen and the World Centre 281

d. Hebrard and Urban Planning for the French Colonies 282

VII. Conclusion: City Images and their Political Meaning 286

1. Aesthetic City Types and their Political Connotations 286

a. The Beaux-Arts City 287

b. The Metropolis 289

c. The Picturesque City 290

d. The Garden City 291

e. The Skyscraper City 293

2. Urban Design and Architectural Means of Political Communication 294

a. The Comprehensive City 294

b. Urban Elements 295

c. Building Types and Elements 297

d. Architectural Styles 298

3. How Capital Cities Mean: Architecture and City as Signs 300

a. Conventional Signs 302

b. Natural Signs 305

c. Complex Signs 308

d. Unfocused Signs 309

4. What Capital Cities Mean: Possibilities of Representing the State in the City 311.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-342) and index.

ISBN:

3791328980

OCLC:

52785156