Imposing Urban Order

Modernism's influence on architecture waned significantly during the first half of the twentieth century, particularly in its countries of origin, due to economic downturns like the Great Depression. However, it persisted and even thrived in peripheral European cities such as Budapest, Bucharest, Helsinki, Tel Aviv, and Ankara, where clients adopted slightly dated modernist formulas to symbolize modernity. The study reveals that city planning, a nascent profession at the time, required substantial political authority for success, which planners often lacked due to their reluctance to embrace avant-garde solutions that might not align with the preferences of political elites.

James-Chakraborty, K. (2010). Imposing Urban Order. Architecture since 1400, 374–390. https://doi.org/10.5749/9781452941714-026