Body Beautiful: Medical aesthetics and the reconstruction of urban Britain in the 1940s

ABSTRACT The convergence of two seemingly distinct discourses - those of medical science and planning - in the period of urban reconstruction at the close of the Second World War is discussed. It is suggested that planners in 1940s Britain conceptualized urban reconstruction by employing the visual imagery and rhetoric of contemporary 'medical aesthetics'. The convergence of these ideas was purposeful: medical knowledge and its newly emerging aesthetics transplanted itself easily into the imaginative realms of urban reconstruction so that planners and architects alike could visualize the social, moral and architectural improvements to be made to the city in terms of diagnosis, cure and treatment. Reconstruction was not simply building cities anew; it also involved a vision of post-war life in its full cultural complexity.     

Hans Bernhard Reichow and the concept of Stadtlandschaft in German planning

The German architect and city planner Hans Bernhard Reichow (1899-1974) published his book Organische Stadtbaukunst: Von der Gro g stadt zur Stadtlandschaft (The organic art of building towns: from the metropolis to the city landscape) in 1948. This presented a uniquely comprehensive discussion of the concept of the Stadtlandschaft (city landscape) in urban planning, an issue which was at the focus of debate in relation to the post-war reconstruction of Germany. Reichow was radically opposed to the idea of the metropolis and proposed the establishment of a new-style Stadtlandschaft , composed of residential cells that were kept closely attuned to their natural landscapes. Discussions from a quarter of a century earlier seemed to reappear in that concept, such as the call for the metropolis to be abolished in the revolutionary years of 1918-1919 following the First World War - a call which, however, gave way to a more pragmatic approach during the Weimar Republic. It is astonishing that the idea of a tabula rasa was maintained by Reichow for so long. There is also another perturbing aspect: Reichow gave his idea the same name as the concept which Nazi town planners had adopted as their own. How was it possible for Reichow to incorporate a new version of the concept of Stadtlandschaft into planning the reconstruction of the new Germany? This article shows, based on the example of Reichow, how concepts of urban planning are carried through history, with new political interpretations being continually attached to them. It deals with the question of continuity at the level of the planners and examines specifically how this continuity and adaptability of the concept of Stadtlandschaft was possible. Reichow's concept is introduced in the first part of this article in order to trace the roots of Stadtlandschaft within history in the second part of the article; finally Reichow's work is put in a theoretical context.     

Planning through conflict: competing approaches in the preparation of Sheffield's post-war reconstruction plan

This article describes the breakdown in relations between local-authority Technical Officers working on Sheffield's reconstruction scheme in 1943. As a consequence of the dispute, an approach that prioritized spatial experience was dropped in favour of an engineering-based approach, in which spatial qualities were disregarded. Factors that led to this outcome include Government sanctioned design guidance on traffic engineering and zoning, and the type of education planners received. The dispute is indicative of wider trends in urban planning in Britain during this period.     

Alienation of social control: The Chicago sociologists and the origins of urban planning

This essay explores the origins of modern urban planning in a series of exchanges between city planners and urban sociologists in the 1920s and early 1930s. It was at the 1925 meeting of the American Sociological Society on “The City”, which the pioneer urban sociologist Robert E. Park and his colleagues from the University of Chicago organized, and planners from the Russell Sage Foundation's Regional Plan of New York and Its Environs attended, that this exchange began. There the sociologists articulated a theory of urban life which helped planners unravel the social implications of physical planning. This sociological theory had both shaped and been shaped by an on‐going series of practical reforms in which Park and his students had been involved. At the core of their theory was a fascination with social control (the means by which groups regulated the behaviour of their members) and a reform strategy which is best described as the alienation of social control. Park and his students explored new forms of social control as the means to eliminate those wasteful aspects of metropolitan life which were out of step with the urban‐industrial order. Following the 1925 meeting planners and sociologists began to develop a strategy and a policy of urban planning, a strategy for rationalizing not only the physical and economic structure of the metropolis but its social order as well.     

Design Pedagogy Enters the Cold War

During the Cold War, the United States and USSR used educational exchange programs as instruments of cultural diplomacy. In 1950, East German reconstruction policy was radically transformed through a well-documented Soviet-sponsored reorientation of architects and planners from East Berlin. This article chronicles a concurrent but little-known exchange, sponsored by the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, which sent West German architects to America for professional retraining. Although the U.S. program fell far short of its intentions, it illuminates the nature of Cold War cultural strategies deploying urban planning pedagogy, which were meant to reproduce American values and systems of governance abroad.     

Between the City Lights and the Shade of Exclusion: Post-War Accelerated Urban Transformation of Luanda,Angola

With nearly five centuries of history and major war-related impacts in the second half of the twentieth century, Luanda has recently been subject to outstanding changes that make the capital of Angola an important urban case study for Africa. Today, the city is not only an evident materialization of the oil wealth being channelled into reconstruction after decades of civil war but also reflects and translates the diverse perspectives of its residents and policy makers regarding the city and urban life. As it is reconfigured, it also transforms the mentalities and daily lives of urban dwellers and policy stakeholders, reinforcing the idea of improvement and modernity. In order to better understand the processes of physical and social change that have taken place within the city and the intertwined logics, this article makes reference to three distinct key stages of its history, pointing out their main features and the transformations that have occurred: the colonial period of sociospatial dualization (1576–1974), the period between independence and the last peace agreement (1975–2002) of profound and extensive urban mixture and the post-war period (2002–present) marked by accelerated sociospatial reconfigurations. More specifically, it analyses the very recent urban phenomena, the urban plans and new urban features, discussing the correlations between physical transformations and the rationalities and perspectives that accompany them, both of the urban planners and of the urban dwellers, discussing the implications in terms of new inclusions and exclusions in the city.     

国外城市规划潮流的变化与城市规划师的培养教育

八十年代以后，世界各国的城市规划体系相继发生了变化，对城市规划师具备的能力提出了新的要求。城市规划是一个涉及社会科学、人文科学与自然科学等广泛领域的学科，规划师的队伍不只限于工学出身的规划师，还应由地理学、环境学、城市经济学、城市社会学、行政学、法学等文理科出身的规划师组成。关于城市规划师的培养教育途径，应考虑建立包含多学科的城市规划教育体系及规划师的继续教育制度。     

论城市历史街区的多样性

长期以来在历史街区更新的规划设计与管理中,许多规划人员错误地追求“理性”的城市空间形态和统一的视觉空间秩序。历史街区改造过程中应保持和发展城市历史街区多样性,并采取小而灵活的规划办法和新旧街区整体互动的开发模式。     

Lincoln Cathedral versus the Bicycle Shed

Abstract

During the Cold War, the United States and USSR used educational exchange programs as instruments of cultural diplomacy. In 1950, East German reconstruction policy was radically transformed through a well-documented Soviet-sponsored reorientation of architects and planners from East Berlin. This article chronicles a concurrent but little-known exchange, sponsored by the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, which sent West German architects to America for professional retraining. Although the U.S. program fell far short of its intentions, it illuminates the nature of Cold War cultural strategies deploying urban planning pedagogy, which were meant to reproduce American values and systems of governance abroad.     

Historic Infrastructure Left Behind: Should Urban Planners Protect Streets and Blocks?

`Abstract

The disappearance of historic buildings can tear at the emotions of neighbors and advocates, yet the disruption of a historic urban plan is rarely noted or mourned and does not receive the attention from planners that it deserves. Just as they stay aware of important buildings, preservationists and planners should take up the street and lot patterns as a cause to preserve because it provides a protective infrastructure for historic character and buildings. The urban plan, laid down as the place was founded, is not only an important historic resource in its own right but also a framework for change and a safeguard for the character of a place and its historic buildings.     

关于完善我国注册规划师管理体制的思考

注册规划师执业过程中存在客户、注册规划师、社会公众三个主体.在注册规划师执业管理中,既需要政府行使行政权力维护规划市场的秩序,维护社会公众的利益,又需要规划协会从全行业的利益出发,对行业进行自律管理,维护会员的利益,保障行业的健康发展,这是建立注册规划师执业管理体制的理论和现实基础.我国注册规划师管理可从明确职能、设立注册规划师委员会管理体制等方面完善管理体制.     

Peter Marris (1927–2007): Planning in an International Context

Spatial planners and policy makers currently struggle to understand the peri-urban area, with its mixture of land uses and its transitional status between the urban and the rural. This paper presents the concept of transition, derived from complexity science, to allow planners to analyse peri-urban development in terms of a number of interacting processes, some induced, some evolving autonomously. Drawing on four case studies of European urban regions, the research finds that many of the dynamic processes underlying peri-urban development are not susceptible to the influence of planning agencies. This should enable planners to develop a more adaptive approach in the future, identifying areas where productive and case-specific interventions can be made.     

城市更新语境下的城市公共空间与规划

城市规划的现实任务是解决社会共同面临的城市问题,而后者经历中国数十年城镇化的强劲发展已经发生了巨大转变,与此同时,规划师的角色也将发生转变,这意味着其工作方法和内容必然的革新。当前中国城市规划所进行的土地和空间资源配置已然成为城市中最大利益的分配和再分配。以公共空间的规划设计为切入点,探讨在城市更新语境下规划工作如何体现其公共作用,容纳公众意见、建立公共部门与社区、市场的伙伴关系,从较多关注空间效率、美学和设计创新转向在空间资源的再分配中保障公共利益、体现社会公平、协调社会冲突,同时促进城市发展。     

Integrated urban microclimate assessment method as a sustainable urban development and urban design tool

In the past decades, urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon in the city and its corresponding issues including the mitigation methods have become the main research topics in the area of urban climatology. Researchers have conducted various investigations and measurements in the urban environment. Prediction models such as impact mitigation strategies, urban air temperature predictions, improved weather forecasting and air quality forecasting have been developed as a result. With the current issue of sustainable urban development in the cities, urban planners are beginning to look into different aspects of urban climatic parameters and incorporate them as the design parameters. However, it is rather difficult for the planners to attempt to design without engaging the urban climate scientists. Presently, Geographical Information System (GIS) is a platform commonly used in various geographical related research and applications, including those relating to urban climate research, as it can be used to analyze different urban climatic parameters. Although it is, by all standards, an appropriate urban design tool, urban planners tend not to embrace this technology. This paper shall present an idea to overcome this challenge by means of developing a user friendly urban design platform that takes after GIS. This paper will also discuss the plan for advancement of the urban design tool from the current situation to the future.     

城市空间绩效及城市规划浅谈

城市规划最主要的目的就是为了使公共利益发挥到最大化,所以,在城市规划中,规划师所要考虑的首要问题就是如何正确认识和把握城市规划中城市空间的绩效。本文就重点研究了城市空间的绩效和城市规划。     

建立专业与职业相结合的城市规划师教育培养机制

作者针对我国城市规划师专业教育滞后于规划实践，以及缺乏完善的职业培训机制等现实问题，提出新形势下城市规划师的教育培养，必须从专业教育和职业教育两方面入手，建立专业教育与职业教育相结合的城市规划师教育培养机制。     

新世纪我国城市规划决策机制的思考

通过对当前我国城市规划决策及其失误的分析,找出城市规划失误的根源,提出信息供给、健全决策机构和决策程序、决策法制化和民主化、强化城市规划师的作用以及决策队伍建设等对策,以完善我国城市规划决策机制。     

基于规划管理角度的规划师执业制度思考

当前,我国的注册规划师执业制度应从涵盖的范围、规划师队伍的壮大、规划决策机制的完善、岗位职责与责任的确定四个方面进行完善。注册规划师执业制度只有涵盖管理部门的规划从业人员,才能体现其制度设置意义;应鼓励规划师队伍向多元化、层次化发展,以适应城乡规划的综合性、多元化发展;合理认定规划师岗位职责与责任,完善决策机制,既限定管理部门规划师的自由栽量权,又避免其承担不该承担的责任。     

Ten Years'Progress of Administration Work for Registered Urban Planners

The urban planner qualification system of China was established in the year of 2000.After ten years’ progress,a team of 15,000 registered urban planners has been set up,which has become the backbone of China’s urban planning industry and has played an important role.The enhancement of the administration of registered urban planners is needed for standardizing urban planning education,accelerating the fostering of planning professionals,and keeping pace with the market economy system and the urban-rural planning in the new era.Meanwhile,it is also an important task for China’s urban planning industry to open up to the outside world and catch up with international standards.     

The camouflage of war: planned destruction in Jaffa and Tel Aviv, 1948

The massive destruction of historic city centres during the Second World War was used, first in Britain and then in the rest of Europe, by contemporary architects and planners for justifying a modernist ‘clean slate’ approach to urban reconstruction; for them, war was ‘a blessing in disguise’ that could be exploited for adopting revolutionary planning concepts. In 1948 Tel Aviv, similar justifications were used for the total demolition of Manshiya, a centrally located ‘slum’ neighbourhood which allegedly suffered extensive and irrecoverable war damages during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. This article argues that contrary to common perceptions, the 1948 Manshiya demolitions were not a ‘complementary’ act obligated by the destruction of war, but rather a deliberate exploitation of wartime confusion and misinformation in order to launch an ambitious (and illegal) ‘modernization’ project for the whole area of southern Tel Aviv. Unlike European post-war urban reconstruction, in Manshiya, war was deliberately used by Tel Aviv’s leadership as a camouflage for a large-scale planned ‘civilian’ destruction that realized town planning ideals in their most radical form. This made the events exceptional not only in the backdrop of the 1948 War, but also in the local history of urban planning as a whole.