A Study of the Principles of

the Ideal Urban-Architecture for the 21st Century

by Yeol Park

DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IN ARCHITETTURA E COSTRUZIONE - SPAZIO E SOCIETÀ

D I P A R T I MEN T O A R C H I T E T T U RA E P R O G E T T O "SA P I E N ZA " U N I V E R S I T À D I R OM A
 A Study of the Principles of
the Ideal Urban-Architecture for the 21st Century

Yeol Park

DOTTORATO DI RICERCA in
Architettura e Costruzione - Spazio e Società
Dipartimento Architettura e Progetto
"SAPIENZA" Università di Roma

ii
To my wife, Tati,
who always supports me with love

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 A Study of the Principles of
the Ideal Urban-Architecture for the 21st Century

by

Yeol Park

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Dottorato di Ricerca
in Architettura e Costruzione - Spazio e Società
at the Department of Architettura e Progetto
“SAPIENZA” Università di Roma

Abstract

The perception of the ideal utopia changes based on the different contexts such as

politics, social, cultural and historical conditions and technologies. The cities reflect

these states of mind which are transformed through urban evolution. There are

factors concerning the ideal city as the spirit of the time that affect the urban form.

The goal of this study is to define these factors to understand and analyze the

characteristics of the ideal urban-architecture of the 21st century.

Utopia is the basic concept. Historically, the aim of the space called “city” has been a

utopia for the human civilization. Hence, first, I analyze the relationship between

utopia and the ideal city through investigating urban characteristics chronologically,

based on the urban theories and plans relating to the changes of thought on utopian

urban-architecture. Then, I also investigate several accomplished urban plans of

cities in the 20th century as practical case studies to understand how urban theories

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and planning have been implemented.

To examine this, I investigate contemporary urban plans as an example of

contemporary ideal urban-architecture. The 8 cities selected as case studies are

classified in 3 categories: Urban, District and Self-sufficiency. The selection was made

considering construction time, geographical location, objects, and key functions.

Through these processes of research it is shown that the concept of utopia plays an

important role in the development of the urban structure throughout time, even when

it has been difficult to be realized in an urban structure physically. And the process of

research makes it possible to draw the common constructive principles, which were

used to operate on the ideal urban-architecture, from the analysis of the flow of

urban-planning in history.

As a result, they can be categorized in three main factors for constructive principles of

the ideal city: Perception, Compression, and Technology.

Perception is related to the utopian thought that has concretized as

the image for the future. It is based on real experiences, or at least

imaginable experiences.

Generally speaking, perception has changed dynamically relying on

the different time periods and in new perceptions; it doesn’t matter

if it is positive or negative, it criticizes reality and plays an

important role in the creation of a utopian society.

Time and space are very significant factors as indexes in the ideal

urban-architecture, based on the utopian thought.

Compression of time and space physically influences the urban form

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in the construction of the ideal urban-architecture. The form and

structure of the ideal urban-architecture has been dynamically

transforming in relation to the level of this compression of time and

space.

Since the 19th century, the fundamental motif for the ideal cities is to

overcome time and space in people’s daily life. The progress of the

ability to overcome time and space has rapidly affected the

perception of the society. Then, it has also played a key role in the

construction of the ideal urban-architecture.

Technology has been a key factor as a tool in the progressive flow of

the ideal urban-architecture. It worked together with the other two

principles: Perception and Compression. It accelerated the

compression of time and space and renewed the perception on time

and space at the same time.

The technology of the steam engine caused the automation system

in the industrial field, and it gave people freedom from natural time

and labors. Besides, the progress of transportation: train, steamship,

car, airplane, etc., also accelerated the speed of the compression of

time and space in the 19th and in the early 20th century.

In the late of 20th century the progress of information and

communication has brought the concept of synchronization and the

virtual world into our daily lives.

Thanks to these new technologies, people can have new experiences

in terms of time and space and the boundary of perception has been

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 getting wider and deeper at the same time.

As a conclusion to this study I analyzed and summarized the concept of the ideal

urban-architecture towards the 21st century under those three constructive principles.

It is shown that they create the spirit of the time for the ideal urban-architecture of

the 21st century. In fact, the paradigm for the 21st century can be analyzed under these

three constructive principles. It is significant to identify the direction of ideal urban-

architecture in the 21st century.

Keywords: urban, architecture, utopia, city, perception, compression, technology

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 CONTENTS
Abstract _____ iv

List of Figures _____ x

List of Tables _____ xvii

PART-I

Introduction _____ 2

I. City and Utopia _____ 25

I.1 Spirit of Utopia
I.2 Ideal City in the Renaissance
I.3 Utopia as a Urban Concept

II. Ideal City in the 19th century _____ 40

II.1 City and Revolution
II.2 Utopian Cities
II.3 Key-Characteristics of the 19th century Ideal City

III. Ideal City in the 20th century _____ 66

III.1 Modernism and Post-Modernism
III.2 Standardization and Mechanization
III.3 Key-Characteristics of the 20th century Ideal City

IV. Ideal City in the 21st century _____ 102

IV.1 Information-Network Society: virtual urbanization
IV.2 Decentralization as Urban Form
IV.3 Information Network City
IV.4 Three Types of Urban Structure

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 PART-II

V. Urban _____ 131

V.1 ACT(Australian Capital Territory)
V.2 Brasilia
V.3 Chandigarh
V.4 Sejong City

VI. District _____ 163

VI.1 Minato Mirai 21
VI.2 Pudong
VI.3 Songdo IBD

VII. Self-sufficiency City _____ 191

VII.1 Masdar

PART-III

VIII. Principles for Ideal Urban-Architecture _____ 215

VIII.1 Perception: utopian thought
VIII.2 Compression: time and space
VIII.3 Technology: tool

IX. Conclusion _____ 232

IX.1 Perception for the 21st century Ideal City
IX.2 Compressionfor the 21st century Ideal City
IX.3 Technology for the 21st century Ideal City

Biblography _____ 245

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 LIST of FIGURES

Fig.1 | Miletus, Hippodamus, 5c BC.

Fig.2 | Utopia, T.More, 1516.

Woodcut by Ambrosius Holbein for a 1518 edition of Utopia.

Fig.3 | Christianopolis, J.V. Andreae, 1619

Fig.4 | La Città del Sole, T. Campanella, 1623.

Fig.5 | New Atlantis, F.Bacon, 1627.

Fig.6 | Vitruvius’s Ideal City, De Architettura.

Fig.7 | Sforzinda, Filarete, 1457.

Fig.8 | Palmanova, V.Scamozzi, 1615.

Fig.9 | Perspective of Versailles, Pierre Patel, 1668.

Musée du Château, Versailles.

Fig.10 | Spatial Composition of Versailles

Fig.11 | Karlsruhe, Germany, M. Wilhelm, 1715.

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Fig.12 | Liberty Leading the People, Eugène Delacroix, 1830.

Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Fig.13 | Théâtre Nationale de l'Opéra, Charles Garnier, 1875.

Fig.14 | New Street System for l’Opera by Haussmann, 1861.

Fig.15 | Panoramic View of l’Opera de Paris.

Fig.16 | Saint-Lazare, C.Monet, 1877.

Fig.17 | Slum in London, Copperplate, Gustave Doré, 1872,

Fig.18 | A Christian City in 1440, Pugin.

Fig.19 | A Christian City in 1840, Pugin.

Fig.20 | Exterior of King’s Cross Station, London, 1850.

Fig.21 | Interior of King’s Cross Station, London, 1850.

Fig.22 | General Plan of La Saline of Chaux, C.N. Ledoux, 1774-78.

Fig.23 | Perspective of La Saline of Chaux, C.N. Ledoux, 1774-78.

Fig.24 | Drawing for Harmony Village, R. Owen, Indiana, 1825.

Fig.25 | Owen's Ideal City, R. Owen, 1817

Fig.26 | Perspective view of Charles Fourier's Phalanstère.

Fig.27 | Perspective of Familistère in Guise, J.B. Godin, 1859..

Fig.28 | General Plan of Familistère in Guise.

Fig.29 | Day-Care Center in Familistère, Copperplate, 1870.

Fig.30 | Section and Plan of Familistère in Guise.

Fig.31 | The Garden City, E. Howard.

Fig.32 | The Three Magnetis, E. Howard.

Fig.33 | Diagram: Connection between Center and Country.

Fig.34 | Conceptual Diagram of the Garden City, E. Howard, 1898.

Fig.35 | Broadcare City, F.L. Wright, 1932-1958.

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Fig.36 | Car as a New Technology in ‘Toward a New Architecture’

by Le Corbusier, 1923.

Fig.37 | Drawing of Plan Voisin, Le Corbusier, 1925.

Fig.38 | Model of Plan Voisin, Le Corbusier, 1925.

Fig.39 | Cover of ‘The Death and Life of Great American Cities’

by Jane Jacobs.

Fig.40 | Demolition of Pruitt-Igoe, 1954.

Fig.41 | Cover of ‘Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture’

by Robert Venturi, 1966.

Fig.42 | Social Housing in “La Città Nuova”, Atonio Sant’Elia, 1914.

Fig.43 | Panoramic view of Citè Industrielle, T. Garnier, 1918.

Fig.44 | Residential Neighbourhood in Citè Industrielle.

Fig.45 | Hotel Area in Citè Industrielle.

Fig.46 | Skyscraper and Open Space

in ‘La Ville Contemporaine’, Le Corbusier, 1922.

Fig.47 | Site Plan of ‘La Ville Contemporaine’ by Le Corbusier.

Fig.48 | Perspective of ‘La Ville Contemporaine’, Le Corbusier, 1922.

Fig.49 | Master Plan for Chandigarh, Le Corbusier, 1951.

Fig.50 | Panoramic View of the City of Brasilia.

Fig.51 | Master Plan for Brasilia, Lúcio Costa, .1957.

Fig.52 | National Congress of Brazil, Oscar Niemeyer, 1958.

Fig.53 | Unité d'Habitation Marseilles, Le Corbusier, 1945.

Fig.54 | Unité d'Habitation Nantes-Rezé, Le Corbusier, 1952.

Fig.55 | Unité d'Habitation Berlin, Le Corbusier, 1957.

Fig.56 | Sketch of Urban Structure System, Yona Friedman, 1958.

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Fig.57 | The Spatial City-Street, Yona Friedman, 1958.

Fig.58 | Buckminster Fuller’s Dome over Manhattan,

scheme of the early 1960s.

Fig.59 | Plug-in City, Peter Cook, 1964.

Fig.60 | Axonometric of Plug-in City, 1964.

Fig.61 | Capsule Type Housing, Plug-in City, 1964.

Fig.62 | Nakagin Capsule Tower, Kisho Kurokawa, Tokyo, 1964.

Fig.63 | Birdwiew of No-Stop City.

Fig.64 | No-Stop City, Archizoom, 1970.

Fig.65 | Climatic Universal System in No-Stop City, Archizoom.

Fig.66 | Interior views-1, No-Stop City.

Fig.67 | Interior views-2 No-Stop City.

Fig.68 | Interior views-3, No-Stop City.

Fig.69 | New New York from Continuous Monument, Superstudio, 1969.

Fig.70 | Exodus, or the Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture,

Rem Koolhaas, 1972.

Fig.71 | A model of Rem Koolhaas’s Waterfront City in Dubai, 2008.

Fig.72 | The Continuous Monument,

An Architectural Model For Total Urbanisation, Superstudio, 1969

Fig.73 | Information Network World

Fig.74 | The urban and rural population of the world, 1950-2030.

Source: the 2005 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects.

Fig.75 | Urbanized population percentage by country as of 2006.

Source: UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children 2008.

Fig.76 | Wheel Graph-Worldwide Social Network

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Fig.77 | Diagram for De-Centrality, Jean Pierre Deurig

Fig.78 | Comparison between tree and semi-lattice, C. Alexander.

Fig.79 | Site for the Competition

Fig.80 | Site from Satellite

Fig.81 | The City of the Thousand Cities, Andres Perea Ortega.

Fig.82 | A Grammar for the City, Pier Vittorio Aureli.

Fig.83 | The Orbital Road, Jean Pierre Deurig

Fig.84 | City in Flow, Juergen Kunzemann.

Fig.85 | Nurturing a New Urbanity, Cristian Undurraga

Fig.86 | Metroloop Plan, D.Solomon Jonathan.

Fig.87 | Green Core City, W. J. Spijker

Fig.88 | Perspective of ‘A Grammar for the City’, Pier Vittorio Aureli.

Fig.89 | Yeon Meong, Thomas Pucher

Fig.90 | Fast forward City, M. Arbanas.

Fig.91 | Untitled, Bajic Brkoric Milaca

Fig.92 | Dichotomous City, Kim Young Joon.

Fig.93 | Untitled, Park Hun Young.

Fig.94 | Melun-Sénart, Rem Koolhaas.

Fig.95 | Untitled, Kurokawa Kisho.

Fig.96 | World map of 30 urban plans.

Fig.97 | Water Burley Griffin’s Drawing, 1912.

Fig.98 | General Policy Plan - Metropolitan Canberra.

Fig.99 | Designed Area.

Fig.100 | Avenue connections and vistas.

Fig.101 | Master Plan of Brasília, Lúcio Costa.

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Fig.102 | Monumental Axis.

Fig.103 | View of Residential Area.

Fig.104 | Highways in the City of Brasília.

Fig.105 | Master plan of Chandigarh, 1951..

Fig.106 | Town Plan of Chandigarh, Le Corbusier, 1951.

Fig.107 | Open Hand of Chadigarh.

Fig.108 | Layout Plan of a Sector.

Fig.109 | Location and Accessibility.

Fig.110 | Aerial View of Site for Sejong City.

Fig.111 | Arrangement of Major City Function.

Fig.112 | Over-all View of Minato Mirai 21.

Fig.113 | Skyline of Minato Mirai 21.

Fig.114 | Pudong New Area.

Fig.115 | Urban Design of Lujiazui Financial and Trade Zone.

Fig.116 | Comprehensive sub-area in Pudong New Area.

Fig.117 | Over-all View of Pudong District.

Fig.118 | Location of Songdo IBD.

Fig.119 | Mand-made Island.

Fig.120 | Over-all View of Songdo IBD.

Fig.121 | Land-Use and Programs.

Fig.122 | View of Lake Park in Songdo.

Fig.123 | Accessibility; Public Transportation 2030.

Fig.124 | Aerial view of Masdar City.

Fig.125 | Ground Floor Uses in Development Phase 1.

Fig.126 | Section of Headquarters in Masdar City.

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Fig.127 | Master Plan with Landscape.

Fig.128 | City Plaza Daytime.

Fig.129 | Section of City Plaza.

xvi
 LIST of TABLES

Tab. 1 | Flow-Chart of the Study

Tab.2 | Comparison between Modernism and Post-Modernism

Tab.3 | Category of the proposals for the competition.

Tab.4 | List of thematical Urban Plannings in the world.

Tab.5 | Construction time-schedule of 30 urban plannings.

Tab.6 | Canberra.

Tab.7 | Brasilia.

Tab.8 | Chandigarh.

Tab.9 | Six Major Urban Functions and Facilities.

Tab.10 | Estimated Population by Stages.

Tab.11 | Sejong.

Tab.12 | Minato Mirai.

Tab.13 | Comprehensive sub-area and key development zone.

Tab.13 | Pudong.

Tab.14 | Songdo.

Tab.15 | Masdar.

xvii
 PART - I

Introduction

I. City and Utopia

II. Ideal City in the 19th century

III. Ideal City in the 20th century

IV. Ideal City in the 21st century

Introduction

Goal and background

The symbolic space of civilization is the ‘City’. This

space is a condensed place of human’s ideal

thoughts, containing the social and the cultural

forms of an ideal city. The idea of an imaginary

city, Utopia, has changed throughout time due to

social factors, such as political, economical,

cultural and historical situations as well as

technologic developments. Through these

occurrences, the natural effect of the ideal city

forms the physical elements of the urban structure.

The urban system is just the result of this process.

And it has been organically transformed due to the

social factors and the technologies of the time.

Hence, understanding the urban system means

understanding not only how the idea of an

imaginary city, Utopia, would be made in the real

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society, but also how the social factors influence

the urban structure as a result. It is key to this

understanding the response to the changes of the

principles of the ideal urban-architecture.

To analyze the issues discussed above, it is

essential to identify the concept of Utopia in the

development of an urban city. That is why the

development of utopian cities’ concepts in

periodic utopian cities in urban history can

provide a possibility to define the relationship

between the concept of utopia and the city.

Furthermore, it would also be a key understanding

the direction of the ideal urban-architecture in the

21st century.

Among various social factors, the structural forms

of urban-architecture occur in multiple stages.

And this is the reason why it takes so long to

accomplish in reality. However, through a long

process of history, urban-architecture used to be

developed with certain directions of urban

development by different time periods.

These directions of urban-architecture based on

the concept of utopia are relevant in urban history.

The concept of utopia in the direction of urban-

architecture was used to improve the condition of

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inconsistency and irrationality. Thus, it affects not

only the development of urban forms and

functions, but also the environments and the

framework of the city.

On the other hand, ideal cities as the concrete

expression of the realization of an ideal society,

support the concept of utopia incarnating new

social and cultural paradigms. It is supposed to

meet the demands of the times. And the concept of

utopia plays a major role in the frame for the

design of urban systems.

Therefore, ideal cities are based on the criticism

on reality and lead to new directions for the

urban-architecture of the time. In this process,

imagining a new society, Utopia, plays an

important role in the concept of the ideal cities. So,

it can be said that imagination is the most basic

thing in the concept of utopia.

From a historical point of view, imagination has

been an important role as a driving force in the

development of our civilization. And imagination

in the history of urban-architecture performs the

role of the longing for the ideal place against the

physiological reality, which is called ‘Utopia’.

Many ideal cities until now have proved the role of

4
imagination in urban-architecture. The ideal cities

from ancient times to the ones in the modern era

have shown an utopian society and the criticism of

the inconsistent society of those days at the same

time.

Likewise, the images of the ideal city are just not

matched on real societies. This is because these

future-oriented images can only be realized in

several decades as an alternative to reality. The

concept of ideal cities in the past has been applied

to drafts as an alternative for a better society in

the future.

So, the concept of ‘utopia1’, based on the future-

oriented imagination, has played an important

role in the developments and changes of urban-

architecture in history. And the utopian images of

the ideal cities have been, in fact, the milestone for

giving a direction to an ideal city after one or two

generations.

1 Utopia (nowhere, no place) originally means an imaginary

and unreal place which does not exist in this world. The
Ideal City is a result of the personal belief that realizes the
idea practically. And Eutopia, or Eftopia as a synonym of a
good place, doesn’t include the concept of impossibility or
unreality. So Eutopia is used for a specific and real case.
Lee Il Heyong, A Study on the Architectural Expression of
the Utopia and Dystopia, Korean Institute of Interior
Design, December 2002.

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For a long time the utopian idea used to be

proposed at turning points of social contexts. It

usually appeared as a result of the increase of

anxiety and uncertainty about the future. For

example, the Renaissance Era, the representative

time of the ideal city in history, was a

revolutionary time in terms of the social and

cultural paradigms; from the God-centered society

of the Middle-Ages to the people-centered society.

Moreover, the two cataclysms that began the

Modern Era, the French Revolution as the symbol

of the end of the Monarchy and the Industrial

Revolution as the technological revolution,

affected the change of the utopian thought for the

city. In fact, several kinds of ideal cities such as

Ideal City by R. Owen, Phalanx by F. Fourier, and

Garden City by E. Howard were proposed in those

days.

In the 20th century the cycle for social change was

getting shorter and more diverse. It was due to the

innovation of the industrial culture and the

information exchange. This social context makes it

more likely for the imagination to evolve towards

a new society. The ideal cities of the industrial

society in the early 20th century were examples of

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the utopian thought which was made possible by

the accuracy and completeness of the new

machine technology. The post-modern cities of the

1970’s were reformed based on different kinds of

imagination.

As the historical contexts mentioned above, the

images for the ideal city have had the interaction

with criticism and supplemented them directly, or

indirectly.

According to this point of view, what we see today

may be a similar turning-point of the 21st century

like we saw above. There are two cataclysms,

globalization and information technology. They

have been changing the social culture together

with the advent of the new century. It seems to be

like the French Revolution in the 18th century and

the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century.

Consequently, new urban types have been

required for this new social environment.

This could be an appropriate moment to think

about new concepts for the utopian city of the 21st

century. Not only for the design guidelines of

urban planning, but also for the utopian thinking

as a direction for the 21st century ideal urban-

architecture, such as the utopian thinking in the

7
beginnings of the Modern Era. It should work as

the milestone for the ideal city in the 21st century

and should affect the reorganization of the

physical urban structure of the 21st century. Thus,

this study will play a role in the draft for the 21st

century urban-architecture.

With this background, this study investigates the

concept of the ideal urban-architecture for the 21st

century. The cities in the 21st century should be

places which include the diversity of cultures, such

as globalization, networking societies, multi-

ethnic societies, etc. And urban-architecture for

the 21st century is the subject that contains the

contemporary urban culture: complexity, diversity,

uncertainty, etc.

Imagining the ideal urban-architecture of 21st

century should start from understanding the

social and cultural paradigm of the 21st century.

Moreover, it should be the only way to understand

the concept of the urban-architecture in the 21st

century.

Accordingly, the aim of this study is the

construction of the concept for the ideal urban-

architecture of the 21st century.

8
Range of Research

Throughout history, utopia has not only been the

criticism of reality but also an expression of desire

for the ideal society. And the city is some sort of

physical container where the social culture is

reflected. For these reasons, it is important for

urban-architecture to understand the social

paradigms, and this will be accomplished by

understanding the social contexts.

Technology as an element of social context will be

used as a tool for imagining possibilities outside

reality. It gives people the power to imagine the

realistic utopian society of the time. It will be the

idea of the utopian society of our times.

Historically, the social contexts slowly reflect into

physical urban structures. And they are based on

the high-technology of the time. Sometimes it

takes a decade, or more, to be applied into the city.

The ideal cities in history have been physical

manifestations of the imagination of the utopian

society. Furthermore, the proposals for the ideal

city planned by architects should be the result of

the social paradigm for the ideal urban-

architecture.

C. Rowe said that the image of utopia and the city

9
cannot be separated. L. Mumford also mentioned

that:

“The city has the characteristic of

reflecting the social complexity in a

frame reflected on human scale. So the

first utopia is the city itself.”

Thus, utopia and the technology of the time

should be the conceptual frame to analyze the

ideal urban-architecture. They are the concept and

the tool to build the utopian city of the time.

These two concepts should lead the future-

oriented society. And they are derived from the

criticism on reality, due to social and cultural

changes. So, these two concepts can be useful

references in terms of the historical understanding

of the development of the ideal urban-architecture.

Historically, there have been many discussions on

utopia in the fields of philosophy, literature and

sociology. Meanwhile, until the Middle-Ages, the

concept of utopia in the field of urban-architecture

used to borrow from other fields of study. It is vast

and complex in terms of meaning. In fact, based

on the appearance of several proposals for the

ideal city, we could say that the concept of utopia

10
in the field of urban-architecture was specified in

the Renaissance.

For this reason, the range of the research for the

concept of utopia starts around the early

Renaissance. It is carried out by referring to

records on the ideal cities that appeared in the

early Renaissance.

The Renaissance also granted technology a role as

a concept for the ideal urban-architecture as well.

Later, in the 19th century, technology finally played

an important role as the forefront of social change.

Since the Industrial Revolution, technology has

grown in importance as a factor for changing the

social structure and the living culture. The

innovations of technology in our Modern Era have

made it one of the most important concepts for

the ideal urban-architecture.

In fact, the concept of utopia has been

dramatically expanded widely through the

introduction of new technologies since the

Industrial Revolution. This tendency lets us think

about the relationship between utopia and

technologies in urban-architecture. They should

play the role of the locomotive to investigate the

ideal urban-architecture of the 21st century.

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Hence, it is worth identifying the inter-

relationship between the utopian thought and

technologies with the point of view of urban-

architecture in the Modern and also the

Contemporary Era. It will be used as the base to

infer the concept of the ideal urban-architecture of

the 21st century and also as the frame to analyze

new urban proposals for the 21st century at the

same time.

The competition for the New Multi-Functional

Administrative City will be a good example to

understand the tendencies of urban-architecture

in the 21st century. The reasons are as follows:

First, this competition was a challenge for

the new idea of the city for the 21st century.

It was held at the beginning of the 21st

century and many international urban

planners and architects participated. 2 So

the proposals in this competition helped

understand the different views of the new

urban-architecture of the 21st century.

Second, one of the criteria in this

2 This international competition of ideas was held for 6

months, from May to November 2005. Many urban planners
and architects around the world participated in this
competition. There were 121 competing proposals.

12
 competition – ‘proposal for the new era and

the new city’ - especially meets the concept

of utopia. In other words, we can identify

what kind of a concept should be spread out

in the 21st century.

Third, all of the competing projects in this

competition proposed not only visions for

the new city but also physical solutions such

as urban forms, systems, urban structures,

etc. Hence, based on the study of this

competition we can measure physically the

applicable possibilities of those visions of

the new urban-architecture for the 21st

century.

The three reasons stated above resulted in this

competition being selected as a comparison case

to build the concept of the ideal urban-

architecture of the 21st century.

Besides, for the research on the characteristics of

the ideal city, I analyzed 8 planned cities from

around the world as case studies, which have been

carried out or are under construction. We need to

understand how these characteristics of the ideal

city have been applied in the real city plans.

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Accordingly, the total timeframe of this study will

be mainly set from the 19th century until the

beginning of the 21st century.

Furthermore, the Renaissance is also referred here

due to its concept of utopia in the field of urban-

architecture. Even if the ideal city and utopia are

literally not the same in terms of meaning, they

are similar in the field of urban-architecture based

on the physical results of them.3 Hence, based on

this timeframe of research, I focus on

investigating the periodical ideal cities to seek the

characteristics of the ideal city for the principles of

the ideal urban-architecture.

3 Regarding the point of view of whether urban-architecture

utopia and the ideal city can be understood as similar
concepts or not: if they are similar, the ideal city is included
into the wider concept of utopia; if not, utopia is to build a
completely new order of society. In this case, the city as a
physical structure is considered as one of the components of
society. On the other hand, the ideal city considers ideal
urban structures as an important element for the social
revolution. Because of this, it is a different concept as an
aspect of showing the alternative component for the ideal
society. However, it will be similar in an aspect of the will to
reform society completely for the harmony of humans,
society and nature.
Utopia tries to propose the future visions against the
previous reality, while the ideal city tries to make certain
physical environments on the future visions. However, the
images of the utopian urban-architecture dreamed by the
ideal socialist are not so different from the images of the
ideal city proposed by architects. Consequently, based on the
results, the urban-architectural form rather than the concept
is available to understand both, utopia and the ideal city, as
very similar results.
Lee, Il Heyong, Deconstructive Architecture, Jeonil, 1992,
p.p. 5~7.

14
Method of Research

The aim of this study is to identify the

characteristics of the ideal urban-architecture for

the 21st century, concerning the constructive

principles of the ideal city; Perception,

Compression and Technology.

For this, firstly I investigate the concept of utopia

through the proposals of the ideal cities around

the Renaissance. Even though the utopian thought

also existed in ancient cities, practically it was

revealed more around the Renaissance.

After this, I investigate the representative

proposals for the utopian society in the 18th and

19th centuries, and the proposals for the ideal city

in the 20th century related to the utopian thought

in urban-architecture. Here, I focus on the

characteristics of social and cultural changes

brought by new technologies in each period.

I also investigate the competition for the New

Multi-Functional Administrative City to

understand the tendency of the ideal city for the

21st century and some directions of urban-

architecture for the 21st century.

In this research I analyzed the characteristics of

the ideal city in each period and I investigated

15
eight planned cities as case studies. They have

been carried out or are being built somewhere in

the world since the 19th century. The purpose is to

understand how the characteristics of the ideal

city in each period have been applied and

transformed to be actually constructed.

For the selection of cities as case studies, firstly I

classified thirty planned cities based on the size of

the city, its geographical location and its

construction schedule. Secondly, I categorized

them thematically: Administration complex,

Commercial complex, Business complex, Housing

complex, Cultural complex, Sustainability, etc.

Then, I selected and analyzed the final eight

representative urban plans by theme, location and

date.

Based on the research, I propose three principles

for the ideal city; Perception, Compression and

Technology. They are conceptual but also practical

at the same time in the process of imagining the

ideal city. These three principles always operate

together in the ideal city plans, interconnecting

with each other.

As a conclusion, I analyze the characteristics of the

21st century social contexts under these three

16
principles of the ideal city. They will play a

significant role in the ideal urban-architecture for

the 21st century.

The research for this study follows the order below.

Chapter I: City and Utopia. Here the meaning and

the role of utopia is identified as one of the key

concepts in the history of urban-architecture.

Since the city appeared, the concept of utopia has

existed. But the concept of utopia in the field of

urban-architecture has progressed specifically

since the Renaissance. Hence, I analyze the

representative proposals for the ideal city around

the early Renaissance to understand the concept

of utopia in the aspect of urban-architecture.

Chapter II: Ideal City in the 19th century. Firstly, I

analyze the characteristics of the 19th century

social context. Here, I attempt to identify the

social and cultural factors, related to the utopian

thought of the 19th century. I look into two

cataclysms: the French Revolution and the

Industrial Revolution, which opened the Modern

Era. During the research, I focus on the new

characteristics of urban-architecture around these

17
two cataclysms. The French Revolution caused the

movement of the main social class for urban-

architecture. Consequently, each typology of

building must be modified for the new owners of

society: the bourgeoisie. The Industrial Revolution,

on the other hand, brought about the metropolis

and the satellite city as a model for the industrial

city and the ideal city. Here, technology started to

play an important role in terms of the ideal urban-

architecture.

Chapter III: Ideal City in the 20th century. I

attempt to analyze the characteristics of the 20th

century dividing it into two paradigms:

Modernism and Post-Modernism. They are the

two main streams of the 20th century. However, in

the whole 20th century the concept of machine has

been a main element in urban-architecture.

Technology has made rapid progress and caused

the Fordism culture in the early 20th century.

Mass-production and Functionalism has lead to

the ideal urban-architecture until the end of the

1960’s. However, this modern urban-architecture

caused many social problems in the end. Many

proposals for the ideal city in the 1960’s, such as

18
the Plug-in City by Archigram and many other

Metabolists’ urban plans, were supposed to

overcome those situations.

Since Post-Modernism, declaimed by C. Jenks,

new concepts, for example, diversity, revival,

complexity, etc., have guided the ideas on the ideal

urban-architecture. The characteristics of Post-

Modernism are identified quite clearly by R.

Ventury.

In the late 20th century the concept of utopia was

challenged by the appearance of Heterotopias. R.

Koolhaas’ ‘Generic City’ became some sort of ideal

city in the 1990’s. In his proposal, the ideal urban-

architecture was recognized by phenomenological

urban aspects. For him, utopia is not so far from

the present any more. Actually, R. Koolhaas has

just analyzed the phenomena, showing it in

contemporary cities instead of reforming society

through his proposal. In the end, his proposal was

to try to add real meaning to the contemporary

city.

I try to understand these concepts of utopia in the

20th century. As can be seen, the cycle of social

changes has been getting shorter and shorter and

technology has contributed to this rate of social

19
changes more than in the 19th century.

Chapter IV: Ideal City in the 21st century. I analyze

the proposals submitted in the competition for the

New Multi-Functional Administrative City. I

investigate two directions; the first is the tendency

of the paradigm of the 21st century, and the other

is the analysis of the urban structure and form as

the ideal urban-architecture for the 21st century.

Most of the proposals consider the society of the

21st century as the information network society.

Consequently, mainstream to the new ideal city

for the 21st century is decentralization, instead of

the centralization which was strong as urban

image in modern cities. I try to classify proposals

into three categories based on the type of urban

structure and form.

Chapter V, VI, and VII: Eight Urban Plans in the

World. Here, I try to analyze eight planned cities

as case studies. They are completed cities or are

under construction. These eight cities explain how

the characteristics of the ideal city in urban

history have been applied. It is important to

understand the difference between theory and

20
practice. Most of the planned cities have been

built after being somewhat transformed due to the

change in the demands of the society during the

process of a long construction schedule. Besides,

some of the planned cities do not work in reality

as the urban planners thought they would. I

analyze those eight urban plans classifying them

by scale and theme.

Chapter VIII: Principles of the ideal Urban-

Architecture. Here, I attempt to build the

principles of the ideal urban-architecture based on

the precedent researches on the characteristics of

the ideal urban-architecture in history. Finally, I

build three principles for the ideal urban-

architecture: Perception, Compression and

Technology.

Perception, firstly, it has a double aspect; criticism

and longing. Every change should start from

perception. Perception of reality usually makes us

wish for something that is out of reality. The result

of this process is the perception of utopia. Hence,

perception is the backbone of the ideal urban-

architecture.

Secondly, compression is related to time and

21
space. Nothing is absolute over time and

everything is getting more and more relative. Time

does not flow in a straight way anymore. It can be

curved and overlapped. And space is getting

invisible while it is getting bigger. Compression

describes well this tendency of time and space.

Time and space are getting more compression due

to the extension of experience, caused by the

innovation of technology. In the history of the

ideal urban-architecture, time and space are the

most important factors to make spaces.

Third, it is about technology. It is a kind of magic

tool to extend people’s experience and to expand

the limits of imagination. In fact, it stimulates

imagination for the ideal urban-architecture. In

practice, technology makes it possible to realize

the ideal urban-architecture.

These three principles play key roles in the ideal

urban-architecture. They always work together

reciprocally in the ideal urban-architecture.

As the conclusion of this study I classify the

concepts of the ideal urban-architecture for the

21st century based on three principles. As I

mentioned at the beginning of this study, its aim is

22
to identify the characteristics of the 21st century’s

social context to obtain the concept of the ideal

urban-architecture. This study will be appropriate

to identify the direction of the ideal urban-

architecture for the 21st century.

23
 Tab. 1 | Flow-Chart of the Study

24
I. City and Utopia

I.1 Spirit of Utopia

The ideal place in history derived from the

Gilgamesh’s story in 2000 BC. It is the first

document concerning the search for paradise on

Earth. The western history about utopia generally

dates back to Plato’s ‘Ideal State’ 4 (or

4
Plato's ideal state was a Republic with three categories of
citizens: artisans, auxiliaries, and philosopher-kings, each of
whom possessed distinct natures and capacities. Those
proclivities, moreover, reflected a particular combination of
elements within one's tripartite soul, composed of appetite,
spirit and reason. Artisans, for example, were dominated by
their appetites or desires, and therefore destined to produce
material goods. Auxiliaries, a class of guardians, were ruled
by spirit in their souls and possessed the courage necessary
to protect the state from invasion. Philosopher-kings, the Fig. 1 | Miletus, Hippodamus, 5c BC.
leaders of the ideal state, had souls in which reason reigned
over spirit and appetite, and as a result possessed the
foresight and knowledge to rule wisely. In Plato's view, these
rulers were not merely elite intellectuals, but moral leaders.
In the just state, each class of citizen had a distinct duty to
remain faithful to its determined nature and engage solely in
its destined occupation. The proper management of one's
soul would yield immediate happiness and well-being, and
specific educational methods would cultivate this brand of

25
government) in ancient Greece. Vitruvius in

ancient Rome used the primitive figures as a

utopian form to describe the ideal city without any

consideration of the realistic situation. It was to

satisfy the concept of the ideal city; harmony,

order and enclosure. He used geometrical forms

such as the octagon, which derived from Astrology

and Mythology.

‘Utopia’5, 1516, by Thomas More, is the origin of

Fig. 2 | Utopia, T.More, 1516.

Woodcut by Ambrosius Holbein
spiritual and civic harmony. for a 1518 edition of Utopia
PLATO. 1992. Republic, trans. G. M. A. Grube and rev. C. D.
C. Reeve. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.

5 The word ‘Utopia’ comes from the book’s title of Thomas

More, about an imaginary country described with several
characteristics of England. It means the ideal state which
doesn’t exist anywhere. Originally More made up this word
combining two Greek words; ‘ou-’ and ‘topos’. It also
suggests the meaning of ‘eu-’ at the same time.
In his book, Utopia means the ideal state. He criticizes
reality referring an historical fact, the Enclosure Movement.
For him Utopia is an island of imagination far from reality.
It conceives the idea of socialism such as public ownership
and the abolition of the monetary system. However, slavery
still remains into the Law and its political institutions.
The social attentions on More’s Utopia give us a chance to
make a form in reality. The capital, Amaurotum, is regularly
formed and is quite similar to the form of a square. The
village is located on the top of a hill and within 2 miles from
its end towards a river. The wide side of the village is
bounded by the river and the narrow side of the village
touches the hill. To gain the geometrical shape in the form
and a regular pattern, he provides the same type of house to
people of each class. This city cannot house more than 6,000
households. Hence, it must force people to leave when the
amount of children increase.
Based on the woodcut of the first edition, the style of its
architecture follows the gothic style.
Thomas More, Utopia, trans, Roh Jae Bong, Samsung
Publisher, 1982

26
the ideal city in the history of urban-architecture.

After this, many images for the ideal city as a

utopia were successively published in the 16th~17th

centuries, such as ‘Christianopolis6, 1619’ by J.V.

Andrea, ‘La Città del Sole7, 1623’ by T.Campanella,

and ‘The New Atlantis8, 1627’ by F. Bacon.

Fig. 3 | Christianopolis, J.V. Andreae,

1619.
Leem Chul Kyu, Why utopia?, Minumsa, 1995, pp. 275~314.

6 Johann Valentin Andreae, a German Lutheran minister,

takes a profound interest in laborers. When he served in the
church of Calw, he organized a cooperative together with
devotees and laborers. He tried to build an ideal cooperative
village.
Andreae’s utopia, Christianopolis, is the result of his
attentions and experiences. Three conceptual points in his
village affect the modern utopia; the ideal society based on
the virtue of Christianity, the pursuit of studies and the
application of science and the industrial cooperative society.
Kim, Young Han., Renaissance’s Utopian Thought,
Tamgudang, 1989

7 The ideal living behaviors in La Citta’ del Sole by

Tommaso Campanella are influenced from More’s Utopia
and Plato’s Republic. However, it was written in a realistic Fig. 4 | La Città del Sole, T. Campanella,
aspect based on the belief that his ideal city would be built in 1623.
the near future. He intended the rebirth of the primitive
Christian lifestyle in his utopia. He also dreamt about the
social liberation of peasants at the same time.
La Citta’ del Sole, built on a hill which contains seven zones
for cultivation, is more than two miles in diameter and the
circumference of the village is around seven miles. There are
four roads and four gates along the roads. The castle is
composed by a seven layer’s wall. A temple in a circle stands
on the top of the center. Campanella’s utopia is constructed
with a wide knowledge, especially in science. But in terms of
people’s life, it is not so different from More’s utopia.
Tommaso Campanella, La Citta’ del Sole, trans. Leam,
Myong Bang., Samsung Publisher, 1982.

8 Francis Bacon, a pioneer of modern experimental science,

designed ‘The New Atlantis’ in the science’s level. It is
different from More’s utopia. It is a society with a
technological civilization. In other words, it is the scientific
utopia preferring the more the better. His utopia is a cost-

27
In the history of the ideal city, the Renaissance is

the noteworthy period. The social aspect in the 15th

century was a reforming time in terms of the social

order from the Middle-Ages to the Renaissance.

Consequently, there were many contradictions in

this society, such as man-centered against God-

centered. Based on the new social background,

people expected a new social configuration as

introspection on those contradictions in society

and as a positive expectation for the future based

on the modern science technology at the same time.

Fig. 5 | New Atlantis, F.Bacon, 1627.
The former example is the vision of

‘Millenarianism’ in the Protestant Reformation;

the latter example could be ‘The New Atlantis’ by F.

Bacon.

These visions of utopia succeed reforming the ideal

society through Saint Simon9 and Charles Fourier,

driven society where people can enjoy life without working.

The machines work for the humans.
Francis Bacon, The New Atlantis, trans. Kim Jong Gab,
Ecolibro, 2002

9 Noble birth Saint Simon was a realistic utopian compared

with his contemporaries who could not be free from
stereotypes. He pursued the high Meritocracy based on
individuality and formulated the social theory. He thought
that the working-class population must have the power and
the governing class should be overthrown by them. Le
Corbusier, one of the most enthusiastic Saint-Simonians,
was influenced from his thoughts.

28
utopian socialists in the age of Enlightenment,

Robert Owen10, a social reformer, Etienne Cabet11,

a French early-communist, etc.

And it has been developed by the successors of the

utopian thought and their writings12 in the 20th

century.

Leonardo Benevolo, The origins of Modern Town planning,

trans. Jang Sung Su, Taerim, 1996

10 R. Owen and C. Fourier, so called utopian socialists,

succeeded the current of thought of Plato and T. More.
However, what is different among them is that utopian
socialists tried to implement their ideal welfare society
immediately. The plan of utopian socialists showed a more
enthusiastic attitude than the ones from Plato and T. More.
For the utopian socialists there are two common themes;
one is to overcome the gap between city and province, the
other is to overcome the physical separation between
individual and family through interconnection, as a huge
size family, the communities which they wanted to build.
Robert Fishman, Urban Utopias in the 20th Century, The
MIT Press, 1982

11 E. Cabet, politician and French early-communist,

designed and realized the ideal society of equality, so called
‘ICARIA’. Every member lives in extremely equal conditions
and has the same every day. Members wear the same
clothes; have the same education; live in the same houses
with the same furniture. Especially, they also have even the
same time schedule to achieve mass-production. In fact, it is
an ideal industrial-system itself. At the end this project
ended being just an experiment.
Yolende Dilas-Rocherieux, L'Utopie ou la mémoire du
future, trans. Kim Hwi Suk, Seohaemungib, 2007

12As examples of successors of utopian thought, there are

Herbert Marcuse and Ernst Bloch in the 20th Century.
‘Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne,
1870’, ‘Erewhon by Samuel Butler, 1870’, ‘The Time Machine
by Herbert George Wells, 1895’, ‘The Sprit of Utopia by
Ernst Bloch, 1918’, ‘Brave New World by A.L. Huxley, 1932’,
and ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, 1949’, etc.

29
 Meanwhile, the character of utopia for the ideal

city seems to be closely connected with reality

more than in the past, due to the rapid speed of

social and technology changes. It takes a turn into

the dystopia 13 which is described as the fear

brought from scientism and totalitarianism.

I.2 Ideal City in the Renaissance

As an alternative to the present society, utopia

started at the Renaissance with the intention of

Fig. 6 | Vitruvius’s Ideal City, De
overcoming Feudalism. It showed a new social Architettura.

concept, equality14, characterized by a community

13 Dystopia means a society full of defects against utopia. It

is the destructive social conditions which are more chaos
and disorder than in reality. At the end, the city is broken
and destroyed by it. Besides, in history it shall work as a
criticism on the present conditions through the
representation of skeptical future conditions into the present
society. Hence, it can be said that dystopia would have a
similar intention of utopia even if the history of dystopia is
short. In this context, dystopia could be understood as a
concept that appears to fight the utopia’s fictions.
Heterotopias, a word in a related development with dystopia,
means a society which is a mix not only with the ideal-
oriented of utopia but also with the social defects of dystopia.
‘Necropolis’ means the city for the dead. And, ‘Cacotopia’,
meant as a substandard place, or hell, is an alternative word
for dystopia.
Aron Betsky, Violated Perfection, trans Jung Tae Young,
Youngmun Publisher, 1992, p.169.

14Joe, Keuk-Rae and Kim, Dong-Young, A Study on the

Theories of Ideal Community by the Utopians in 19the

30
spirit against the crude reality.15

The concept of urban planning has existed since

ancient Greece. However, as for the practical

aspect, the city is not only a living place but has

also a symbolic meaning. The beginnings of urban

planning could be traced to the proposals for an

Italian ideal city in the Renaissance, by Leonardo

da Vinci, Vincenzo Scamozzi, and ‘Sforzinda’

Fig. 7 | Sforzinda, Filarete, 1457.
designed by Filarete. Furthermore, even if they

were not built, they have also been the self-

sufficient ideal cities formed with fortifications in

many places in Europe, like France and Germany.

Those urban proposals have shown that the urban

structure has been designed under the formalism

in urban-architecture and geometrical plans.

The formal characteristics, shown in the

Renaissance ideal cities, are generally classified in

three aspects: enclosure like the fortification in

polygonal shape, a plaza in the center of the city,

and a radiation road system to connect the center

of the city to the surroundings. In most of the

Fig. 8 | Palmanova, V.Scamozzi, 1615.
cases, it has been designed in a symmetrical,

horizontal continuity and in a proportional

Century, Journal of the Korean Housing Association, Vol. 14,

No. 6, 2003
15 Ibid.

31
composition.

The architects in the Mannerism Renaissance

intended to see the city in a specific theoretical

frame. It was a clear contrast with the character of

the city in the Middle-Ages, which could be

identified with continuity, complexity and

centrality. The architects were interested in just

the climate and the topography for the ideal city,

but not in the question of population size, which is

the limitation on the realization of their social

structure and organization.

In fact, they used to prefer the regular block

planning, which was formally introduced for

military purposes. Such cities in the form of

fortifications and castle are based on the tradition

of Filarete in the Renaissance and of Vitruvius in

Ancient Rome. In these periods, the technology of

castellation, based on military defenses, was

considered as an important factor in urban-

architecture. It has been influential until the

Baroque and the 18th century. That is the reason

why it has shown the purpose of practical interests

and the stress on formal figures in urban planning

in the 17th century.

The urban planning in the Baroque could be

32
characterized by two values. One is the

overwhelming axis; the other is the dramatic

effects in urban space. Formally the style of urban

planning in the Baroque is quite free and natural

on strict geometry; sometimes it is full of splendid

and exaggerated decorations.

The Versailles Palace in France by J.H. Mansart

and Karlsruhe in Germany by M. Wilhelm are

considered as the baroque ideal urban form as

linear figures.

Fig. 9 | Perspective of Versailles, Pierre Patel, 1668. Fig. 10 | Spatial Composition of Versailles
Musée du Château, Versailles.

Fig. 11 | Karlsruhe, Germany, M. Wilhelm, 1715.

33
I.3 Utopia as a Urban Concept

The history of the city has been developing

through ideal images, ‘utopia’. Even if it has not

produced the images for the ideal city, it has

played an important role in the development of

urban planning. So utopia as an ideal urban image

is an important concept to characterize the

intellectual European culture. In a positive point

of view, utopia pursues the perfect world with an

ideal social order. It is the reason why the

meaning of utopia is vast and uncertain. Besides,

the expression of utopia in history has been

relative and dynamic, instead of constant and

stable. In fact, it has evolved itself based on the

historical situations and reality.

Nevertheless, the spirit of utopia has some basic

common points; consciousness of transcending

reality, criticism, the idea of reformation, the

creation of new social orders, etc. And it has

contributed to the advancement of urban-

architecture. That is why the value and the utility

of utopia are so important for urban-architecture.

The characteristics of utopia, analyzed and

summarized, are as follows:

34
 First, utopia usually appears at a time of

social revolution; the collapse of the ancient

Greek City-State, the chaos from the

Migration period, the dismantling of the

medieval feudalistic order, the New World

geographically due to modern science, the

appearance of the industrial society, etc.

Historically speaking, the utopian thought

in urban-architecture has appeared at the

Renaissance, the Enlightenment Movement

and the Industrial Revolution.

Second, even if it is the transcendental

consciousness of reality, utopia reflects the

present zeitgeist and sociality. This

character of utopia derives from two aspects.

One, because the utopian thinkers put their

thought on the present society; the other

reason is that the vision of utopia is based

on the analysis and the criticism of reality.

Accordingly, the character of utopia, shown

in the proposals of the ideal city including

Plato’s ‘Ideal State’, would be the time and

the spatial extension of reality. In fact,

35
 utopia does not mean exactly ‘no-place’, or

‘no-where’ in urban-architecture. In other

words, utopia is closely related to the

present social context, not a break with time

and space, like the ‘Otherworld’ for the

dead, or ‘the Next World’ in the oriental

culture, or ‘Hades’ in the West.

Third, utopia is the expression of liberation

and reformation. The conquest of nature,

social control and the promotion of social

welfare are the key concepts and the symbol

of progress in modern European culture, at

the same time. In detail, Bacon’s positive

belief and the thoughts of Thomas More

have been the declaration of the progress in

modern science and the practical task

pursued by modern Socialism. And Anatole

France considers utopia the principle of

progress and a trial toward the future based

on reality.

Moreover, Karl Mannheim draws a

distinction between utopia and ideology:

while ideology is a methodological concept

for the governing class to hide reality,

36
 utopia is the power to reform reality and

exists in the subjugated classes who want to

be liberated.

Based on the critic of utopia by K. Marx and

F. Engles, “Utopia” is considered an

unscientific realm which is outside reality.

Nevertheless, in the aspect of the power of

social reformation, utopia is fundamentally

the expression of the spirit of liberation

from the imprisonment of reality.

Fourth, the utopian thought has a

totalitarian character. Utopia inevitably has

to be carried out in a totalitarian way in the

process of realizing the dream about the

perfect world because utopia tries to apply a

perfect order in the process of realization.

Automatically it violates human’s freedom.

In fact, all of utopias by Plato, More,

Campanella, and Cabet, refused individual

freedom and cause social problems in the

end. This is due to the utopian totalitarian

character that takes place in the process of

realization and operation.

Therefore, Karl Popper and N.A. Berdyaev

37
 consider utopia as an enemy for open

societies.

Normally utopia insists on common

property. And utopia, physically and

mentally, has been described historically as

the ideal society, self-sufficient and blocked

in the middle of the ocean where it is far

from the real world. In addition, utopia

regards only the relationship between place

and humans. Here, the relationship among

people is considered a secondary thing. That

is why it is hard to find mentions on the

concepts of birth, death, ties of kinship,

conflict, power, money or art in utopian

societies.

All of these common characteristics on

utopia are commonly reflected into the

philosophers’ governing society of Plato, the

religious communist society of More, the

asceticism of monasteries of Campanella,

and the scientific utopia of Bacon.

Fifth, the utopian thought should be

expanded into dystopia. Starting as

admiration for science, technology and

38
 machine, it began to be anxious in the 19th

century and this anxiety has been

intensified in the 20th century. Considering

even that dystopia has a short history, it

also plays a role much like utopia in the

history of urban-architecture. It appears as

a backlash to the fiction of utopia and as the

auxiliary role to cover the extreme and

fragmentary elements in utopia.

Actually, utopia has not been created by a

certain civilization but expresses the wishes

to be accomplished. The image of utopia is

drawn as a universal answer for all the

problems of reality. It reflects the social

background of reality and, at the same time,

challenges the social background.

The environment of utopia can be the

symbol of paradise and can be also the

expression of fear and anxiety at the same

time. These two opposing concepts; utopia

and dystopia, are the inheritance now.

39
II. Ideal City in the 19th century

II.1 City and Revolution

The western society of the 19th century is the result

of the two revolutions in the 18th century; the

Bourgeois Revolution and the Industrial

Revolution. Historically speaking, the former was

a political revolution in France based on the

Enlightenment, and the latter was an economical

Fig. 12 | Liberty Leading the People,
Eugène Delacroix, 1830.
revolution based on the rapid development of the Musée du Louvre, Paris.

industry in England by the steam engine.

As we all know, these two revolutions did not

coincide in terms of date and geographic location.

In other words, England didn’t experience any

political revolution. And the industrial capitalism

couldn’t be developed in France despite the

Bourgeois Revolution. Moreover, in the case of the

other European countries, they didn’t have any

40
experience on this kind of Revolution. However,

the result of these revolutions spread all over the

European society and had a strong influence in

changing the modern urban-architecture.

New changes in the process of these revolutions;

lifestyles, life awareness, experience and answers

to different social fields have transmuted into the

modern society. From the 19th century on, the

western society has faced new lifestyles, which has

been different from the old traditional ones. And

different social fields have experienced modernity,

which decided the western culture’s fate after the

19th century.

These new social changes have made people get

the taste of modern life, which have new forms

and matter. Consequently, there have been urban

changes over time.

1) The Bourgeois Revolution: Bourgeoisie

and Pop Culture.

The Bourgeois Revolution was based on the new

philosophy and science that had formed in the 17th

century.16 These two led the western culture of the

16 In philosophy, the Bourgeois revolution started from the

England Empiricism and the French Rationalism. Those two
ideas became the base of the Enlightenment thought

41
18th century to the time of the Enlightenment.

Based on the spirit of the Enlightenment, the

theory of civil rights could unfold in the middle of

the 18th century. In these social backgrounds the

French revolution unfolded in 1789.

E. J. Hobsbawm considers the French revolution

as the essential and universal Bourgeois

Revolution with the three following aspects.

First, the French revolution occurred in a

European country, which was the most

powerful, politically and economically, and

that had the biggest population in Europe,

except for Russia. In fact, one of five

Europeans was French in 1789.

Second, the French revolution was a

unique social revolution by the bourgeoisie

among all other revolutions and it

produced also the most radical changes

through ‘Lettres Philosophiques’ by Voltaire F.M.A., 1734.

Then, the division of powers by C. Montesquieu with In
Defence of "The Spirit of the Laws", 1750 signaled the
collapse of the Monarchy and the appearance of civil society
at the same time. Besides, ‘Encyclopédie’ by D. Diderot and
J.R. d’Alembert was an action of awareness on the
philosophy of Enlightenment. In science, it succeeded in G.
Galileo, J. Kepler and I. Newton. The philosophy of physical
science formed by them became the cause of the change in
people’s values.

42
 before and after.

Third, only the French revolution was

universal among all contemporary

revolutions. The French military marched

for the world revolution and the French

thought they caused the world revolution

as a fact.17

In the French Revolution there was a new political,

social and cultural protagonist in western society,

the so called Bourgeoisie of the 19th century. They

started to have civil rights by democracy,

economical power by the increase of the power of

production, and autonomy by the extension of

education. It meant that the bourgeoisie became

the main social class in society.

In other words, they became the main force in

politics, society and culture. And the bourgeoisie

as an autonomous class produced the pop-culture

that formed an axis of the modern culture. Pop-

culture18 had the character of anonymity and had

17 Hobsbawm, E.J., The Age of Revolution 1798-1848, trans.

Jung Do young and Cha Myong Su, The Time of Revolution,
Hangilsa, 1998, p.147.
18 Pop(ular)-Culture is the culture with the metropolis as the

center in the middle of the 19th century. The character of

pop-culture is exchangeable and consumable. They are
common values and attitudes to connect most of the people

43
been spread out in the metropolis as the center.

In an historical aspect, the meaning of the mass is

difficult to separate from the meaning of citizen.

In this regard, people in the cities of the Middle-

Ages can be considered as ‘the mass’; however, the

appearance of the contemporary meaning of ‘the

mass’, which is collectivities of anonymous

individuals living in a metropolis, is from the

Fig. 13 | Théâtre Nationale de l'Opéra,
bourgeoisie in the 19th century. Charles Garnier, 1875.

The formation of Pop-culture brought the

conditions for a new type of architecture, like

theaters and museums, in the city.19 Furthermore,

people’s cultural participation caused a mass-

consumption of culture. As a result of these social

situations, there was a sharp increase in the

cultural infrastructure of the city. Additionally,

Fig. 14 | New Street System for l’Opera
civil rights and the expansion of education were by Haussmann, 1861.

the direct cause for the demanding of public

hospitals and public schools.

In this point of view, the bourgeoisie was an

of the time. For example, there are paintings, plays, books,

songs, leisure, etc.

19 After the French revolution, the citizen as a main-social

class transformed the palace and the villa for nobles into the
museums for themselves. Also the theater was opened to the
citizen. In this process, the architectural space must be
transformed to accept all the masses at once, such as the
part of the entrance.

44
important condition for new urban infrastructures.

And it became a place which formed the

experience and awareness of modern life.

Consequently, the role of modern urban-

architecture was changed socially and culturally

through these new types of infrastructure.

Fig. 15 | Panoramic View of l’Opera de Paris.

2) The Industrial Revolution: Machine

Civilization and Metropolis.

The time and reason of the Industrial Revolution

was the increase of iron’s production around 1760

and the steam engine by J. Watt, which was used

in the cotton-growing industry. Additionally, as

the main driving force of the Industrial Revolution

there were the England political and economical

situations, especially plentiful resources, capitals

and vast markets due to the management of many

colonies abroad.

In such a background, the Industrial Revolution

was an important factor in making a new form of

45
production and lifestyle which were totally

different from the ways of the past. In other words,

the Industrial Revolution changed people’s lifes

itself and formed people’s sense and thinking

suitable for the new society.

Fig. 16 | Saint-Lazare, C.Monet, 1877.

The way of production through machines was

completely meaningful. It meant that the power of

production by the Industrial Revolution obtained

autonomy for some people just like the

bourgeoisie got autonomy through the

Bourgeoisie Revolution. The autonomy of

production by machines meant the overcoming of

the limit of production allocated by natural time.

In other words, production followed a natural

time process in the past, but now the machines

46
produced without any restriction from nature. The

factory was formed by the autonomy and the

power of production.

Besides, this machine civilization caused not only

a new social class by industrial capitals but also a

new way of living, so called ‘Job-Housing

Separation’. It consequently dissolved traditional

family structure and brought the worker’s

resistance, due to the harsh labor conditions in

factories. As a result, it appeared the culture of

leisure 20 that brought the separation between

leisure and labor. This separation becomes

gradually the character of the modern life style.

These social situations changed the images of the

city. For example, there was a different kind of

urban-architecture; the industrial city and the

slums. The rural population moved into the city

and grew more and more. The concentration of

population in the city was the reason for the

Fig. 17 | Slum in London, Copperplate,
Gustave Doré, 1872,
appearance of the metropolis.

20 ‘Modern leisure was born as a product of resistance for

the survival of the workers. It was distinguished from the
leisured classes in previous industrial society and was the
antithesis to labor.
Park, Jae Hwan and Kim, Mun Gyeom, Leisure Culture in
Modern Society, Seoul National University Publisher, 1997,
pp. 13-45.

47
In short, the autonomy of production and the

culture of the machine by the Industrial

Revolution brought the industrial city in terms of

the urban character and the metropolis in terms of

the urban dimension. It was the basis for the

formation of new rules in modern life and the

modern day lifestyle.

Fig. 18 | A Christian City in 1440, Pugin.

Fig. 19 | A Christian City in 1840, Pugin.

Furthermore, the railroad system had an

important impact on the society of the 19th century.

In 1914, the invention of the steam locomotive by

G. Stephenson opened the railroad system. Then,

the railroad for passengers appeared in earnest at

48
the beginning of the 1830’s.21 From the 1840’s on,

the widespread construction of railroads began in

several places around Europe. Together with the

appearance of the modern leisure culture, the

mechanization of ground transportation made it

possible for people to make long-distance trips in

Fig. 20 | Exterior of King’s Cross Station,
London, 1850.
the 19th century.

The train trips played an essential role in the

extension of the spatial dimension and range in

the new experience of the 19th century. By train

people could move several times more in distance

per hour. Moreover, the railroad linked urban and

rural areas, extending people’s knowledge of space

as far as the length of the railroad. This new

Fig. 21 | Interior of King’s Cross Station,
London, 1850.
experience, of which the range of space was

expanded in a shortening time scale, was

considered by the population as some sort of

destruction of time and space and at the same

time as the discovery of a new space, which was

totally different from the space of the past.

Because of this, train and railroad made machines

penetrate the core of daily life.

Another result from railroads and trains was the

21 The first railroad for passengers in the world is one

linking Liverpool and Manchester, England in 1830. The
length of this railroad is 53 km.

49
formation of a metropolis with satellite towns. The

combination of factories and railroads resulted in

a great influx of rural population as workers into

the cities. People from rural areas gathered

around railway stations and factories. They

formed the slums for workers and urban poor

people. Slums, residential areas for the middle

class, stock exchange, financial areas, etc., created

the concept of ‘district’, which was inexistent

before.

As a result, in the 19th century the Industrial

Revolution worked as the cause for social changes

in urban-architecture through not only the change

of the lifestyle but also through the formation of a

metropolis with satellite towns. It was a new

condition for daily modern life.

II.2 Utopian Cities

Because of the changes in cities through the

Bourgeois Revolution and the Industrial

Revolution, there were not only new ways of living

and experiencing, but also new awareness of time

and space. They were expressed definitively by the

50
metropolis.

However, these rapid changes brought social

problems in the metropolis at the same time. The

people’s autonomy from the Bourgeois Revolution

readjusted the poor and the bourgeoisie by

capitals, while the autonomy from the natural

time of the Industrial Revolution degenerated into Fig. 22 | General Plan of La Saline of
Chaux, C.N. Ledoux, 1774-78.
a qualitative degradation of the life in the city,

such as excessive labor and poor housing

conditions.

Therefore, modern social reformers made urban-

architecture proposals in order to overcome these

unexpected social problems. These actions for

Fig. 23 | Perspective of La Saline of Chaux,
utopia in urban-architecture made their C.N. Ledoux, 1774-78.

appearance in the ideal cities of the 19th century.

The next two cases are representative examples.

1) Utopian-Community Movement

Modern urban planning derives from the social

utopian-community movement of the 19th century.

Utopian socialists dreamt about a better world

and tried to create the ideal society and the ideal

city as physical expressions of their intentions.

That is why most architects and historians agree

to regard the utopian community movement as

51
the beginning of modern urban planning.22

Some representative reformers were Robert

Owen, Charles Fourier and Etienne Cabet.

They imagined that the utopian community of the

ideal city was not just a construction itself but an Fig. 24 | Drawing for Harmony Village,
R. Owen, Indiana, 1825.
emancipative space, where everybody was equal

and where there wasn’t any oppression or

exploitation by Capitalism.

This ideal city was based on equality and

benevolence. It was the embodiment of modern

rationality. It entirely pursued efficiency and

functionality in the principles of design

planning.23 In the case of R. Owen, he considered

natural elements: air, light and green, as

important design elements. He applied these

elements into urban planning through the use of

dispersion and connection of them. This method

of planning was over time followed by Howard

and Le Corbusier.

Besides, R. Owen pursued spatial productivity and

efficiency through functional divisions. It was the

prototype of ‘zoning’ which separated living areas

from spaces for leisure, or working spaces.

22 Benevolo, 1975; Choay, 1996

23 Choay, 1996

52
In the case of Cabet, he tried to use ‘modules’ as

an approach which standardized housing, schools,

shops and public buildings. His approach was

appraised as a trial for efficiency in construction

together with equality. Utopian socialists’ design

extremely preferred the line and the perpendicular

for efficiency and rationality. And they have been

the main principles in Modern design since the

1920’s.

Fig. 25 | Owen's Ideal City, R. Owen, 1817

Phalanstery, designed by C. Fourier, was planned

as housing to raise communalism. It was

appraised as an innovative trial. Here he proposed

a space where inhabitants could have social

relationships. He thought it was possible to

stimulate social relationships through physical Fig. 26 | Perspective view of Charles

Fourier's Phalanstère.
design plan. These design concepts were finally

realized in Familistere by Godin, a Fourierist.

Familistere has a public day-care space for

women’s labor and nurture as a socialist

alternative.

53
Fig. 27 | Perspective of Familistère in Guise, J.B. Godin, 1859..

Fig. 28 | General Plan of Familistère in Guise. Fig. 30 | Section and Plan of Familistère
in Guise.

Fig. 29 | Day-Care Center in Familistère, Copperplate, 1870.

54
Later, Le Corbusier took over the idea of C.

Fourier and Godin in his works, the so called

‘Unite d’Habitation’. 24 Unite d’Habitation in

Marseille contained apartments, service facilities,

public nursery, etc., inside the building.

The Utopian Socialism movement showed the

progress and the limitations of modernism at the

same time. Especially, Owen strongly stated his

points of view about the Enlightenment for the

new age. 25 It is an expression of passion and

intention with which to change the world through

enlightening. However, it also means having to

suppress people who are not illuminators. In fact,

it is criticized by post-modernists, due to the

character of authority and suppression in

modernism.

2) Garden City Movement

Hall identified the beginning of modern urban

planning in 1898 when E. Howard published his

book ‘To-Morrow: a Peaceful Path to Real Fig. 31 | The Garden City, E. Howard.

24 Fishman, 1977

25 “New age must be opened. Men’s intellect…, those which

have been shut up by ignorants and plagues shall be released
from the dark world… Because it comes the time to execute
education through knowledge even if all people in this world
are different in terms of color, place to live, and customs.”
Choay, 1996

55
Reform’. Hall thought E. Howard proposed a

vision for modern urban planning, which was

characterized by social behavior, while urban

planning before 1898 was just civil design as an

extension of Renaissance architecture.

After 4 years, E. Howard’s book was republished

with the new title, ‘Garden Cities of To-Morrow’,

the description of a utopian city located

Fig. 32 | The Three Magnetis, E. Howard.
harmoniously in rural areas.

The publication led to the founding of the Garden

city movement that accomplished several Garden

Cities in Great Britain at the beginning of the 20th

century. His idealized garden city would house

32,000 people on a site of 6,000 acres

(24,000,000 m2), planned on a concentric pattern

with open spaces, public parks and six radial

boulevards 120 ft (37 m) wide, radiating from the

center. The garden city would be self-sufficient

and when it reached its full population, a further

garden city would be developed nearby. Howard

envisaged a cluster of several garden cities as

satellites of a central city of 50,000 people, linked

Fig. 33 | Diagram: Connection between
by roads and railroads.26 Center and Country.

26 B. Goodall, The Penguin Dictionary of Human

Geography. London: Penguin, 1987

56
As E. Howard admitted, garden cities inherited

the principle of urban planning as the method of

social revolution, which utopian socialists had

been seeking.27

Fig. 34 | Conceptual Diagram of the Garden City, E. Howard,

1898..

Urban planning can be defined by a movement to

build ideal cities, where human’s health, justice,

equality and freedom from exploitation are

guaranteed.28

E. Howard’s study for the ideal city, the Garden

Cities Movement could be defined by ‘Early

27 Benevolo, 1975; Hardy, 2000

28 Relph, 1999

57
Modernism’ instead of just ‘Modernism’ because

basically there is a pursuit of rural-orientation in

the Garden Cities. In fact, E. Howard was

influenced by the ideas of rural communities in

the Victorian Era and Owen put this thought into

practice. He was a fervent admirer of W. Morris

and most of his buildings for the Garden Cities

followed the vernacular architectural style.29

As modernism is the result of the Industrial

Revolution, the Garden City Movement considers

agriculture together with the manufacturing

industry as an important base for Industry. It tries

to go back to the pastoral rural life.

The Garden City Movement should have some

limits to be accepted as Modernism in its more

perfect meaning, even if this movement unfolds

itself on the base of the results from the culture of

the machine, like the railroad.

When E. Howard proposed the concept of Garden

City Movement, Europe in the 19th century was

experiencing serious urban problems. The core of

these urban problems was housing. Despite of

the influx of workers in a large scale by the

progress of industrialization, the number of

29 Fishman, 1977

58
houses couldn’t support the amount of workers.

And it caused sanitary problems, especially

infection.

To solve these urban problems, E. Howard

thought about the need to disperse the people

from the overcrowded city to rural areas together

with self-sufficiency. This is the basic concept for

the Garden City Movement by E. Howard.

Railroad systems were planned to connect the

metropolis and the garden cities and each garden

city was surrounded by a green belt. E. Howard’s

ideas were embodied by urban planners: Owen

and Parker and their ideas were finally realized in

the new urban plan for Letchworth and Welwyn.

In spite of some limits mentioned above, the

Garden City Movement has embodied the spirit of

Modernism. In other words, there is the intention

to change the present society through the

construction of the ideal city. As we can see in the

title of his book, ‘To-Morrow: a Peaceful Path to

Real Reform’, E. Howard, a cooperative socialist,

has the thought of changing the society in a

peaceful way.

Firstly, he tried to deconstruct private property

through the concept of public ownership of land,

59
solving the serious urban problems.30

The Garden City Movement, which accepted

positively the progress of scientific technology like

the railroad system, showed a model of ‘what a

better world is,’ and persuaded the people of it.

This is the point to be appraised, the Garden City

Movement is an approach based on a modernist

and enlightened thinking.

II.3 Key-Characteristics of the 19th century

Ideal City

N. T. Dostoglu explained utopia’s characteristics

in two directions; one being the Regressive utopia,

and the other, the Progressive utopia.

The Regressive utopian theorists have the goal to

represent the past in the present, while the

Progressive utopian theorists’ aim is to change the

present with images of the future.

In the middle of the 19th century, one of the

characteristics of the proposals was the

integration of the city and the rural areas, based

on the desire to connect city life with nature. The

30 Fishman, 1977

60
proposals for an urban utopia by Soria y Mata31

and E. Howard are examples on Regressive utopia.

On the other hand, the proposals ‘Citta’

Industrielle’ by T. Garnier and ‘La Città Nuova’ by

A. Sant’Elia, which were influenced from

‘Phalanstery’ by C. Fourier, are examples of

Progressive utopia. They tried to reflect the

development of technology by industrialization,

rather than the integration of city and nature, as

the ideal image for the city.

These characteristics were followed by Le

Corbusier in the ideal cities later on. Comparing

their proposals, it is easy to find similarities in

many parts. Some of the common characteristics

are the enclosed urban space and the minimizing

of the main buildings in the center of the city.

However, they do not have the concentration as

urban forms and some sort of urban vitality

occurred naturally in the city.

In these points, the Garden City by E. Howard is

more traditional and natural. Especially, as a

diagram format, it is interesting to emphasize the

boundary in a circular form and the urban nucleus.

31 Arturo Soria y Mata (1844-1920) was a Spanish urban

planner. He was most famous for his Linear City (Ciudad
Lineal) of Madrid.

61
And the concept of common utilization and the co-

ownership of the land, shown in Garden City, is a

way to overcome the social problems from

Capitalism arisen by industrialization.

As a conclusion, city and modernization in the 19th

century could be explained by two aspects of

urban-architecture.

First, the utopian vision and the plans for

the ideal city were stimulated by the

Bourgeois Revolution and the flux of

Industrialization. They proposed several

social issues relating to modernism in

urban-architecture.

Around the 16th century, the utopian

thought preferred the role of being an icon

for the ideal society than dealing with the

vitality in a practical sense. That is to say,

the utopian thought preferred ideal images

as a solution for social problems.

The utopian thought after the end of the 18th

century, on the other hand, was not only an

ideal image but also an alternative to solve

new social problems brought by the

Industrial Revolution. For this reason, the

62
 utopian thought in the 19th century will be

more reforming and more practical.

As a result, the modern utopia in this period

was represented by an ideal city which was

more practical and more concrete than

before.

‘Ville de Chaux’, 1776 by C. N. Ledoux was

the beginning of this kind of thought even if

it did not propose a new paradigm for

urban-architecture. As can be see, the ideal

city by Ledoux and the concept of ‘Ideal

Community’ by Owen and Fourier are

designed based on classical building forms

and urban planning. However, it is true that

their proposals for the ideal city express the

urban visions related to the utopian thought.

Later, utopian socialists dreamt about a

better world trying to make ideal cities in

the 19th century. The utopian town was a

concrete expression of their ideals.32

Second, after the Industrial Revolution,

housing was one of the most serious social

32 On this context, Benevolo considers utopian towns by

utopian socialists in the 19th century as the beginning of
modern urban planning.

63
 problems. The different urban approaches

on the living environment and the unit of

the community started to focus on housing

together with a social control system.

Concretely, the traditional housing type was

not suitable for the new economic and social

units, such as factories, housing, railroads,

transportation on a large scale and the

business district. The traditional housing

type was mostly organic without any order

for the urban system. So, it was necessary to

find a new housing type for the new social

system.

After late 19th century, the development of

public transportation, trains and cars, had a

huge influence in the planning of the ideal

city. In fact, the linear city and the Garden

City were the result of the railroad system,

while the proposal by F. L. Wright in the

early 20th century was the result of the car.

This was the possibility of changing the

physical environment by the potential

Fig. 35 | Broadcare City, F.L. Wright,
power of technology in the 20th century. 1932-1958.

Besides, the idealists published their

thoughts at the end of the 19th century.

64
 Their main interest was the environment.

‘News from Nowhere’ by W. Morris,

‘Garden Cities of To-Morrow’ by E. Howard,

and ‘Broadacre City’ 33 by F.L. Wright in

the 20th century are representative

examples. They are used to describe a

retrogressive world in various aspects

focusing on small size well-ordered

communities and the equilibrium between

components and nature.

33 Broadacre City was the antithesis of a city and the

apotheosis of the newly born suburbia, shaped through
Wright's particular vision. It was both a planning statement
and a socio-political scheme by which each U.S. family
would be given a one acre (4,000 m²) plot of land from the
federal lands reserves, and a Wright-conceived community
would be built anew from this. In a sense it was the exact
opposite of transit-oriented development. There is a train
station and a few office and apartment buildings in
Broadacre City, but the apartment dwellers are expected to
be a small minority. All important transport is done by
automobile and the pedestrians can exist safely only within
the confines of the one acre (4,000 m²) plots where most of
the population dwells.

65
III. Ideal City in the 20th century

III.1 Modernism and Post-Modernism

In the 1920’s, Modernism flourished in earnest,

under the slogan of ‘What is rational and

functional is beautiful’. Modernist planning in the

period of early-Modernism was a physical

implementation of Democracy, which consisted on

the praise of efficiency and equal distribution of

maximum space to more people. What made

possible this philosophy of modernist planning

was the abrupt development of related

technologies like structures, electricity, and

mechanical systems.34 And the car, the skyscraper,

the elevator, and the air-conditioner as the results

of the development of technology, offered the

34 Benevolo, 1977

66
possibility to build every sort of building in any

place, in any form, and in any size.

Le Corbusier thought that the new architecture

was related to the machine. The elements for the

new architecture must be acknowledged as

products from factories. He admired the

engineer’s aesthetics, which pursues the effective

solution of design planning without concerns

about manners and customs 35 . Eventually,

modernist architecture would be another

innovator in terms of the improvements of science

and technology.

Fig. 36 | Car as a New Technology

in ‘Toward a New Architecture’ by Le Corbusier, 1923.

Le Corbusier‘s ‘Freedom through order’, means

the ideal combination of technology and liberation.

Modernist architecture is a part of the

35 Relph, 1999

67
Enlightenment project; and not only in terms of

technology, but also in terms of the practices of

liberation. Modernism considered effectiveness as

its main value, emphasizing simplicity and

functionality, rather than decoration.

‘Form follows function’ by Luis Sullivan

‘Machine for living’ by Le Corbusier

‘Less is more’ by Mies van der Rohe

All of modernists’ slogans clearly show the

principles of functionalism, which Modernism

pursued. The center of modernist design is the

distribution of space, accessibility, car’s turning

radius and access roads thoroughly. However, the

result of the way modernist planning works has

caused problems, such as the disappearance of

uncertainty and fantasy in the urban landscape,

due to coercion of rules and forms.36

Because of these characteristics of Modernism,

modern cities have been filled up with glass boxes,

which were anonymous and impersonal. And the

areas for housing in rural regions were divided by

36 Relph, 1999

68
a zoning system.37 They were filled with standard

single houses. Modernism, in the end, offered the

urban space that each class of citizen wanted; like

building owners, enterprises and residents.

Building owners supplied more space to lease for

profit and enterprises could rent more functional

buildings for their business system. Even people

in the rural areas who did not want functional

divisions of spaces could get what they wanted

through the zoning system.

Architects who understood the spirit of liberation

in Modernism applauded modern cities in this

mass-produced anonymous style. Even the large

bureaucratic class after World War II preferred

Modernism as the best tool for their policy.

In this social context, western countries mainly

provided standard houses with administrative and

financial aid. It could be assessed as a policy of a

Fordist 38 welfare state. These phenomena were

37 Zoning systems appeared through a scientific

management, and they were a concrete expression of
scientific precision and standardization. Cullingworth, 1997

38 Fordism is “the eponymous manufacturing system

designed to spew out standardized, low-cost goods and
afford its workers decent enough wages to buy them”. It has
also been described as “a model of economic expansion and
technological progress based on the mass production: the
manufacture of standardized products in huge volumes
using special purpose machinery and unskilled labor”.

69
like a panacea to satisfy everyone.

Fig. 37 | Drawing of Plan Voisin, Le Corbusier, 1925.

Fig. 38 | Model of Plan Voisin, Le Corbusier, 1925.

70
In the late 1960’s, J. Jacobs raised a question in

the landscape of Modernism, which has been

accepted absolutely by everybody in modern

urban-architecture. As a criticism, modern urban

planning and the zoning system got rid of diversity

in American cities. Consequently, the United

States was filled with monotonous cities.39 Even if

J. Jacobs did not point it out directly, it was a

Fig. 39 | Cover of “The Death and Life of
challenge against the modernist paradigm, which Great American Cities”
by Jane Jacobs.
pursues efficiency by standardization and

simplification. 40 However, Taylor thought the

true meaning of Jacobs’s criticism was not a

questioning of the zoning system itself but the

concept of Modernism in which the city could be a

better place through rational planning.

As a matter of fact, J. Jacobs cannot be considered

a direct reference for Post-Modernism. However,

many publications on Post-Modernism referred

Jacobs as a critic on Modernism. Hence, Jacobs’

book should be considered as the beginning of the

post-modern urban planning.

39Jacobs, J., The Death and Life of Great American Cities,

NY: Vintage Books, 1961

40 D. Harvey, 1990

71
Meanwhile, the demolition of Pruitt-Igoe 41 , St.

Louis, was understood as the symbol of the

collapse of modern architecture and even of the

modernist spirit.42 Pruitt-Igoe was awarded as an

exemplary modernist building from A.I.A. in 1950,

and its demise was a great shock. In fact, Charles

Jencks considered the demolition of Pruitt-Igoe as

an example of modernists' hazardous intentions

running contrary to the real world.

In the 1970’s, many architects and theorists

started criticizing modernist planning and

landscape more and more. And many intellectual

currents have appeared since to deal with the

critics of Modernism.

After this, it became usual until the 1980’s to

41 Pruitt-Igoe was a large urban housing project first

occupied in 1954 and completed in 1955 in the city of St.

Louis, Missouri, USA. Shortly after its completion, living
conditions in Pruitt-Igoe began to decay; by the late 1960’s, Fig. 40 | Demolition of Pruitt-Igoe, 1954.
the extreme poverty, crime, and segregation brought the
complex a great deal of infamy as it was covered extensively
by the international press. At 3 PM on March 16, 1972 — less
than 20 years after its construction — the first of the 33
buildings of the complex was demolished by the Federal
Government. The other 32 buildings were destroyed over the
next two years. The high-profile failure of Pruitt-Igoe has
become an emblematic icon often evoked by all sides in
public housing policy debate. The Pruitt-Igoe housing
project was one of the first demolitions of modernist
architecture and its destruction was claimed by post-modern
architectural historians.

42 C. Jencks, 1984, "the modern day architecture died."

72
criticize modernist urban planning, as it was

previously usual to have a blind faith on it.

Critics on Modernism proposed many alternatives

as solutions. However, it is not easy to define the

meaning of Post-Modernist architecture.

Generally speaking, it pursued diversity and

relativity, instead of centrality and absolutism, like

Modernism did.
Fig. 41 | Cover of “Complexity and
R. Ventury used the method of comparison Contradiction in Architecture”
by Robert Venturi, 1966.
between Modernism and Post-Modernism to find

the characteristics of Post-Modernism. It is some

sort of collection against modernist characteristics.

The description of R. Venturi clearly shows the

difference between modern architecture and Post-

modern architecture.43

“Less is bore”, proclaimed R. Ventury, parodying

the much-quoted slogan of modernist Mies van

der Rohe, “Less is more”. The book “Forms follow

Fiasco”, written by Black, is also a parody of L.

Sullivan: “Forms follow Function”. These books

totally criticize the value of modern architecture

43 “I am for richness of meaning rather than clarity of

meaning; for the implicit function as well as the explicit
function. I prefer “both-and” to “either-or,” black and white,
and sometimes gray, to black or white.”
Venturi, R., Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture,
New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1966

73
and modern urban planning: functionalism, purity

of forms, absence of decorations, mass production,

skyscraper, zoning, ideal city, highway, etc.

Frankly speaking, while modernists consider

space as enlightenment, equality, and liberation,

postmodernists understand space as autonomy

and aesthetic. 44 The following table shows the

characteristics of Post-Modernism compared to

the characteristics of Modernism.

44 Harvey, D., 1990

74
 Modernism Post- Modernism

- universality - contextualism
Time

- breaking with the - retrospective

past revivalism
- negligence historicity - historicity
- tradition

- universality - contextualism
Space

- internationalism - localism
- placeness
- collage city

- idealism - diversity
- faith for equality, - non politic
Social

liberality, progress - heterotopias

- socialism - antiauthoritarianism
- science and rationality - neo conservatism
- bureaucracy

- rationality, plurality, - symbolism, decoration,

functionalism, collage, metaphor,
Aesthetics

standardization, familiarity, popularity

- art for the political - art for commerce
and social goal - luxury taste for the
- simplicity middle-upper class
for the public - “more is more.”
- “form follows - “less is bore.”
function.”
- “less is more.”
Urban Planning

- master plan - urban plan

- measured approach - mixture use
- zoning - city for pedestrian
- city for cars - environment
- community
- residential
participation
- communication

Tab. 2 | Comparison between Modernism and Post-Modernism

75
III.2 Standardization and Mechanization

Based on the characteristics and the social

paradigm of modern urban-architecture, it could

be generally divided into two separate periods;

Modernism and Post-Modernism.

Post-Modernism, which totally contradicted the

characteristics of Modernism, could be

understood as the result of the utopian thought

against Modernism in reality. This conflicting

concept appeared in the 1970’s, as conformity vs.

diversity and absolute vs. relative.

Firstly, the characteristics of modern urban-

architecture in the early 20th century could be

summarized as: objectivity, necessity, clearness,

and productivity based on rationality, new

technology, and a new paradigm, Fordism. These

characteristics were used as a fundamental frame

to construct the ideal urban-architecture of the

modernist period.

‘Une cité industrielle’, planned by T. Garnier45,

Fig. 42 | Social Housing in “La Città
and ‘La Città Nuova’, planned by A. Sant’Elia46, Nuova”, Atonio Sant’Elia, 1914.

45
In 1918, T. Garnier designed a city that was partially
adopted in the French city of Lyon. Une Cite Industrielle was
designed as a utopian form of living. The plan takes into
consideration all the aspects necessary to running a Socialist

76
were good examples. They showed constructively

the characteristics of modern urban-architecture

intensively; zoning in the urban system, new

typology of housing in architecture, etc.47

With regard to urban planning, in 1920, when

Modernism was blooming, an active optimism

appeared that believed that the progress of

technology would be able to solve the housing

problems.

city. It provides separate zones for separate functions, a

concept later found in the new towns.

46 It is a series of design drawings for a futurist Città Nuova

("New City") that was conceived as symbolic of a New Age.
Many of these drawings were displayed at the only
exhibition of the Nuove Tendenze group (of which he was a
member) exhibition in May/June 1914 at the "Famiglia
Artistica" gallery. Today, some of these drawings are on
permanent display at Como's art gallery (Pinacoteca).

47The Cité Industrielle is composed of the main city and

appendages, and is situated on a plateau with high land, a
lake to the north, a valley and a river to the south.
The main area of the city includes the residences and the
public buildings. The public buildings are grouped into three
sections; the administrative services and assembly rooms,
the collections, and the sports and spectacles sections. The
residential area is composed of rectangular blocks, running
east-west, which give the city its characteristic linear form. A
main artery connects the station quarter to the city. On the
northeast side of this quarter lies the old town. South of this
quarter is the large metallurgic factory area. Mines related to
the factory are on the east side of the river. A silk
manufacturing factory is to the north of the old city. Above
this area is the source of the city’s power, the hydroelectric
station and the dam. To the southwest of the dam, and
sheltered by the mountains behind it, lies the hospital plant.
All these major areas are separated from each other by green
belts.

77
Fig. 43 | Panoramic view of Citè Industrielle, T. Garnier, 1918.

Fig. 44 | Residential Neighbourhood in Citè Industrielle.

Fig. 45 | Hotel Area in Citè Industrielle.

78
In 1922, Le Corbusier proposed ‘Contemporary

city for 3 million habitants’48 referring the urban

plans by A. Sant’Elia and T. Garnie. It was an

extreme low-density urban form with a grid road

system, a highway system, segregation of

pedestrians and vehicles, and high-rise buildings

Fig. 46 | Skyscraper and Open Space in
for housing surrounded by plenty of open spaces. ‘La Ville Contemporaine, Le
Corbusier, 1922.
His proposal for a new modern city was able to be

applied anywhere.

Fig. 47 | Site Plan of ‘La Ville Contemporaine by Le Corbusier.

48 The centerpiece of this plan was a group of sixty-story

cruciform skyscrapers built on steel frames and encased in
curtain walls of glass. The skyscrapers housed both offices
and the flats of the wealthiest inhabitants. These skyscrapers
were set within large, rectangular park-like green spaces.
In the middle of the planned city there was a transportation
center which housed depots for buses and trains, as well as
highway intersections and at the top, an airport.
Le Corbusier segregated the pedestrian circulation paths
from the roadways, and glorified the use of the automobile
as a mean of transportation. As one moved out from the
central skyscrapers, smaller multi-story zigzag blocks set in
green space and set far back from the street housed the
proletarian workers.

79
Fig. 48 | Perspective of ‘La Ville Contemporaine,
Le Corbusier, 1922.

To Le Corbusier, every place and everybody were

just objects. There was no difference. In this point,

Modernism after Le Corbusier would regard it as

Internationalism. It meant to reflect a strong

desire of equality, universality and

standardization in Modernism. As Relpf’s viewed

it, the ideal of Le Corbusier was just a dream. But

the ideal of Le Corbusier was a suppressive and

absolutistic dream at the same time.

However, in 1943, the urban-architectural

philosophy of Le Corbusier was realized by ‘La

Charte d’Athènes’49, which was the result of the

CIAM (Congrès International d’Architecture

49 The Athens Charter was the result of the 1933 Congrès

International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM). The
proceedings went unpublished until 1942, when Le
Corbusier published them in heavily edited form. Both the
conference and the resulting document concentrated on
"The Functional City".

80
Moderne) 50 in 1933. The conference and the

resulting document concentrated on "The

Functional City". It laid out a 95-point program

for the planning and construction of rational cities,

addressing topics such as high-rise residential

blocks, strict zoning, separation of residential

areas and transportation arteries, and the

preservation of historic districts and buildings.

The key underlying concept was the creation of

independent zones for the four functions: living,

working, recreation and circulation.

Fig. 49 | Master Plan for Chandigarh,
Later, Le Corbusier accomplished his idea for Le Corbusier, 1951.
(Identifying "heritage zones"
urban-architecture at Chandigarh, India. But it and "listed buildings." Le
Corbusier drew the master
received lots of negative critics, due to the plan soon after his arrival in
India and after a glimpse of the
authoritarianism of Modernism, the unawareness proposed site.)

of the local contexts, etc.

Over time, the spirit of Modernism was inherited

by the project, ‘Plan for Brasilia’ 51 planned by

50 CIAM was founded in 1928 at a conference of 28 notable

architects and planners in Switzerland to advance the cause
of functionalism in Architecture. The group re-assembled in
Frankfurt am Main, Germany the following year to focus on
the rational housing work of Ernst May, and met in 1930 in
Brussels. The fourth CIAM meeting was to have been held in
Moscow, but with the rejection of Le Corbusier's
competition entry for the Palace of the Soviets (which
indicated that the Soviets had abandoned functionalism), it
was instead held onboard a ship, the SS Patris II, which
sailed from Marseilles to Athens.
51 The city has been acclaimed for its use of modernist

architecture on a grand scale and for its somewhat utopian

81
Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer in 1956. Ragon

described this as a walk of Modernism in the ruins

of modern.

Fig. 50 | Panoramic View of the City of Brasilia.

Fig. 51 | Master Plan for Brasilia, Lúcio Costa, .1957. Fig. 52 | National Congress of Brazil,
Oscar Niemeyer, 1958.

city plan; however, it has been roundly criticized for much

the same reasons. After a visit to Brasília, the French writer
Simone de Beauvoir complained that all of its superquadras
exuded "the same air of elegant monotony," and other
observers have equated the city's large open lawns, plazas,
and fields to wastelands.

82
1) Standardization

The modern urban architecture would be

accomplished by great master architects. Among

them, Le Corbusier proposed urban plans as

perfect alternatives for modern urban-architecture

comparing Mies van der Rohe, W. Gropius, and

Bauhaus theorists like Hilberseimer.

In his books “Urbanism” and “Toward

Architecture”, he acclaimed “a house is a machine

for living in” and explained that a building’s size,

mass, spatial diagram and other characteristics

Fig. 53 | Unité d'Habitation Marseilles,
Le Corbusier, 1945.
should be driven solely by the function of the

building. This point of view in urban-architecture

should crystallize in Functionalism. Le Corbusier

also tried to include the ‘co-operation’ concept,

which was the main value of E. Howard’s thought

and the ‘individualism’ of F. L. Wright, into his

ideas for urban-architecture at the same time. Fig. 54 | Unité d'Habitation Nantes-
Rezé, Le Corbusier, 1952.
As the slogan: ‘House is a Machine to Live’, Le

Corbusier considered the city as a tool for effective

and modern life which adapted from the industrial

society. Industrial facilities, housing and offices

were functionally allocated separately and housing

was mainly composed by the group of high-rise

Fig. 55 | Unité d'Habitation Berlin,
apartments, so called “Unité”. Like mentioned Le Corbusier, 1957.

83
above, all of the urban components became

standardized with conventions based on

rationality and efficiency. And they made it

possible to accomplish mass-production in urban-

architecture.

In fact, the typology of urban-architecture shown

in “Ville Contemporaine” and “La Ville Radieuse”

and “Unité”, which was realized in several

European places, like Marseilles, Nantes, and

Berlin, are representative examples of the image

of standardized urban-architecture. It seems to

represent synthetically the thought of S. Simon

and C. Fourier.52

In summary, the urban proposals of Le Corbusier,

“Ville Contemporaine” and “La Ville Radieuse”

were trials for the realization of “urban

standardization”, which was the characteristic in

urban-architecture before the 1970’s.

However, they had many practical problems

because those images for the modern ideal city

were too uniform and had too much machinery.

And they did not work as much as he expected.

Nevertheless, it was an important place in urban-

52Robert Fishman, Urban Utopias in the 20th Century, The

MIT Press, 1982

84
architecture in terms of the philosophy of urban

planning: ideals rather than reality.

2) Mega-structure

In the middle-late of the 20th century, it appeared

some sort of a character of science fiction urban-

architecture based on the extension and the

maximization of imaginary experiences. It was

due to the development of science and technology.

While mobility and novelty for space appeared

remarkably, the regressive phenomenon was

shown in the tendency of paradigms.

‘High-Tech’ as a new way of urban-architecture

brought a positive expectation for the future

urban-architecture together with the change of the

concept for the future city. Physical elements, or

the size of the territory in urban-architecture, are

not so important any more, but rather the mega-

structure with minimum urbanity is the center of

the issue. For this reason, the city became smaller

in terms of unit size and compact in terms of

urbanity. But, theoretically, the size of the city

could grow as big as possible, due to the

possibility of adding more city units if needed.

Fig. 56 | Sketch of Urban Structure
‘The Spatial City’ by Y. Friedman is the most System, Yona Friedman, 1958.

85
significant application of "mobile architecture". It

consists of spatial, three-dimensional structures

rising up on piles that contain inhabited volumes.

And it is fitted inside some of the "voids"

alternating with other unused volumes. It was

designed on the basis of trihedral elements, which

operate as "neighborhoods", where dwellings are

freely distributed.

Fig. 57 | The Spatial City-Street, Yona Friedman, 1958.

Furthermore, this kind of utopian approach for

the city was represented well in “Buckminster

Fuller’s Dome over Manhattan”, which applied

geodesic structures. And the characteristics of

science fiction urban-architecture were said to be

the direction of the ideal urban-architecture. It Fig. 58 | Buckminster Fuller’s Dome

over Manhattan scheme of the
was clearly shown in the proposals of Archigram: early 1960s.

“Plug-in City” and “Walking City”.

For example, ‘Plug-in City’ is a mega-structure

86
with no buildings. It is just a massive framework

into which dwellings in the form of cells or

standardized components could be slotted.

Fig. 59 | Plug-in City, Peter Cook, 1964.

Fig. 60 | Axonometric of Plug-in City, 1964. Fig. 61 | Capsule Type Housing,

Plug-in City, 1964.

Plug-in City comprises a tube-shape structure,

which corresponds to substructures such as

electricity, water supplies and sewage,

transportation, and units to be placed in the

structure. These units operate as residences,

87
commercial stores, office spaces and parking lots

and can be easily replaced when they become

obsolete. Such programmed cities accommodate

incessant processes of change by means of

behaviors and demands by the inhabitants of the

space.

“High-Tech” urban-architecture also appeared in

Japanese Metabolist as a trend. Some of their

ideas were partly realized as well.

In 1972, Kisho Kurokawa, one of the leaders of the

Metabolist group 53 , designed “Nakagin Capsule

Tower” in Tokyo. It is a 14-story tower and

consists of 140 individual capsules that function

as apartments and business offices. “Nakagin

Capsule Tower” has also served as a prototype for

Fig. 62 | Nakagin Capsule Tower,
Kisho Kurokawa, Tokyo, 1964.
urban accommodations like capsule hotels. The

prefab capsules of the tower are attached to the

tower’s central beam and were designed to be

removable and replaceable. Even the small space

inside the capsules can be modified and increased

53 In 1959 a group of Japanese architects and city planners

joined forces under the name the Metabolists. Their vision of
a city of the future inhabited by a mass society was
characterized by large scale, flexible and extensible
structures that enable an organic growth process. In their
view the traditional laws of form and function were obsolete.
They believed that the laws of space and functional
transformation held the future for society and culture.

88
by connecting capsules to each other. In fact, it is

a good example as a realization of the Archigram’s

idea.

Later, it has been developing continuously through

“The Evolving City” by P. Rudolph, and “Instant

City” by S. Tigerman.

These influxes of urban-architecture show the

tendency of urban-architecture as a “mega-

structure” which is extremely mechanical,

moveable and recyclable related to the future-

oriented science and technology. It could be

considered as a proposal for society and urban-

architecture focusing on the qualitative

improvement of people’s live in the middle-late

20th century, continuously unfolding into an

urban-architectural tendency of “High-Tech”.

3) Heterotopias

After the 1970’s, modernist urban-architecture

unfolded with the characteristics of instantaneous,

relativity and commerciality, instead of the

characteristics of permanence, absoluteness and

purity. Besides, the criticism on modern urban-

architecture became a fashion. It can be said that

modern urban-architecture with Capitalism was

89
only a byproduct of the indiscreet consumption 0f

the Capitalist culture.

In this social context, “No-Stop City” represented

by Archizoom Associati in 1970 provides a new

viewpoint in urban-architecture. It was not a

proposal to be constructed but a trial to show

another way of understanding cities. It proved it in

Fig. 63 | Birdwiew of No-Stop City.
many aspects of the proposal, such as the

unlimited repetition matrix in the same plan

without any distinction between figure and ground,

curved forms and irregular faces without any

volume in homogeneous patterns. It seemed like

looking into the incubator of germs through a

microscope, and especially the unrealistic

depiction of the interior space that reminded

Superstudio’s photo montages.

Fig. 64 | No-Stop City, Archizoom, 1970.

90
 Fig. 66 | Interior views-1, No-Stop City.

Fig. 67 | Interior views-2, No-Stop City.

Fig. 68 | Interior views-3, No-Stop City.

Fig. 65 | Climatic Universal System in No-Stop City, Archizoom.

91
What Archizoom wanted to show in his proposal

was the phenomenon of modern urbanization

when taken to an extreme situation in a way of

extending and filling compactly all of the empty

urban territories with the social organization of

labor by plan and capitals in a growing phase. Fig. 69 | New New York from Continuous
Monument, Superstudio, 1969.

They noticed the real urban-architectural image. It

was made possible by the flexibility of capitals.

These social factors permeated every nook and

cranny of the city, such as ameba, liquid, or other

sorts of micro-organism that use to move

collectively.

As mentioned above, the urban-architectural

image of Archizoom did not have any strong forms

but, because of this reason, the power of survival

was ironically stronger.

This Archzoom’s way of understanding urban-

architecture influenced Rem Koolhaas’ urban-

architecture as well. 54 In fact, “Exodus, or the

Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture”, by Rem

Koolhaas in 1972, showed well that this radical

Italian tendency, such as Superstudio and

Archizoom, penetrated deeply into his urban- Fig. 70 | Exodus, or the Voluntary Prisoners
of Architecture, Rem Koolhaas,
1972.
54In fact, Rem Koolhaas considered Archizoom’s plan as the
average plan for European cities.

92
architecture.

Later, Rem Koolhaas presented “Generic City”55

in 1994. It was not a definite concrete urban

planning, but rather the understanding of the

general phenomena in collective metropolis. It was

based on phenomena which was anonymous but

had the common characteristics of a contemporary

metropolis under modernization and globalization.

In fact, “Generic City” is the most disliked city by

Rem Koolhaas. It is the city which is farthest from

the object people would envy as a city. Moreover,

the name of the city does not call for any nostalgia,

any longing, and even any emotional stimulation.

In a simple way, it is just the city itself without any

character, or any personality.

Fig. 71 | A model of Rem Koolhaas’s Waterfront City

in Dubai, 2008.

55O.M.A., Rem Koolhaas, Bruce Mau, S, M, L, XL, The

Monacelli Press, 1995

93
As with the examples above, “Generic City” with a

radical lack of identity character, becomes gigantic.

It reaches the diffused condition that broke the

boundary between urban and rural. For example,

the city at the early 1970’s had a population size of

2,500,000 but now it reached a population of

around 15,000,000.

Basically “Generic City” is structured through

infinite repetition of simple structural modules,

like a fractal structure. It produces the silent places

without any character through erasure of public

territory; hence, it is a silent and inactive city like a

vase space with just dim lights. Moreover,

“Generic City” reaches serious levels in terms of

multi-ethnicity. As it says, there are changes

occurring by the fast influx of immigration.

The great originality of “Generic City” stands in

destroying simply whatever does not operate. So, it

accepts only the most ancient primitiveness or

future-oriented newness. It shares “generic

memory”, it seems to have been seen before

somewhere.

In principle, “Generic City” derives from blank

condition due to non-history. In other words, ‘if

there is nothing, there is only Generic City and if

94
there is something, Generic City will substitute it

simply’. Cityscape is just a simple suture between

the well-ordered part and free arrangements

increased gradually in other places. It is organized

not by the bureaucratic planning but only by the

integration of different choices, and practical

choices on impulse and randomness.

In Generic City, the programs are just the office,

the hotel and the airport. Housing is just entrusted

to an accident. In contrast, the airport that was a

symbol of a neutral program before, becomes one

of the most characteristic elements in Generic City.

It is the most local and the most global at the same

time. It becomes the most powerful tool for

differentiation. Besides, in any program the

architecture of Generic City consists of space with

the facilities of artificial air-conditioning and a

void part, namely atrium, which covers half of the

buildings in Generic City.

As we can see, Generic City is a free city from

restriction, i.e. centrality or identity. It just reflects

the necessity and possibility of the present. It is a

city without history and is as big as needed. It does

not need any maintenance. When it is small, it is

just extended and when it is old, it is self-

95
destroyed and rebuilt.

As mentioned above, urban-architecture at the late

20th century accepts the existence of modern

urban-architecture with the characteristics of

capitalism as a contemporary phenomenon,

instead of the critical viewpoint of ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

Also, the city is understood as the most flexible

place in terms of size and modifications depending

on the present needs, instead of as a certain

organic place.

Diversity and boredom are ironical expressions

but unlimited diversity of urban-architecture in

the late 20th century, at least, seems to be normal

in terms of the meaning of diversity.

III.3 Key-Characteristics of the 20th

Century Ideal City

The characteristics of urban-architecture in the

20th century can be summarized in the following

two aspects.

First, the 20th century is the turning point of

utopian urban-architecture in terms of thoughts

and approaches. The cause has been the change of

96
the main group who leads the utopian thought. In

the 20th century it was led by architects who were

influenced by utopian thoughts, while in the 19th

century, social theorists were the main group.

Consequently, in the 20th century the physical

composition of urban-architecture was more

important than the structure of the new social

system, or reformation.

From the Renaissance to the Baroque,

thinkers who wanted to reform the social

problems proposed the ideal of utopia in an

ideological and abstract level. And from the

Enlightenment era until before the 20th

century the ideal urban-architecture was

crystallized by the socialist viewpoint on

social problems and it was more concrete

and practical than before due to the

architects’ help. However, most of the

planners were not experts in urban-

architecture so they were more interested in

the social structures or social organizations

to reform society than in urban-architecture

itself.

On the other hand, the process of utopian

97
 urban-architecture in the 20th century was

different than before. Architects who were

influenced by social theorists proposed the

ideal urban planning with the housing issue

as the center of the problems in the

industrial society.

Here, the proposals for the ideal city by F. L.

Wright and Le Corbusier also mentioned

the social compositions but they were very

weak. But the belief in determinism of

urban-architecture played a leading role in

terms of the kind of approach. They thought

that urban-architecture could be decided by

the social compositions. In fact, it meant the

physical composition was more important

than the emphasis in the ideal social

composition, shown in the proposal of an

ideal community by G. Owen and C. Fourier.

Second, the 20th century is the turning point

of utopian urban-architecture in terms of

the structure of urban-architecture. This

tendency is especially extended in the

turning period of Modernism.

The figure of the ideal city in writings

98
 related to the utopia of the Renaissance was

an abstract and an ideological division of

the urban form. It was a strict geometric

division of urban form based not only on the

central building position but also on the

road system with good proportion and

perfect symmetry. This tendency of the

urban structure for the ideal city has played

a main role in the ideal urban planning.

Meanwhile, since the 20th century, the

division of the urban spatial form, shown in

the ideal urban planning, followed the ideal

thought that generally has been proposed

with an even larger scale than before,

including vertical disposition and complex

composition. It was different from the old

style of division of the urban spatial form,

which was a horizontal and a classical

geometric disposition with centrality. These

new styles in the urban spatial form were

more clearly shown in the turning period,

from Modern to Contemporary urban-

architecture.

In the typical urban planning of the ideal

city, it is important for the geometrical

99
 composition to follow a horizontal

disposition and a fixed place, while after the

turning period of Modernism it was shown

as some sort of hypothetical figures which

were an unstable and dynamic disposition

in the air or on the sea, not just on the

ground.

In the middle of the 20th century there was a

different form of urban-architecture: the

city as a mega-structure. It was

concentrated on future-oriented mechanical

and structural parts. It is normally

composed of many changeable units.

The form of housing as a standard unit in

the city was substituted from fixed and

stable architectural forms to the changeable

unit form of mechanical equipment, such as

the “capsule” by Kurokawa.

In fact, the figure of urban-architecture was

losing the meaning of placeness. There was

no need to go back to the original place

because everywhere could be the same and

could be the original place.

The deconstructive phenomena in the Fig. 72 | The Continuous Monument,

An Architectural Model For Total
drawings of Lebbeus Woods and unlimited Urbanisation, Superstudio, 1969.

100
 space in the cubic structure of “The Twelve

Ideal Cities”56 by Superstudio were showing

the images of post-Modernism urban-

architecture, no-placeness.

It would be the image of dystopia, where

there is no sense of belonging to a stable

community or habitation, which was

emphasized in ancient or modern utopia.

56 Superstudio presented a flippant retort to mega-structure,

as cutting as it was irritating: The Continuous Monument,
an Architectural Model for Total Urbanization. This was
followed by Twelve Ideal Cities, published in AD Magazine
in 1971.

101
IV. Ideal City in the 21st century

IV.1 Information Network Society: virtual

urbanization

The Information Network Society in the 21st

century leads to big changes in terms of the

extension in our understanding of time and space.

It can be considered a revolution just like the

industrial revolution was in the 19th century.

The Information Network Society authorizes

autonomy as a way of construction in urban-

architecture, just as the Bourgeois Revolution and

the Industrial Revolution.

Thanks to the widespread use of personal

computers in our life and to the communication

network technology, human productivity is

outstandingly increased. Thousands of computers

are networking to communicate with each other.

102
It connects people everywhere without the

limitations of time and space. What is more

important is that these tendencies are being

processed faster and faster. But we do not have

any standards in measuring up the speed of

informatization. So, we have to rely on other

rather indirect and partial methods to measure

the speed of informatization. For example, if we

measure it up only in demographic terms, it is

easy to find that the speed of informatization is

faster than the speed of the population

concentration. In fact, we have experienced this

in the process of urbanization accompanied with

industrialization in the 19th century.

Fig. 73 | Information Network World

Construction of global networks, increasing the

number of computers and network users, is

103
leaving behind the speed of urbanization, which

we have watched until now. What matters here is

that these social contexts will modify personal

relationships in our lifestyles as well. As

urbanization does not mean just the concentration

Fig. 74 | The urban and rural population
of people into a city region, we shall not under- of the world, 1950-2030.
Source: the 2005 Revision of
World Urbanization Prospects.
estimate these social and cultural changes.57

In fact, these on-going changes are based on the

development of information technology and

communication networks. They are as significant

as the changes in the process of industrialization,

which was based on the steam engine and the

railroad network in the 19th century.

Computer networks make possible mutual

interaction in real time and, furthermore, some

high anonymity communication methods are

being increasingly enlarged. Substantial parts of

the real life are transplanted to computer

networks. Virtual reality and cyberspace are

evolving from virtual imitation of reality: the

creation of non-existing realities.58

57Kim, Moon-Jo, Information society: Essence and Pattern,

The policy of Media and Culture in the Information Society,
Joint Seminar of Korean Society for Journalism and
Communication Studies (KSJCS) and Korean Sociological
Association (KSA), April, 1998, pp. 39~58.

58 C. Harper, Cyberspace and the City, Town and Country

104
In sum, informatization is making abrupt changes

in the methods of production and in the way

people live. Besides, the huge networks being

constructed in the process of informatization act

as an ‘invisible city’, even though somewhat

restricted. Scholars continuously try several

attempts with symbolized notions and terms to

express new cities and societies for the

informatization era. At the same time, they usually

reflect desires for the future states of cities into

the present.

Fig. 75 | Urbanized population percentage

by country as of 2006.
Source: UNICEF, The State of the World’s
Children 2008.

The development of information-communication

technology and networks has always been more

than just the meaning of reducing distance friction.

If distance and placeness have been worked as the

Fig. 76 | Wheel Graph-Worldwide Social
key-factors in urban-architecture until now, it is Network

Planning, Vol. 64, No. 8, 1995, pp. 198~201.

105
necessary to have a new way of understanding

time and space from now on.

As was mentioned above, the time of information

network stands on a significant turning point to

surpass politic, economic, social, and cultural

influence. Paying attention to the speed of

informatization, which has been going along faster

than the speed of industrialization in the past, we

see that this could be the right moment to change

the way we understand urban-architecture.

IV.2 Decentralization as Urban Form

In the field of plastic arts, decentralization is

related to the discussion of dissolving symbolic

centrality, which is one of the main concepts

before the modern times. Centrality in urban-

architecture is substituted for Modernism through

the pursuit of homogeneity and plurality,

autonomy and purity. H. Sedlmayr analyzed that

the loss of centrality in western modern plastic

arts was related to the decline of religious

Fig. 77 | Diagram for Decentralization,
elements 59 and J. Habermas thought that the Jean Pierre Deurig

59 Hans Sedlmayr, Verlust der Mitte, trans. Park Rae Kyong,

106
paradox of God, conceptualized in contemporary

arts, reflected the experience of ego, which should

be decentralized.60 Furthermore, in the field of

urban-architecture, C. Alexander explained the

changing conditions from the hierarchical urban

structure to the non hierarchical urban structure61

and J. Lacan, discussing on the urban-

architectural theories of Rem Koolhaas, proved

that Rem Koolhaas’ works were types of

realization of uncertainty, as a step further from

decentralization.62

Fig. 78 | Comparison between tree and semi-lattice,

C. Alexander.

Loss of Center: plastic arts as the sign and symbol of the

age in the 19th-20th centuries, Munyae Editor, 2002, p.25.

60Jurgen Habermas, Der Philosophische Diskurs der

Moderne, trans. Lee Jin Woo, Philosophical Discussion of
Modernity, Munyae Editor, 1994, p.38.

61 Christopher Alexander, “A city is not a tree”,

Architectural Forum, 122 April No. 1, pp.58-61 and No. 2, pp.
58-62. reprinted in: Design After Modernism, Edited by
John Thackara, Thames and Hudson, London, 1998: and in
Human Identity in the Urban Environment, Edited by G.
Bell and J. Tyrwhitt, Penguin, 1972

62 Jacques Lacan, OMA-Rem Koolhaas, Electa Moniteur,

p.57.

107
As we can see, decentralization has been one of

the most significant subjects in philosophy,

esthetics, and plastic arts since the modern era.

The concept of decentralization was one of the

main ones in the competition for the New Multi-

Functional Administrative City. Many proposals in

the competition were designed as an alternative of

urban structures for the new era under the

concept of decentralization.

Considering the value of the competition in the

field of urban-architecture, decentralization as the

main concept in the competition could become the

main stream of urban-architecture in the 21st

century. Hence, an analysis on the proposals in

the competition would be useful to understand the

concept of decentralization, which should be the

direction of the ideal urban-architecture for the

21st century.

IV.3 Information Network City

In 2005 there was an important competition on

urban-architecture in South Korea, called “The

International Urban Ideas Competition for the

108
New Multi-Functional Administrative City”. 63 It

was a new urban vision meant to accept the

information network society of the 21st century.

The design guideline of the competition was

categorized in fourteen articles. Some of the

articles played an important role in the final

Fig. 79 | Site for the Competition.
decision in terms of the ideology of the city and

the urban structure itself. For example, the first

article was: ‘the valuation and the ideological

background achieved in the city’; the second

article was: ‘urban structure and urban form of

the city’; the third article was: ‘the way of

changing the existing environments relating to a

Fig. 80 | Site from Satellite
new urban structure’; and the fourth article was:

‘proposal for new era and new city’. These

articles were required in the design guidelines in

order to define the background, structure, and

form of the city.

Among these articles, the first one; ‘the valuation

and the ideological background achieved in the

city’, was requesting for new urban approaches

and the valuation of the city to be pursued by the

participants. And it also required approaching the

valuation of the city with certain ideological

63 It was held from May to November 2005.

109
background.

Continuously, the second, third, and fourth

articles proposed the direction of the complete

urban structure. Especially requiring the analysis

of the structure and urban form of the city, the

existing environment, and the new urban physical

landscape, it was also required in which way

communication between existing context of

placeness and new urban landscape would be best

suitable. Furthermore, as it was required in the

article ‘proposal for new era and new city’ at the

end, the competition for the new city aspired for

the change of the urban paradigm for this city,

being quite different from previous cities.

Meanwhile, there are four categories in terms of

the city vision for the New Multi-Functional

Administrative City. The first is ‘the information

network society where the ubiquitous

communication becomes daily life’. The second is

‘the sensitive city for humans where the diverse

valuation is expressed’. The third is ‘sustainable

ecology city where exists symbiosis and

evolution’. Lastly, the fourth is ‘the culture city in

Asia where the identity of Korea lives in’.

Three of the above categories are meant as a city

110
vision: from the first to the third, they are directly

related to this study. And it can be interpreted as

follows:

First, the important parts in ‘the

information network society where the

ubiquitous communication becomes daily

life’ are the concepts of ‘daily life city’ and of

‘opened city to flexibility’. It deals with the

way the development of technology

interprets the relation to space. As a result,

physical distance is not an important part to

decide the urban spatial structure in the city

of the 21st century, 64 while it was

considered as one of the most important

factors for a rational disposition of space in

the past.

Besides, ‘opened city to flexibility’ does not

mean a city to be build by the present

technology, but a city to positively accept

the innovation of future technologies.

64 In the past, it was necessary to move for shopping, culture,

education, business, etc. But a ubiquitous society based on
information network technology makes these physical
movements in our life less important. We can say that the
total social structure will change to accept the ubiquitous
environments of the daily life.

111
 Second, in ‘the sensitive city for humans

where the diverse valuation is expressed,’ it

is possible to have diverse experiences, such

as democracy, spontaneity, autonomy,

freedom, creativity, imagination and human

contacts. It pursues a place which can take

the lead in ‘the nomad spirit’ and ‘the

cultural sensitivity’. Following G. Deleuze

and J. Attali, citizens’ pursuit of portability

and simplicity to move freely in their

environment should be an important aspect

in contemporary living patterns. The

guideline for the city tries to have radical

solutions for democratic space, equal

accessibility and capital value of space,

through the nomad spirit that contains the

frontier spirit for new environments,

including portability, simplicity, dailiness,

etc.

Third, ‘sustainable ecology city where

exists symbiosis and evolution,’ is about the

relationship among each of the elements

composing the information network city of

the 21st century, like humans, nature and

112
 technology. It contains the future aspects

related to the preservation of the

environment and the ecology, such as the

relationship between natural things and

artificial things, between city and people,

between land and building, between human

and earth, between human and animal, etc.

These three points mentioned above are elements

that should be considered in the information

network city as the ideal urban-architecture of the

21st century. And, in fact, these elements truly

affected many of the proposals that participated in

the competition directly and indirectly.

Fig. 81 | The City of the Thousand Cities, Andres Perea Ortega

113
For example, one of the winning proposals, “The

City of the thousand cities” by A. Perea Ortega,

proposed a ring-shaped urban structure as the

answer for the third and fourth articles. It was

formed with void space within the existing nature

in the center of the city. And another of the

winning proposals, “A grammar for the city” by P.

V. Aureli, proposed a democratic urban space,

starting with questions as: What will be the value

this city has to pursue? What is the theoretical

background?

Fig. 82 | A Grammar for the City, Pier Vittorio Aureli.

IV.4 Three Types of Urban Structure

Under the design guidelines for the competition

above, a total of 121 works were presented in the

competition for the New Multi-Functional

114
Administrative City. 28 works from all the projects

were selected here to analyze the concept of

decentralization as urban space. In the proposals

selected for analysis there are 4 winning works, 4

awarded works and 20 works of participants that

were found interesting during the process of

judgment. There are also many other works with

the concept of decentralization, but they were

excluded due to the completion and the

representation of projects submitted.

Although these 28 works are different from each

other, they are categorized in three patterns by the

character of urban form and structure: Ring shape,

Grid pattern, and Network/Island type.

All of the 28 works are summarized in these three

categories and are shown in Table 3.

1) Ring Shape as Urban Structure

Ring shape as urban structure has a merit not only

to diversify the urban functions but also to avoid

the division of urban space by physical distance.

The ring shape as an urban space forms a huge

open space in the center. It provides a place for

the easiest positional accessibility for the citizens.

In this aspect, there are many possibilities for

115
changes in the pattern of land-use.

Title Designer Type

The City of the Thousand Perea
Ring
Winning

Cities Ortega, Andres

Deurig,
The Orbital Road Ring
Jean Pierre
Kim, Network
Dichotomous City
Young Joon /Island
Aureli,
A Grammar for the City Grid
Pier Vittorio
Kunzemann,
City in Flow Ring
Juergen
Awarded

Pucher,
Yeon Meong Grid
Thomas
Sumiya, Network
Archipelagic City
Mamoru /Island
Undurraga,
Nurturing a New Urbanity Ring
Cristina
Kurokawa, Network
Untitled
Kisho /Island
Participant

Arbanas,
Fast forward City Grid
Magraret
Mixmax City Space Group Grid
Pak, Network
Untitled
Hun Young /Island
Untitled Treuttel, Jerome Grid
Jonathan,
Metroloop Plan Ring
D.Solomon
Untitled (Eum Yang) Choi, John Ring
Stienon,
City in the Garden Ring
Christopher
Milaca,
Untitled Grid
Bajic Brkoric
Lee,
Overlapping City Grid
Dong Shin
Chung,
Eco-Smart City Ring
Gu Yon
Network
Ubiquitous Nature Kim, Uk
/Island
Sim,
Untitled Ring
Kil Je
Symbio(Sis)+(Me)Tropolis Yu, Eric Ring
Haimerl, Network
Subtile City
Peter /Island
Spijker,
Green Core City Ring
Wan’t Jaakko
Lynch,
Metropolitan Mac Ring
Catherine
Untitled ( Composed Wall) Boender, Arnest Ring
Sommer,
Untitled Ring
Richard
Solid Network/
Untitled
Arquitecnra S.L. Island

Tab. 3 | Category of the proposals for the competition.

116
The proposals for the competition that presented

the ring shape as an urban structure are: “The City

of the Thousand Cities” by O. A. Perea, and

“The Orbital Road” by J. P. Deurig, among the

winning projects and “City in Flow” by J.

Kunzemann, “Nurturing a New Urbanity” by C.

Undurraga, “City in the Garden” by C. Stienon,

“Eco-Smart City” by G. Y. Chung, “Green Core

City” by W. J. Spijker, etc.

Among the works above, the winner’s proposals

clearly offered the idea of non hierarchical and

democratic spatial structure for the urban

structure. In the case of Perea’s work, it proposes

the possibility to realize a peaceful and democratic

city through spatial structures, landscape or

environmental conditions, instead of keeping the

Fig. 83 | The Orbital Road, Jean Pierre Deurig

117
utopic ideals. It is also possible to make the multi-

functional urban space with complexity and

diversity removing hierarchy in terms of density

and urban activities.

The ring shape in “The Orbital Road” by Deurig, is

an expression of the desire of a democratic city to

get equal chances to live in the city.

Fig. 84 | City in Flow, Juergen Kunzemann.
Meanwhile, another two awarded works are also

proposing the ring shape as the urban structure

but in a bit different way. “City in Flow” by

Kunzemann proposed the green belt with the ring

shape in a circular urban form. But in this case it

is composed without hierarchical orders in each

Fig. 85 | Nurturing a New Urbanity,
urban place and has the possibility to change the Cristian Undurraga

process of urban development based on security

issues. “Nurturing a New Urbanity” by

Undurraga proposed a big lake in the center of the

city, with the river flowing across it. Here, the lake

in the center where nothing can be built is the

symbolical center of the city.

Among other participant’s works, “Metroloop

Fig. 86 | Metroloop Plan,
Plan”65 by Jonathan and “Green Core City”66 by D.Solomon Jonathan.

65 “…Unlike the fallacious brief of single-use state capitals

form the baroque through the modern period, the New
Multi-Functional Administrative City in the Republic of
Korea is not burdened with an imposed hierarchy …”,

118
Spijker also proposed the ring shape for the urban

structure. This is to satisfy these urban conditions:

freedom from the unnecessary hierarchical orders

and emphasis on integration and autonomy of a

small nucleus of each urban place.

As a result, empty space in the center of the city is

Fig. 87 | Green Core City, W. J. Spijker
used as one of the main urban elements. It shows

a non hierarchical uncentralized urban structure.

2) Grid Pattern Types as Urban Structure

Urban structures with grid patterns are shown in

some of the proposals. They proposed order and

density with perfect homogeneity. It was

significant enough for the juries and the proposals

with grid patterns were required to supplement

them with urban strategy, even if it could not

reflect into the project with any concrete urban

form.67 Fig. 88 | Perspective of ‘A Grammar for the

City’, Pier Vittorio Aureli.

Multifunctional Administrative City Construction Agency,

Catalogue of the International Urban Ideas Competition for
the new multi-functional administrative city in the Republic
of Korea, 2006, p.134.

66 “The contemporary city lacks the automatic hierarchy of

the historical city. It is a multi-centered network. Therefore
the new Multi Functional Administrative City of Korea can
be conceived as an open network of many modes… In Green
Core City therefore the network city is organized as a ring…”
Ibid., p.212.

67 Ibid., p.23.

119
The most representative case is “A Grammar for

the City” by Aureli, which was one of the winners.

It proposed an environment composed of

homogeneous density in the urban space of

extremely homogeneous grid forms. In the

commentary to this project, it was praised as the

most applicable concept in the aspect of its usage

Fig. 89 | Yein Meong, Thomas Pucher.
and interpretation. Besides, ideologically, it plays

a role as a symbol for democracy as this

homogeneous grid frame relatively mixes with

heterogeneous components. 68 Aureli reflected

what pursues in this city on the way how a

contemporary city is made.

Consequently, it is the understanding of the

Fig. 90 | Fast forward City, M. Arbanas.
democracy of space and the application of this

into the city. As he says, it is the time for the

contemporary city to be supported by private

investment and development. Hence, what is the

most important part in contemporary urban

planning is to draw the boundary between parts

for public action and parts for private action. And

Fig. 91 | Untitled, Bajic Brkoric Milaca
it proposes a process of a city made by each

68 “As each frame contains a different reality, the matrix is

rendered as an allegory for democracy, with the multiplicity
of heterogeneous elements in striking juxtaposition.” Ibid.,
p.72.

120
member of the city to accomplish this democratic

urban structure. Spaces form in a homogeneous

frame made by the grid pattern, instead of leaving

it to a laissez faire way. This is why this sort of

homogeneous urban space is frequently proposed

as the spatial structure of new cityscapes.

However, this urban grid structure is completely

different from the modern grid proposed in

modern urban-architecture. Aureli’s grid adds

decentralization with non placeness, democracy

and autonomy, while the modern grid system

usually emphasizes on hierarchy, control,

efficiency and homogeneity.

In the case of “Yeon Meong” by Pucher, the urban

structure has also the grid pattern, made by the

bands of urban program. Each of the bands is

overlapped and crosses each other, in the east-

west direction and the south-north direction, to

maximize the diversity of the city. “Fast forward

City” by Arbanas and “Untitled” by Milaca have

the same way of planning.

3) Network/ Island Type as Urban Structure

The Network and Island type as urban structure

are different in terms of urban form. However,

121
they are similar not only in the aspect of

proposing non hierarchical decentralization

instead of the centrality of existing cities, but also

in the aspect of focusing on relations among urban

spaces for decentralization. This kind of

relationship has something in common with the

Fig. 93 | Untitled, Park Hun Young.
semi-lattice structure of C. Alexander, which is

shown in his book “A city is not a Tree”, as the

urban structure after the modern era.

Meanwhile, among the works in the competition,

“Dichotomous City” by Y. J. Kim, and “Untitled”

by H. Y. Park, proposed an urban structure

through overlapping the urban flux, focusing on Fig. 92 | Dichotomous City,

Kim Young Joon.
the relationship between urban spaces and

components. In their works we can find the same

meaning as “the Band” proposed by Rem

Koolhaas in his project: Melun-Sénart.69

69 Rem Koolhaas used “band”, instead of “grid” which

modern architects usually used in urban planning. The band
has a different meaning from the neutral grid. In other
words, the band can be designed randomly and can also
change following the character of the site, while the grid is a
rule to be followed by architects. … So what Rem Koolhaas
ultimately wants is to gain ‘uncertainty of program’.

Jung In Ha, A Study on the Relation between

Contemporary Urban Theories and Discourse of Language,
Korean Architectural History Institute, Vol. 12, No. 3, Sep.
2003, p.84.

122
Fig. 94 | Melun-Sénart, Rem Koolhaas.

Besides, “Archipelagic City” by M. Sumiya, and

“Untitled” by K. Kurokawa, also focus on the

relationship of urban spaces with each part of the

urban components especially. The character of

these works is connected with the fundamental

elements for urban planning of Elizabeth Plater-

Zyberk and ‘Sixteen Cities within the City’ of Leon Fig. 95 | Untitled, Kurokawa Kisho.

Krier.

Conceptually, the emphasis on this relationship

partly coincides with two types of urban structure:

the ring type and the grid pattern type. For

example, “The City of thousand Cities” by Perea,

proposed a city composed of 25 small cities, and

these independent small cities make a general

urban form connecting each other along the band

of a ring shape. In “Yeon Meong” by Pucher, the

bands of program, formed horizontally and

vertically, make an overlapping urban space.

123
Among the winning works, “Dichotomous City” by

Y. J. Kim, is a representative work proposing a

relationship in the overlapping process of the flux

of urban programs. He proposed a process to

make the urban structure through a network with

two concepts for the diverse elements of the urban

components. Juries pointed out that his urban

concept could be useful for the master plan in

terms of the construction urban structure.

In summary, the characteristics of urban space

shown in the competition for the New Multi-

Functional Administrative City stand in non-

spatial propositions: decentralization,

homogeneity, democracy, etc. They are used as the

logic to define and create a new urban space. They

will be keywords for the urban systems in the

information network city. And the urban image

with these characteristics will be the ideal urban-

architecture of the 21st century.

124
 PART - II

V. Urban

VI. District

VII. Self-Sufficiency City

125
During the Modern Industrial Society, cities have

been affected by big changes, like the Post-

Industrial Society and the Information Society.

New cities have been planned and constructed,

while some cities have fallen into a decline.

At the beginning of the new millennium, ‘Compact

City’, ‘Eco City’, ‘Intelligent City’, ‘Creative City’,

and ‘Cultural City’ together with ‘New Urbanism’

in the U.S. and ‘Urban Village’ in the U.K. have

been planned and designed based on a new urban

paradigm.

However, these urban plans have been rarely

understood due to its complex relationships, such

as the political, social and economical factors of

the time.

Due to these characteristics of urban planning, it

is difficult to know how we can identify the range

126
and target of the case study for the research on the

principles of the 21st century urban-architecture.

However, in general, fundamental features of

urban planning concepts can have different

meanings depending on how the city is considered.

And the factors for consideration correspond to

the economy, technique, society or culture.70

If we look closely enough urban plans can be

understood in several aspects: urban theory,

planning, and implemented city. Each aspect is

not only mutually related, but also different

throughout the years of development.

Part I investigate urban theories and plans

relating to the changes of thought on utopian

urban-architecture since the 20th century.

Here, in Part II, we focus on practical case studies

to understand how urban theories and planning

have been implemented.

The eight cities selected as our case studies are

classified in three categories: Urban, District and

Self-sufficiency. Within the three categories a list

of thirty representative planned cities recognized

around the world were selected as case studies.

70
D. Gosling and M. Myland, Concepts of Urban Design,
Academy Editions, 1984.

127
And eight cities were selected as examples to

analyze among the thirty selected cities. The

selection was made considering construction time,

geographical location, objects and key functions.

128
 Tab. 4 | List of thematical Urban plannings in the world.

129
 Tab. 5 | Construction time schedule of 30 urban plannings

Fig. 96 | World map of 30 urban plans.

130
 V. URBAN

Canberra, Ausralia

Brasilia, Brazil

Chandigarh, India

Sejong City, South Korea

131
 TYPE Urban Scale
ACT New City
Australian Capital Territory Administration Complex
Canberra, AUSTRALIA YEAR Initial: 1912
Full-scale: 1957~1988
ARCHITECT Walter Burley Griffin
AREA 814.2 km2
POPULATION 250,000(planned)
351,868(2009)
DENSITY 0.43 / ha (2009)
Australian Capital Territory (ACT)

Canberra is a city located in Southeastern Australia. It

is a planned administrative capital that was built based

on a design by Walter Burley Griffin, who won an

international design competition in 1912. Griffin’s

design is based upon the ‘beautiful movement’ and the

‘garden city’ concepts, which separate the residential

areas from the industrial and commercial facilities. The

urban form and system was designed with geometric

patterns, including concentric hexagonal and octagonal

streets.

Fig. 97 | Water Burley Griffin’s Drawing, 1912

133
URBAN AXIS & AREAS

Canberra has two main urban axes divided by Lake

Burley Griffin, which is the topographical landmark of

Canberra: City Hill in the north and Capital Hill in the

south. Major shopping malls are scattered around these

axes. Outside the axes are the four sub-centers: Civic (in

the center), Belconnen (in the north), Woden Valley,

and Tuggeranong (in the south).

Fig. 98 | General Policy Plan - Metropolitan Canberra.

134
The shape of the city itself is irregular, but the roads are

geometrically designed. In the heart of the city, rings of

roads circle several areas of importance. Additionally,

large principal roads connect the center of these circles

to one another.

THREE HILLS

The center of Canberra has three major points: City Hill,

Capital Hill and Russell Hill. The city’s downtown areas Fig. 99 | Designed Area

are located along each of the roads that connect these

three hills. Each hill, with its own central open square,

has two of four nearby satellite cities connected to the

them by a road and is either circular shaped like wheels,

CITY HILL
or is based on the grid system.

City Hill and Capital Hill have ministries, government

offices and embassies. Their suburbs are mostly

residential areas, which have octagonal-shaped roads

connecting one another. Fig. 100 | Avenue connections and vistas

135
Bibliography

• Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra: Policy Plan. Canberra:

National Capital Development Commission. 1988.
• The Penguin Australia Road Atlas. Ringwood, Victoria:
Penguin Books Australia. 2000.
• UBD Canberra. North Ryde, New South Wales: Universal
Publishers. 2007.
• Fitzgerald, Alan, Canberra in Two Centuries: A Pictorial
History. Torrens, Australian Capital Territory: Clareville Press.,
1987.
• Gibbney, Jim, Canberra 1913–1953. Canberra: Australian
Government Publishing Service., 1988.
• Gillespie, Lyall, Canberra 1820–1913. Canberra: Australian
Government Publishing Service., 1991.
• Growden, Greg, Jack Fingleton: The Man Who Stood Up To
Bradman. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin.,
2008.
• Sparke, Eric, Canberra 1954–1980. Canberra: Australian
Government Publishing Service, 1988.
• Vaisutis, Justine, Australia. Footscray, Victoria: Lonely Planet,
2009.
• Wigmore, Lionel, Canberra: History of Australia's National
Capital. Canberra: Dalton Publishing Company, 1971.
• The ACT Government webpage,
http://www.nationalcapital.gov.au/
• ACT Locate,
http://www.gim.act.gov.au/website/actlocate/Viewer.htm

136
 TYPE
BRASĺLIA
Urban Scale
New City
Brasília, Brazil Administration Complex
st
YEAR 1956~1960(1 Phase)
ARCHITECT Lúcio Costa, Oscar Niemeyer
AREA 5,802.0 km2
POPULATION 500,000(planned)
2,606,885(2009)
DENSITY 0.44 / ha
Brasília is the new capital of Brazil. In 1955 Brazil

decided to build a new capital because the old capital,

Rio de Janeiro, was surrounded by mountains and it

was too difficult to expand and develop the urban area.

The City of Brasília was planned and developed in 1956

with Lúcio Costa as the main urban planner and Oscar

Niemeyer as the main architect.

Pilot Plan

The design by Lúcio Costa was based on the modern

concept that an ideal city should be built through

centralized urban planning.

Fig. 101 | Master Plan of Brasília, Lúcio Costa

The underlying spirit of the plan was the Charte

d’Athènes by Le Corbusier that states the following four

139
elements:

First, residential areas should be located near nature

for clean air;
second, residential areas should be separated from
production facilities;
third, residential areas should have cultural facilities
nearby;
fourth, vehicle roads should be separated from
pedestrian walkways.

The basis of the city is a monumental axis, intersecting

in the center of the city with a residential axis. The

center of the city is located at this intersection, with

major facilities being located strategically throughout

the central area. The vertical axis of the city, which can

be compared to the fuselage of an airplane, is a 9km-

long green wooded area, along which are located the

city center facilities like the Praça dos Três Poderes (the

Plaza of the Three Powers), the government offices and

the cultural centers. On the horizontal axis, bent like

the wings of an airplane, are located the super blocks,

divided into neighborhoods. Each neighborhood is

supported independently of the others by their own

public schools, hospitals and other public facilities, as

well as stores and other commercial activities.

140
Fig. 102 | Monumental Axis

Limitation of Modern Planned City

After its construction, the city of Brasília had to face

several serious urban problems that were unforeseen.

The planned city for 500,000 people could not keep up

with the demand of housing, due to a sudden

concentration of population. In fact, the population of

Brasília has reached almost 2,000,000 people.

Besides, the high cost of living and the high prices of

housing and land have produced many satellite cities

around Brasília for the accommodation of the low-

income group.

75% of the jobs are in downtown Brasília, but only

300,000 people (15% of the city’s current population)

141
have been living in the housing complexes downtown.

This urban situation creates a serious traffic problem

between the center of the city and the surrounding

satellite cities. Moreover, the design of Brasília with its

center area dedicated to governmental and public

facilities resulted in an unintended problem; the area

becomes deserted every night when everyone goes

home.

Fig. 103 | View of Residential Area

One of the main concepts in the design of Brasília was

the segregation of pedestrians and vehicles. However,

wide streets for cars make the underpasses for

pedestrians to be long and dark. As a result, people

prefer crossing the wide streets endangering themselves

than using these underpasses. So in this case, the

segregation of pedestrians and vehicles works best for

142
the traffic of cars, and not for the safety of the

pedestrians.

Fig. 104 | Highways in the City of Brasília

As we can see, Brasília has shown the limitations of

modern urban planning: the lack of a human-centered

pedestrian system, chaotic satellite cities due to the lack

of an appropriate residential environment for multi-

social classes, and the lack of urban amenity for living.

However, Brasília, which was planned under the spirit

of modernism, is one of the most important cases in the

history of modern urban planning.

143
Bibliography

• Epstein, David G., Brasilia, Plan and Reality: A Study of

Planned and Spontaneous Urban Development,
Berkeley:University of Califonia Press, 1973.
• Holston, J., The Modernity City: An Anthropological Critique
of Brasilia, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and
London, 1989.
• Lanegran, D., Brasilia, Macalester College, Brasil, 1996.
• Brunn, Stanley D. and Williams, Jack F. Cities of The World.
New York:HarperCollins College Publishers, 1993.
• Shoumatoff, Alex. The Capital of Hope. New York:Coward,
McCann & Geoghegan, INC., 1980.
• Spade, Rupert. Oscar Niemeyer.New York:Simon and Schuster,
1971.
• Underwood, David. Oscar Niemeyer and Brazlian Free-Form
Modernism.New York:George Braziller, INC, 1994.
• Cornish, E. "Building Utopia," The Futurist July-August
(1991) pp 29-32.
• De Holanda, F. "Brasília: the Daily Invention of the City,"
Ekistics v56 n334-335 (1989) pp74-83.
• Farret, R.L. "The Justification of Brasília," Third World
Planning Review v5 n11 (1983) pp 137-148.
• Forster, Paul. "Capital of Dreams," Geographical Magazine
v58 n9 (1986) pp 462-467.
• Wright, C.L. and Turkienicz, B. "Brasília and the Ageing of
Modernism," Cities v5 n4 (1988) pp 347-364.
• The Brasília Government webpage,
http://www.brasilia.df.gov.br/

144
 TYPE Urban Scale
CHANDIGARH New City
The City Beautiful Administration Complex
Chandigarh, India YEAR 1953~1966
ARCHITECT Le Corbusier
AREA 114.0 km2
POPULATION 500,000(planned)
900,635(2001)
DENSITY 7.9 / ha
The city of Chandigarh by Le Corbusier represents the

realization of modern urban planning. Before the work

of Chandigarh, he designed many ideal cities, such as

‘Ville Contemporaine’, ‘ Plan Vosion de Paris’, ‘La ville

Radieuse’, ‘ Urbanisation a Algier’, etc. The master plan

for Chandigarh is his most complete urban plan

realized.

Chandigarh as the capital of the state of Punjab was

designed as a new administrative city to substitute the

old state capital of Lahore, which was left on the

Pakistani inside during the division of Pakistan and

India. Pandit Nehru, the prime minister of India, and

the central government decided politically to build a

new city in Punjab called Chandigarh. It was not only to

prevent emigration, but also to reorganize the local

community.

Fig. 105 | Master plan of Chandigarh, 1951.

147
For these political reasons Chandigarh was required to

be designed in a different way from the other

traditional Indian cities. It should be a perfectly

artificially planned city, the ‘temple of the New India’.

Basically, the master plan had to be achieved in two

phases, catering to a total population of half a million

people. Phase-I, consisting of 30 low density sectors

spread over an area of 9,000 acres (Sectors 1 to 30) for

150,000 people whereas Phase-II would consist of 17

considerably high density sectors (Sectors 31 to 47)

spread over an area of 6,000 acres for a population of

350,000.

Fig. 106 | Town Plan of Chandigarh, Le Corbusier, 1951.

In 1951, Le Corbusier designed the new Chandigarh

plan based on Mayer’s work. Using an orthogonal grid

he modified the urban structure of Mayer which had

148
divided the land by a curved road system. Le

Corbusier’s design created a monumental urban

landscape with the background of the Himalayas.

Le Corbusier conceived the master plan of Chandigarh

as analogous to the human body, with a clearly defined

head (the Capitol Complex, Sector 1), a heart (the City

Centre Sector-17), lungs (the leisure valley,

innumerable open spaces and green sectors), the

intellect (the cultural and educational institutions), the

circulatory system (the network of roads, the 7Vs) and

the viscera (the Industrial Area).

The anthropomorphic diagram (head, body, arms, spine,

stomach, etc.) of the new plan was accentuated by

major axial routes crossing towards the center; it

reverted more closely to the form of the Ville Radieuse.

But the elements making it up were quite different. The

skyscrapers of the technocrats were replaced by the

shelters of democracy at the head; the communal

medium-rise apartment houses of the main body were

replaced by a gradation of different house types

(eventually 14 in all) ranging from manual laborers at

the bottom social step, up to judges and high-level

bureaucrats at the top. There would be variants on

terrace houses and magnificent modern bungalows but

149
no high-rise buildings. Le Corbusier realized that his

usual housing models had a limited relevance for the

Indian city, a place where there was plenty of land and

where people were used to living half of the time

outside.

In the master plan of Chandigarh, Le Corbusier focused

in the administrative area called the Capital Complex. It

comprises three architectural masterpieces: the

"Secretariat,” the "High Court" and the "Legislative

Assembly,” separated by large piazzas. In the heart of

the Capital Complex stands the giant metallic sculpture

Fig. 107 | Open Hand of Chadigarh.
“The Open Hand,” the official emblem of Chandigarh,

signifying the city's credo of "open to given, open to

receive.”

Sector and Circulation System

The primary module of the city’s design is a Sector, a

neighborhood unit of 800 meters per 1,200 meters in

size. It is a self-sufficient unit, with shops, a school,

health centers and places of recreation and worship.

The population of a sector varies between 3,000 and

Fig. 108 | Layout Plan of a Sector
20,000 people, depending on the sizes of plots and the

topography of the area. The shops are located along the

150
V4 street (Shopping Street), which runs North-West to

South-East across the sector. Every sector is enclosed in

character and permits only 4 vehicular entries into its

interior.

The Shopping Street of each sector is linked to the

Shopping Street of the adjacent sectors thus forming

one long, continuous Shopping Street ribbon. The

central green area of each sector also stretches to the

green area of the next sector.

In terms of the circulation system, in his master plan Le

Corbusier basically followed Mayer’s lines. It was called

“Les Sept Voies de Circulation,” or 7Vs.

The sectors were organically linked to each other under

this road system. The 7Vs establish a hierarchy of traffic

circulation ranging from: arterial roads (V1), major

boulevards (V2) sector definers (V3), shopping streets

(V4), neighborhood streets (V5), access lanes (V6) and

pedestrian paths and cycle tracks (V7 and V8). The

essence of his plan for Chandigarh rests on preserving

intact the true functions of these seven types of roads.

Later on, a pathway for cyclists called V8 was added to

this circulation system.

151
Bibliography

 Colquhoun, A., Modernity and the Classical Tradition:

Architectural Essay 1980-1987, Cambridge(MA): The MIT
Press, 1991.
 Colquhoun, A., Essay in Architectural Criticism: Modern
Architecture and Historical Change, Cambridge(MA): The
MIT Press, 1981.
 Curtis, W., Le Corbusier: Ideas and Forms, New York,:
Phaidon Press, 1986.
 Evenson, Norma. Chandigarh. Berkeley, CA: University of
California Press, 1966.
 Foundation Le Corbusier ed., The Le Corbusier Archive, New
York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1982.
 Giedion, S., trans. Kim Kyongjun, Space and Form in
Architecture, Seoul: Time-Space Publishers, 1998.
 Joshi, Kiran. Documenting Chandigarh: The Indian
Architecture of Pierre Jeanneret, Edwin Maxwell Fry and
Jane Drew. Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing in association with
Chandigarh College of Architecture, 1999.
 Kalia, Ravi. Chandigarh: The Making of an Indian City. New
Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999.
 Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew. Chandigarh and Planning
Development in India, London: Journal of the Royal Society of
Arts, No.4948, 1 April 1955, Vol.CIII, pages 315-333. I. The
Plan, by E. Maxwell Fry, II. Housing, by Jane B. Drew.
 Nangia, Ashish. Re-locating Modernism: Chandigarh, Le
Corbusier and the Global Postcolonial. PhD Dissertation,
University of Washington, 2008.
 Perera, Nihal. "Contesting Visions: Hybridity, Liminality and
Authorship of the Chandigarh Plan" Planning Perspectives 19
(2004): 175-199
 Prakash, Vikramaditya. Chandigarh’s Le Corbusier: The
Struggle for Modernity in Postcolonial India. Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 2002.
 Sarin, Madhu. Urban Planning in the Third World: The
Chandigarh Experience. London: Mansell Publishing, 1982
 Official website of Chandigarh government,
http://chandigarh.gov.in/knowchd_general.htm

152
 TYPE Urban Scale
SEJONG CITY New City
Multifunctional Administrative City Administration Complex
Sejong, SOUTH KOREA YEAR 2005~2030
ARCHITECT MACCA
AREA 72.91 km2
POPULATION 500,000(planned)
DENSITY 0.68 / ha(planned)
Multifunctional Administrative City

As a first priority for the assessment for candidates for

the new administrative central city, the Yeongi and

Gongju region was selected. The location of this site for

the Sejong city has scored highly in categories such as

the effect on balanced development of the nation,

accessibility, impact on the natural environment and

natural conditions as the basis of livelihood. It has been

thought that the region has an effect on the national

union as well as a balanced national development.

Fig. 109 | Location and Accessibility

Fig. 110 | Aerial View of Site for Sejong City

155
Directions of Sejong City

Sejong city as a multifunctional administrative city of

Korea has two main aims: first, to build a city which

delivers a balanced national development and second,

to make a global model city.

For the city construction there are also four principles,

as follows:

01_Administrative self-sufficient complex city

- centripetal city for a balanced development of

the Korean territory
- attraction of various city functions
- quality public services

02_Human-oriented city comfortable to live in

- barrier-free city
- comfortable living
- safe from disasters

03_Clean eco-friendly city

- harmony between human-beings and the

environment
- improvement of cleanliness through the
management of water resources
- conservation of energy by recycling resources

04_A refined city of culture and resources

- establish the identity of the local culture

- presenting the unique city cultures
- embodiment of a ubiquitous city

156
Urban Functions

Centers for each urban function will be allocated evenly

along the ring-shaped urban development axis and will

be interconnected by public transport. Central green

land will be created as a public asset to symbolize the

importance of environmentally friendly development

and to increase sustainability of the city by preserving

its central area.

Six major urban functions including central

administration, cultural and international exchange,

municipal administration, universities and institutes,

health care and welfare and foundation of state-of-the-art

knowledge will be spread and allocated in accordance with

characteristics of the location.

Fig. 111 | Arrangement of Major City Function

157
 Tab. 9 | Six Major Urban Functions and Facilities

Function Specific Facilities Layout Principles

Locate with consideration of

Citizen-friendliness and
Central administrative efficiency.
12 government ministries,
Government
4 offices and 2 agencies
Administration The result of the international
contest will be reflected to the
central administrative town.

Culture museums, Develop in close connection

specialized theatres, with open space of the central
libraries, galleries park
Culture-
International
Exchange International exchange,
Plan to combine functions of
International conference
culture, operation, commerce
rooms, Hotel, Offices,
and international exchange
Shopping centers

The city hall and the city

council will be placed in the
City hall, City Council,
Municipal middle of Daepyeong garden in
Tax office, Educational
Administration the south of the Geum River
administration
and open to Wonsu Mountain
and Beehak Mountain

Locate universities on a hillock

facing a public transport
17 government- terminal
Universities
contributed research
and Institutes
institutes, Universities Public research centers will be
placed in the north-west from
Guewha Mountain

Medical complex will be built

in the entry area from
Cheongwon interchange
Health care General hospitals,
and Welfare Medical R&D
Nursing home for the aged will
be located on the coast of the
Miho Stream

Locate in the entry part

towards Osong station,
Publication, Screen, Cheongju Airport
Foundation of
Audio, Communication,
the State of the
Medical precision optical
Art Knowledge Build the state of the art
instrument
industry business center as a
gateway to the city

Population Plans

To secure competitiveness as a city and maintain its

self-sufficient function essential to a first class urban

life, its targeted population is 500,000 people.

A population distribution scenario was prepared based

158
on phased introductions of city functions, such as the

first village project, transfer of central administrative

organizations, knowledge-based industries, universities,

etc.

By dividing the city growth into 3 stages, such as an

early vital stage, self-sufficient mature stage, and

complete stage, the target population of 500,000 by

2030 will be distributed step by step.

In the early stage, a major population influx will be

driven by promotion policy and in a later stage, bigger

parts of the population influxes will be driven by self-

sufficient competitiveness of the city.

Three stages for the population distribution connected

to major urban functions and plans are shown below.

Category Contents Population

Completing transfer of the

Early Stage
central administrative
of Vitality 150,000
organizations and transferring
(2007~2015)
planned public organizations.

Self-sufficient Stage
Developing stage through self-
of Maturity 300,000
sufficient developing power.
(2016~2020)

Completing as a strategic city

Stage of Completion
for the balanced national 500,000
(2021~2030)
development

Tab. 10 | Estimated Population by Stages

159
Ring Shaped City Structure

Unlike the previous new city cases that were developed

into concentrated shapes, a ring shaped city structure

has considerably dispersed the city functions, enabling

the formation of democratic and balanced cities. The

concept of decentralization for the urban structure

should be an alternative urban system. It should

conceptually symbolize the direction of the urban

development in the 21st century. The central area of the

ring shaped structure is planned to be an open space to

be shared by citizens for resting and relaxation. The

spatial structure was conceived so that the influences in

developments can be minimized, and the potential of

nature environments can be used at its maximum.

A public-oriented city transport system is being

executed based on the frame of a ring shaped city.

Outskirt cycling roads are being planned to

complement public transport axes and accommodate

passing traffic, serving the role of main city roads.

160
Bibliography

• Master Plan for Construction of Multi-functional

Administrative City, Ministry of Construction &
Transportation, 2006.
• Development Planning for Multifunctional Administrative
City Construction, Multifunctional Administrative City
Construction Agency, 2006.
• Change of Development Planning for Multifunctional
Administrative City Construction, Multifunctional
Administrative City Construction Agency, 2010.
• Kim You-Jung. Ahn Kun-Hyuck, The Study for the
Administrative District Design of the Multifunctional
Administrative City in Korea, Urban Design Institute of Korea,
2006-Nov.
• MACCA official webpage, http://www.macc.go.kr/

161
 VI. DISTRICT

Mirato Mirai 21, Yokohama, Japan

Pudong New District, Shanghai, China

Sondo IBD, Incheon, South Korea

163
 TYPE District Scale
MINATO MIRAI 21 Regeneration City
Commercial Complex
Harbor Future 21 (みなとみらい21) YEAR 1983~2010
Yokohama, JAPAN ARCHITECT City of Yokohama
AREA 1.86 km2
POPULATION 190,000(planned)
DENSITY 102.15 / ha(planned)
Minato Mirai 21 (Harbor Future 21)

Minato Mirai 21 is a modern urban development that

was created, and continues to evolve, on 186ha of land.

A shipbuilding facility that used to divide Yokohama's

two main urban centers on Tokyo Bay was relocated,

and additional land was reclaimed from the sea. In

1989, an exposition was held to mark the 100th

anniversary of Yokohama's city status and the 130th

anniversary of the opening of the Yokohama Port.

Following that event, development gathered

momentum, and now the area boasts with office blocks,

commercial facilities, hotels, amusement parks and

convention centers, as well as cultural amenities such as

art museums and concert halls.

Fig. 112 | Over-all View of Minato Mirai 21

165
Prior to the Minato Mirai 21 project, Yokohama’s city

center was divided into two areas: the

Kannai/Isezakicho District and the Yokohama Station

Area District. Minato Mirai 21 District consolidates and

integrates these two areas and concentrates companies,

shopping centers and cultural facilities.

This development creates jobs and bustling recreational

areas for citizens, invigorates the local economy and

establishes an economic infrastructure that enhances

Yokohama’s self-sufficiency.

The introduction of wide areas of parkland and green

space, such as Rinko Park and Nippon-maru Memorial

Park, is creating a waterfront environment where

people can relax and enjoy themselves. The port also

houses a variety of international conference facilities

and central port administration services.

The Minato Mirai 21 project is designed to facilitate

decentralization of the official, commercial and

international conference function formerly

concentrated in Tokyo and to promote more balanced

metropolitan development.

These primary objectives of the project of Minato Mirai

21 were made of the three urban visions below:

166
 1. A Round-the-clock Cosmopolitan Cultural City
Pacifico Yokohama (Pacific Convention Plaza
Yokohama) integrates offices, cultural and
commercial facilities in proximity to urban
housing, enabling the area’s extensive
convention facilities to serve as a center for
cross-cultural exchange. A lively, appealing,
cosmopolitan city in tune with trends from
across the globe is emerging.

2. A 21st Century Information City

Minato Mirai 21 is an information city, buzzing
with a constant stream of economic and cultural
information. It is attracting a cluster of high-
tech, knowledge-intensive, global enterprises’
executive HQ and R&D operations, as well as
divisions of many government agencies.

3. An Inviting City Offering an Ample Waterfront,

Open Space and Heritage
Harmony between people and nature is
emphasized, highlighting the waterfront’s charm
and treasuring green spaces. Preserving the
Aka-Renga Soko (red brick warehouses) and
stone docks evoking Yokohama’s historical
heritage, Minato Mirai 21 forms a spacious city
environment framed by the sea and attractive
greenery, and steeped in historical ambience.

Fig. 113 | Skyline of Minato Mirai 21

167
Minato Mirai 21 makes use of its waterfront location

with numerous green spaces linked by promenades to

showcase the special features of the waterside

environment. Including Grand Mall Park at the heart of

the Central District, a green network covering the whole

of Minato Mirai 21 is taking shape.

Planning Principles and Urban Development

Approach

The Minato Mirai 21 project has been strategically

designed to offer an esthetically superb cityscape with

broad public appeal. Building on the advantages of a

waterfront location and the distinctive character of the

Central and Shinko Districts, city planning concepts

and approaches have been chosen to create urban

spaces where citizens can work comfortably, relax and

have fun through leisure activities and shopping, and

enjoy a secure, prosperous lifestyle.

The objective of Minato Mirai 21 is to create a busy,

attractive area that also offers employment to local

citizens. Under the City Planning Law, the entire area is

designed as a commercial area.

168
 1. CENTRAL DISTRICT
In 1988, the basic Agreement on Town
Development under Minato Mirai 21 was signed
between Central District landowners and other
parties. The aim was for landowners to take the
initiative in formulating rules for urban
development, and then to share this basic
philosophy in order to achieve balanced
development. The agreement covers themes for
urban development, vision for land use, and the
following matters:

• Water and greenery

• Skyline, streetscapes and vistas
• Shared space
(active placement of public art, etc.)
• Activities floors
• Color schemes and outdoor advertising
• Car and bicycle parks

With regard to building, it sets standards for

minimum site scale, height, pedestrian networks
and setback of exterior walls. In addition, it
stipulates the urban management systems
needed for advanced information services,
disaster prevention, environmental support, and
for smooth integration with adjoining urban
districts.

The aim is to improve the urban landscape in

accordance with rules outlined in the landscape
Plan under the Landscape Act and the Urban
landscape Conference Zone in the Ordinance
Governing the Creation of an Attractive Urban
Landscape in Yokohama City. The basic topic
heading are:

• Activity floors
• Pedestrian spaces
• Shared spaces
• Car parks

169
 • Bicycle parks
• Associated facilities, etc.
• Color schemes
• Night-time lights
• Architectural design
• Skyline
• Roadside landscape
• Billboards, etc.

2. SHINKO DISTRICT
The Shinko District connects Minato Mirai 21’s
Central District with the Kannai-Yamashita
District, whose history stretches back to the
earliest days of Yokohama’s port. The Shinko
District was first development in the early 20th
century to house Japan’s first modern port.

Landmark structures like the Aka-Renga Soko

(red brick warehouses) and stone pavements still
attest to this legacy. While carefully preserving
its historical monuments and port scenery, the
Shinko District is being upgraded with facilities
to support its port-related businesses and open
spaces to make the most of the tranquil
waterfront setting.

The Shinko District has many distinctive

features, from its numerous preserved historical
landmarks to its island geography. Therefore, in
contrast with the intensive land use and
futuristic concept seen in the Central District,
the Shinko District is pursuing a more relaxed
streetscape that evokes the port and its history
with the following themes:
• Port Scenes and Historical Heritage
The historical legacy of a pioneering
modern port combined with the unique feel
of an island.

• Linking Up the Good Life

The fresh, new Minato Mirai 21 Center
District connected with the historical

170
 Kannai-Yamashita District.

• From Port to Portal

A portal for people and information to flow
through and interact productively.

Bibliography

• Yokohama Minato Mirai 21 Corporation, Minatomirai21

Information, vol.81, 2010
• Yang Eun-Kyung, Oh Deog-Seong, Choi Jun-Sung, A Study on
the case of Urban Regeneration on the District of Minato
Mirai 21 in Japan: focus on the Development System and
Design Code, Korea Planners Association, 2008.
• Cho Nam-Geon, Minato Mirai 21 in Planning and Policy,
vol.157:pp.48~51, Korea Research Institute for Human
Settlements, November, 1994.
• Official website of Yokohama Minato Mirai 21 Corporation,
http://www.minatomirai21.com/
• Official website of Yokohama City’s Urban Division,
http://www.city.yokohama.jp/

171
 TYPE District Scale
PUDONG New City
Shanghai, CHINA Business Complex
YEAR 1986~2010
ARCHITECT Shanghai Government
AREA 1,210.4 km2
POPULATION 3,187,400 (2000)
DENSITY 2.63/ ha(2009)
Pudong New Area

Since China’s reforming and opening in 1978, China has

carried out this experiment in Shenzhen, Guangdong

province and Zhuhai, Special Economic Zone. Since

1990, based on those experiences, the site for the policy

simulation on reforming and opening has been

expanded to the delta of the Yangtze River and

Shanghai, where an important center of the Chinese

economy lies. China has confirmed the strategy for the

development of Pudong New Area as the basis for its

national economic growth. Especially, Lujiazui’s

financial Trade Center area was developed as a key

district.

Fig. 114 | Pudong New Area

174
Urban Morphological Planning

The main direction for the master plan was to create a

symbol for Pudong’s development and new key-district

on the Shanghai’s construction axis, running east-west.

This symbol was the construction of Pudong New Area

as the strategy of urban marketing for external opening

and foreign investment.

The plan for the Pudong New Area is based on the

District plan of Lujiazui, established by the Shanghai

Municipal Government in 1986. It focused on making

an exceptional urban environment through the

harmonization between green systems and the urban

form as framework. It was not only to connect water

and green, architecture and environment, history and

future, but also to arrange the elements for the urban

image.

Accordingly, the form and height of high-rise buildings

was controlled, relating to the landscape of the

Huangpu River, and all urban districts were divided

into 5 sub-areas, each one with its own function and its

relative independence.

The five sub-areas are: Waigaiqiao-Gaoqiao,

Qingningsi-Jinqiao, Lujiazui-Huamu, Zhoujiadu-Liuli

175
and Beicai-Zhangjiang.

Fig. 115 | Urban Design of Lujiazui Financial and Trade Zone

Fig. 116 | Comprehensive sub-area in Pudong New Area

176
Comprehen Planned Planned
Area Key Development Area
sive Sub- Location Function
of Sub-area
area (㎢) (㎢)

Facing the Bund, on the

Tertiary-section
Lujizui- other side of the Hangpu Liujiazui finance &
industry(finance, trade, 30 5.47
Huamu River, the central part of trade zone
tourism, information)
Pudong

At the estuary of the

Waigaoqiao- Free trade, energy and Waigaoqiao
Yangtze River, the north 62 10
Gaoqiao petrol-chemical industry free-trade zone
part of Pudong.

Export processing
Qingningsi- Between the above two industry(shipping, Jinqiao export
33 19
Jinqiao sub-area. mechanism, instrument, processing zone
electricity, etc.)

Beicai- Zhangjiang
The middle part of Pudong Hi-Tech industry 27 17
Zhangjiang Hi-tech park

Zhoujiadu- Te west part of Pudong Iron, building material

35
Liuli area etc. residential

Tab. 13 | Comprehensive sub-area and key development zone

The area for Pudong financial trade center is 28km2.

The central area of it is 1.7km2 and the total planning

building floor area is 4km2. 66% of the total planning

building floor area was designed for offices.

Especially considering the urban landscape, the

building height was gradually lowered from the CBD

(Central Business District) to the riverside. This allowed

the connection of the view of most of the buildings and

the view from across the Huangpu River, called Waitan.

The buildings along the street were positioned with

rhythm, while the pedestrian’s roads were planned as a

continuation of the building’s activities.

177
Fig. 117 | Over-all View of Pudong District

Transportation Network

Regarding the traffic system, the connection between

the Pudong area and the Puxi area was strongly

coupled: Nanpu Bridge (1991), Yangpu Bridge (1993),

Xupu Bridge (1996), Lupu Bridge (2002), Double-

tracked Yan'an Rd. Tunnel, Dalian Rd. Tunnel, running

North-South, Fuxing Rd. Tunnel, Waihuan Tunnel, one

part of Shanghai Outer Ring Express. Two new tunnels

linking Lujiazui to Puxi are also being constructed.

Besides, the luxury cruise ships and car carriers are

meant to strengthen links with public transportation

routes.

In terms of the traffic system for the inner district, it

was planned with the type “田” based on the ring road

178
which turned to the key district outside. For the

dispersion of traffic it allocated the facilities for

pedestrians on the river around, while the facilities for

vehicles were allocated in the high-rise building area

and the key-district. The flow of people in metro

stations and transportation transfer points was

dispersed through 3-dimentional circulation system

with overpass brides and underground passages.

Bibliography

• 中國城市規劃設計硏究院, 建設部城鄕規劃司,
城市規劃資料集, 中國建築工業出版社, 2002.9.
• 中國城市規學會, 城市中心區與新建區規劃,
中國建築工業出版社, 2003.1.
• Tang Jianzhong, The planning and developing of Pudong New
Area, Area Research and Development 3, 1994.
• Yawei Chen, Shanghai Pudong: Urban development in an era
of global-local interaction, Delf university of Technology Press,
2007.
• Tang Jianzhong et al, Pudong, epitome of the East Great
Dragon, Geographical Knowledge 1, 1993.
• Yao Xitang, Pudong : Facing to the 21 century, Shanghai
People’s Press House, 1995.
• Zhao Qizhen, New Era, New Pudong, Fudan University Publish
House, 1994.
• Yu Yong-Wan, Im Cheol-Hee, Lee Dong-Bae, A study on the
Characteristic of Urban Planning System in China-the detailed
District Controlled Plan, Architectural Institute of Korea,
Vol.21.6, 2005.
• Image of Shanghai, China Intercontinental Press, 2000.
• Pudong Government official webpage,
http://english.pudong.gov.cn/
• Shanghai Government official webpage,
http://www.shanghai.gov.cn

179
 TYPE District Scale
SONGDO IBD New City
Incheon, SOUTH KOREA Business Complex
YEAR 2003~2015
ARCHITECT Kohn Pedersen Fox
AREA 6.1 km2
POPULATION 65,000 (planned for residents)
300,000 (planned for commuters)
DENSITY 10.66 / ha (planned)
Songdo IBD

(Songdo International Business District)

Songdo IBD is being developed on 1,500 acres (6 km²)

of reclaimed land in South Korea along Incheon's

waterfront, 40 miles (65 km) from Seoul and just 7.4

miles (12.3 km) from Incheon International Fig. 118| Location of Songdo IBD

Airport. Developed by Gale International and Korea's

POSCO E&C, this master-planned metropolis is a

model of sustainable, city-scale development and

innovation.

The first phase of the new international city opened in

Fig. 119| Mand-made Island
August 2009. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, an

international architectural practice recognized for

design excellence and innovation in their buildings

throughout the world, the 100 million square foot

master plan includes 45 million square feet of office

space, 30 million square feet of residential space, 10

million square feet of retail, 5 million square feet of

hotel space and 10 million square feet of public space.

When fully completed in 2015, Songdo IBD will be

home to 65,000 people and 300,000 will work there.

Songdo IBD will offer every conceivable amenity

including a world-class hospital, an international

preparatory school, a 100-acre Central Park, a 1.1

million square foot premium retail mall and a

182
championship 18-hole golf course, the Jack Nicklaus

Golf Club Korea.

This new metropolis will be connected to the Incheon

International Airport, one of the world’s busiest, by a

7.4 mile highway bridge, and linked by subway to Seoul

and its surrounding suburbs.

Fig. 120 | Over-all View of Songdo IBD

Traffic System

New Songdo City vehicular circulation is modeled on

the Manhattan’s grid of streets and avenues that evenly

distributes the traffic across the entire area of the city.

One major difference is the absence of one-way streets,

which are not accepted in Korean practice. The major

vehicular arteries circulate around the outside of the

grid to allow for express movement across longer

distances. A subway connects New Songdo City to the

city of Incheon, allowing transfer to the Seoul subway

183
system and to the new airport high speed rail system. In

Songdo, it stops along Park Avenue at the intersections

with streets leading into business and residential

districts and towards the Convention Center. Water

taxis run from the waterfront through the Central Park

with stops at the Cultural Center, the City Hall, and the

city museum. The route branches out into the

residential part of town, along the North and South

canals. Bus routes form a loop around the perimeter of

the city, reaching more remote parts of town, the golf

village and the North end. Bike lanes link the open

green spaces, the waterfront park, the golf village, the

park path, and the Central Park.

Land Use

The Central Business District of Songdo IBD is

envisioned as a lively urban core rivaling other great

international cities. The district’s high-rise commercial

towers, which sit along the main arterial road

connecting Songdo IBD to the Incheon International

Airport, anchor the city with a high-density urban

center. The neighborhoods of the city extend out from

both sides of this center and afford opportunities to

incrementally decrease the intensity of activity. Mixed-

use projects and lower scale commercial development

184
buffer the outlying residential neighborhoods. The

transition of land use from high-rise commercial to

mid-rise commercial/residential to low-rise

residential/amenity is designed to produce a vibrant

urban environment. This diminishing density of use is

echoed in the skyline, which takes the form of a tent

that peaks along the central axis.

Waterfront and Canals

Open Green Area

Commercial Area

Retail Area
Fig. 121 | Land-Use and Programs

185
Core Design Goals

Six specific areas comprise an aggressive strategy to

develop one of the most sustainable cities in the world.

Central to the development of Songdo IBD’s

sustainability strategy were the following

considerations:

1. Open and Green Space

• Songdo IBD has been designated with 40% open
space – 600 acres – to maximize the connection to
nature within the city for residents, workers and
visitors.
• A 100 acre Central Park is the city’s centerpiece –
further highlighting the commitment to providing
open and green space.
• All blocks connect pedestrians to open space,
walking/biking corridors and public gathering areas.
• Open spaces and public gathering areas are
arranged to optimize access to sunlight, views and
open sky.
• Native or adapted species shall be utilized
throughout the development. High water demand
plants will be minimized or eliminated from
landscape designs.

Fig. 122 | View of Lake Park in Songdo

186
 2. Transportation
• Incheon subway line will run through the center of
Songdo IBD. Expanded Incheon City bus service
will enhance the easy access to surrounding areas.
• A 25 km network of bicycle lanes within Songdo
IBD facilitates safe, carbon-free transportation.
• 5% of parking capacity within each project block
will be set aside for fuel-efficient and low-emitting
vehicles. Office and commercial blocks will reserve
an additional 5% of parking capacity for carpool
vehicles.
• Parking is primarily located underground or under
a canopy to minimize the urban heat island effect
and maximize pedestrian-oriented open space
above ground.
• Infrastructure for electrical vehicle charging
stations will be integrated into parking garage
designs to facilitate the transition to low emissions
transportation.

3. Water Consumption, Storage and Re-use

• The Central Park canal uses seawater instead of
fresh water, saving thousands of liters of potable
water per day.
• Irrigation-based potable water use will target a
90% reduction versus international baseline,
reduced through the use of efficient landscape
design, water-saving irrigation systems, reclaimed
stormwater and re-use of treated greywater from a
city-wide central system.
• Potable water consumption in plumbing fixtures
will target a 20-40% reduction based on the use
type of the project.
187
 • Stormwater runoff will be reused to the maximum
extent possible give the project’s climate zone and
annual rainfall pattern.
• Vegetated green roofs will reduce stormwater
runoff, mitigate the urban heat island effect and
promote biodiversity and species habitat
preservation.

4. Carbon Emissions and Energy Use

• All NSIC, LLC projects will be built to or above
ASHRAE standards – an internationally-
recognized benchmark of design quality. These
guidelines will create comfortable, energy efficient
buildings.
• A central, city-wide co-generation facility fueled by
natural gas will provide clean power and hot water
to the project. Energy efficient LED traffic lights
and energy efficient pumps and motors are
planned for installation throughout Songdo IBD.
• A centralized pneumatic waste collection system
will be installed to collect wet and dry waste,
eliminating the need for waste removal vehicles.

5. Material Flows and Recycling

• 75% of construction waste is targeted to be
recycled.
• Recycled materials and locally
produced/manufactured materials will be utilized
to the maximum extent possible.
• Some projects will realize a Portland cement
reduction of 20% or more through the utilization
of fly ash-content concrete.
• Low-VOC materials will be incorporated into all

188
 buildings.

6. Sustainable City Operations

• Sustainable procurement goals and recycling
guidelines will be integrated into the operation
structure of the city through the facilities
management digital interface.
• Facilities management and maintenance contracts
will mandate environmentally friendly (low/zero
VOC, EcoLabel, Good Recycled designations or
equivalent) products.
• Smoking will be prohibited in public areas and
office building except for specially designated
areas.

Bibliography

• Master Plan of Songdo IBD, Incheon City Government,

2000.July.
• Landscape Plan of SongdoDistrict in Incheon Free Economic
Zone, Incheon City Government, 2000.Jan.
• AA, New Songdo Green City,Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates,
2009.
• Songdo Official webpage, http://www.songdo.com/
• Incheon City Official webpage, http://www.incheon.go.kr/
• KPF official webpage, http://www.incheon.go.kr/

189
 VII. SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Masdar, Abu Dahbi, UAE

191
 TYPE Self-Sufficience
MASDAR New City
Zero Carbon City Sustainability
Masdar, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES YEAR 2003~2025
ARCHITECT Foster+Partners
AREA 5.5 km2
POPULATION 85,000 (planned)
DENSITY 1.35 / ha
Masdar City as Zero Carbon City

Masdar City is designed to be a new model for future

urban development. The challenging sustainability

targets set for the city will not be addressed solely as a

technical exercise, but rather as a careful consideration

of all the needs of an urban development.

The principles of the master plan for Masdar city

consist of the 7 key-points listed below:

01. Achieving a carbon neutral and zero waste to

landfill development and clean technology

cluster with a minimum ecological footprint.

02. Implementing renewable energy technology

within the framework of a carefully balanced

energy supply and demand matrix.

Fig. 123 | Accessibility; Public Transportation 2030

193
 03. Ensuring a consistent urban development

within the master plan framework, especially at

the pedestrian level.

04. Ensuring a building environment that

encourages pedestrian movement by optimizing

the microclimate of the street.

05. Creating a car-free development with public

transport in close proximity.

06. Creating a true mixed use development that

supports a vibrant community and

neighborhood’s life with which the inhabitants

of the city feel connected and engaged.

07. Encouraging a change in living and thinking

that supports the Masdar vision.

The Masdar site is approximately 5.5km2. The

development is divided into 6 phases, with

development phases 1 to 5 in the big square and

development phase 6 in the small square.

Development Phase 1 is further subdivided into a series

of neighborhoods. Urgent construction activity is

currently focused on the Masdar Institute and the

Masdar HQ and key building within their respective

neighborhoods.

194
Fig. 124 | Aerial view of Masdar City

195
Land Use and Circulation

The two squares of Masdar are subdivided into

development plots. Plot Boundaries and coordinates are

located on the plot specification sheets. Each plot has

been allocated a number of datasets that describe the

permissible development: GFA, height above podium,

land use, and required PV output.

The master plan enforced the idea of enlarging the

ground floor activity of the buildings to the public street

space. Every retail space is permitted and encouraged

to use the adjoining external space as display or café

seating areas.

In Development Phase 1 there are two poles: the

Masdar Institute and the Masdar HQ, which act as

development catalysts for their respective

neighborhoods.

The clean technology cluster is also arranged around

the Masdar Institute and along the spine. Light industry

is located on the perimeter of the city. Some residential

space is mixed with commercial areas to ensure that

those areas are activated beyond working hours.

Masdar provides a wide range of amenities within the

city. They include educational facilities, such as the

196
Masdar Institute of Technology, Kindergartens and

primary/secondary schools, Health related services

(general practitioners, specialists, and mini-clinics),

cultural and social facilities, such as libraries,

performance spaces and community facilities, and

religious worship facilities in the form of mosques and

prayer rooms.

The space requirements for these elements vary

considerably and while some of these functions can

operate in the confines of normal building stock, uses

such as the mosques and schools require a particular

building typology that also gives them the necessary

prominence in the city fabric.

Fig. 125 | Ground Floor Uses in Development Phase 1

197
Transportation

The driving principle for the transportation strategy is

to design a city around the people’s needs and not

around the needs of the car. This enhances walking as

the primary mode of movement and encourages the

creation of a human friendly and safe environment. The

quality of space principles and the functional

requirements of the transportation system have been

evenly balanced.

Masdar looks for a direct relationship between human

beings and urban spaces rather than a man-car-space

relation, where the car stands between man and the

living space.

In developing all the mobility and transportation

elements, the primary target is to embody the vision of

the Masdar project to further the use and development

of emerging clean technologies, and to also create a

carbon-neutral internal transportation system and to

enhance the overall sustainability of the project.

The internal zero-emission mobility strategy is based on

enhancing pedestrian mobility as the primary mode of

transport for internal movements within Masdar.

It has been decided to ban the entrance of all external

198
vehicles to Masdar, except in case of an emergency

response, and to replace them with an emission-free

and carbon-neutral transport system.

Masdar’s accessibility strategy strongly relies on the

presence and growth of public transport. To be fully

sustainable, internal mobility strategy also needs to be

part of a general sustainable city planning approach to

Transportation. Once the master plan and the

transportation network are fully developed, it is

assumed as a goal that 45% of commuters will use

public transport to access the site. This means that out

of a total of 47,400 commuters per day, 21,330 will

access Masdar using public transport.

Fig. 126 | Section of Headquarters in Masdar City

Open Spaces and Landscape

With a car-free public area, Masdar’s approach to the

design of public spaces responds directly to the needs of

the person.

199
The spatial design of the entire city is based on the

human scale. Narrow streets with overhanging floors

create shaded walkways, amenities are carefully sited in

close proximity to their users and public transport

nodes are reachable in two minutes walk from any

location in the city.

Within the city, Masdar’s public area serves to integrate

the varied functions of the city. The public spaces and

their interfaces with the plots need to be friendly to the

mobility impaired, barrier free and without curbs. They

provide access to the open, green spaces at the center of

Masdar.

By encouraging a mix of visitors and residents, the

public area seeks to prevent mono-functional shopping

streets, residential ghettos, and isolated office parks.

Masdar’s public spaces are to be designed for

continuous, 24-hour-a-day use. They are to be

comfortable and safe for pedestrians, they are to

suggest a wide array of possible uses: walking,

gathering, relaxing, and celebrating. They are to allow

for a mix of large and small-scale outdoor environments

like movie screenings, as well as comfortable places to

read a newspaper.

The Linear Parks are aligned to catch the afternoon

200
Northwest and night time East wind. The middle

section is arranged approximately perpendicular to the

weaker evening and morning winds. As a result, higher

wind speeds will be observed along the Linear Parks,

contributing to the thermal comfort strategy for the city.

Outer areas will be used as a testing ground. Large scale

applications of sustainable technologies will be installed

in the surroundings to support the city.

It will not only serve as recreation spaces but will also

be used as education, public interaction and public art.

Fig. 127 | Master Plan with Landscape

201
Renewable Resources

Masdar is a city that is a model for future urban

developments that pioneers the latest technology in

sustainable energy generation and conservation.

The adoption of a number of renewable energy

production technologies is envisaged: photovoltaic,

concentrating solar power, solar thermal collectors,

Fig. 128 | City Plaza Daytime

waste to energy system, geothermal energy, etc. Some

of these technologies will be integral with the building

designs- others will be located in the surrounding

landscape beyond the city edge.

Fig. 129 | Section of City Plaza

202
Bibliography

• Masdar City, The world’s first carbon-neutral city, Estri UK,

2009.
• Mahesh Basabtani, Plans for Foster’s MAsdar Carbon Neutral
City Debut, in Inhabitat, 2008. June.
• Nicolai Ouroussoff, Critic’s Notebook; Blueprints for the
Mideast: In Arabian Desert, a Sustainable City Rises, Walled
and Lofty in New York Times, 2010. Sepetmber 26.
• Masdar City Official webpage, http://www.masdarcity.ae/
• Masdar Initiative Official webpage, http://www.masdar.ae/
• Foster+Partener official webpage,
http://www.fosterandpartners.com/

203
So far, 8 major cities have been investigated to

analyze the characteristics of idealistic urban

planning. The following examples depict a

comprehensive summary of the subjects

investigated.

These urban scale case studies best illustrate the

changes in characteristics of an ideal urban

planning from early modern times up to the

present. In addition, in terms of new urban

planning, it shows physical types of conceptual

idealistic urban planning by periodical timelines

for new administrative cities for several nations.

Typical idealistic city types can be found in ACT

Australia as the garden city; E. Howard’s Brasilia,

Brazil and New Capital Chandigarh, India are

205
representative of idealistic modern cities based on

Le Corbusier’s system of zoning and grid system

as key elements for urban planning.

Lastly, Sejong City can be viewed as a new concept

for the 21st century’s new city planning in which

‘Decentralization’ has become a reality.

Thus, it has become one of the solutions to the

question of “what is an idealistic city” in terms of

urban planning for the past century and many of

previous theories of ideal city have tried to verify

those challenges. In addition, through the above

mentioned case studies, one can see that the

political, social, and cultural elements of each time

period brought about various idealistic urban

typologies in accordance with each time period.

However, through these case studies the foremost

important issue that needs close attention is the

effectiveness and limitations of cities that are

based on idealistic urban theories.

Typically, the urban theories were created based

on social requirements and necessities of its

corresponding time periods as well as possibilities

for the future. The idealistic cities are reflected in

these urban theories which have become a kind of

206
predictions into the future of urban society.

It can be noticed that the actual phenomenon that

arose after the creation of these planned cities was

in conflict with the plans and as a result created

many problems for these cities.

For instance, Chandigarh was designed to support

a population of 500,000 people. However, in the

year 2001 the population has reached over

900,000 people, which has led to the inevitable

expansion of its urban infrastructure and physical

conformation.

In addition, the population of the administrative

city of Brasilia, which could support a population

of up to 500,000 people, was estimated around

2.6 million people by the 2009 census.

The planning during development did not account

for such issues which have led to the creation of

ghettos in the vicinity of the city boundaries to

accommodate this increase of the population.

Also, the fact that the planning of its urban

infrastructure set for monumentality and

vehicular purposes, did not consider the

relationship of scale at the level of humans, which

has led to the becoming of a city without people,

thus suggesting limitations of planning that can

207
define the difference between idealistic urban

theories and reality.

Currently under construction, Sejong City, has the

same goal in developing a new administrative city

as any other urban planning seen throughout

history, and it can be viewed as an effort to

overcome apparent problems and issues in the

past and simultaneously an effort to creating a

new urban culture. Garden city’s eco-friendly

and futuristic urban spaces for various urban

typologies implements a RING type of urban

structure. In addition, the short construction

period of the modern idealistic cities and the

construction by phase approach can be seen as a

means to solve apparent problems in the past.

Secondly, the characteristics of urban planning at

a regional level lies in the existing conditions of

the surroundings. This can be divided largely into

two parts. First is the urban renewal plan for the

development of the existing city. The other is the

new urban planning for exploring future

possibilities.

Yokohoma’s plan for Mirato Mirai 21 focuses on

eliminating the centralization of urban facilities

208
within Tokyo which simultaneously delivers a

balanced urban development to revitalize

waterfront spaces in the port city of Yokohoma.

In terms of the development method, Yokohoma

city has devised a plan to create modernized urban

spaces through accommodation of existing

traditional urban spatial organization. The

historical buildings that have formed the

traditional streetscapes have been renovated to

accommodate changes in building usage. The plan

also incorporates developments of high-rise

buildings for modern office spaces and

commercial spaces and shopping malls to be

integrated into the traditional urban fabric which

includes urban amenity spaces. In contrast, the

Pudong region in the city of Shangai was planned

as an international special economic zone for East

Asia’s revitalization of international trade.

Accordingly, in terms of the development scheme,

the plan focused on the development of new towns

rather than the redevelopment of old towns.

In fact, many of Pudong region’s architectural

buildings advocate futuristic urban improvements

of the 21st century and the main commercial

regions are formed by high-rise buildings.

209
Seen from across the river, the Pudong region

resembles that of futuristic cities seen in Sci-Fi

movies. This can be seen as an extension of the

characteristics of urban planning for the current

developing countries.

Songdo IBD New City has the same development

background as Pudong’s goal for a new urban

development. However, the characteristics

shown in the planning does not indicate a zoning

plan which is considered as a key element in

modern urban planning, but rather suggests a

combination of city blocks that are formed by

diversified mutually coexisting urban programs.

In addition, with regards to the developmental

methods, the plan incorporates the incremental

method in response to changes in the surrounding

infrastructures and in the environment. This is a

differentiating factor that can be clearly seen at

Shanghai’s Pudong New Town Plan.

Finally, it can be said that one of the major

characteristics in the 21st century’s urban planning

is the sustainable city. The goal of Masdar’s plan is

to become a low carbon emission (zero CO2) city.

If it can be said that urban planning of the 20th

210
century was used as a tool (the hardware) to

measure the economical and technological

advancements, then it can be said that the greatest

feature of urban planning seen in Masdar is that

the plan is concerned about the people and the

environment. The technology and economic issues

in the 21st century’s urban planning will act as the

software regarding the urban amenities, just as

the technology and economic issues acted as the

hardware in the 20th century urban planning.

It proposes a direction in which the urban

architectural planning should aim at in the 21st

century.

Multiple case studies examined in the preliminary

investigation show that the urban renewal for the

21st century aims to create an eco-friendly city

through the use of modern technology.

Hafen City, in Hamburg, Germany, is another

good example. This eco-intelligent city, by using

eco-friendly technology, is the image of the 21st

century idealistic city.

The characteristics of modern urban planning

seen through the comparative analysis of these

case studies can be divided into the following two

211
categories.

The first is to make or propose the idealistic city,

which should work as the essential concept in the

realization of urban planning. Even if it is

perceived as a Dystopian or Heterotopian city, the

essence of the urban plan can be the demand of

time in which to create a utopian society for the

people.

In addition, many urban theories suggest its role

is considered as a decisive factor in urban

planning.

In fact, many of the 20th century theories of

modern urban planning have accommodated

urban planning for the 21st century which has

become a reality.

No-Stop city by Archizoom or Urban typology

proposed by Superstudio in the 1970’s suggest

that technological advancement in the 21st century

have been implemented in part. In addition,

interpretations of the city by Kevin Lynch or by

Rem Koolhaas can be viewed as alternative

measures of the 21st century urban typologies that

have partly become a reality.

Second, it can be viewed that urban planning

acknowledges the gradual expansion of temporal

212
and territorial scope which at the same time

undergoes gradual diminishment of such

limitations.

Urban Plans from early 20th century have

overcome such aspects through stages of physical

expansion of the city and/or through integration

of new urban infrastructure within the existing

city. In contrast, from early developmental stages

of the planning, the urban plans from the late 20th

century to early 21st century have incorporated

modifiable plans that can adapt to the future

needs. It can be seen that the development of such

planning has accelerated due in part to technology,

especially through the advancement in the

communications technology. The city has

become physically more compact, but nevertheless

the scope of the city is at a larger global level.

213
 PART - III

VIII. Principles for Ideal Urban-Architecture

IX. Conclusion

214
VIII. Principles of Ideal Urban-

Architecture

Historically, the city as the symbol of civilization

has been unfolding along with the change of

paradigm in policy, society, and culture. The

structural change in urban-architecture is

normally constructed in the complex relating to

many different factors. For this reason, when we

look over the history of urban-architecture, it

takes a long time to be realized as a physical

phenomenon in real society. However, there are

some directions to progress in each period. In the

history of urban-architecture those directions

used to meet with the historical turning points. It

means that the new society requires a new

direction for urban-architecture. And it is usually

represented with the images of ideal cities based

on the philosophy of utopia.

215
In fact, the utopian thought derives from the

criticism of the problematic conditions of reality.

And people try to innovate or reform the reality of

that particular time through the ideal urban-

architecture. As a result of this, it has significant

influence, not only on the function and the form of

units for housing but also on the artificial

environments and structures in the urban-

architecture.

The ideal city as a physical expression of utopian

society has some regular principles to construct a

new social and cultural paradigm with a material

and a spatial place. And these constructive

principles should be viewed as frames for the

planning of an ideal urban-architecture.

Therefore, this study started from the

investigation on the concept of utopia in the field

of urban-architecture. It is based on the theories

and practices on the ideal city in history. Then, I

analyzed some representative proposals and

master plans for ideal cities through different time

periods. It was carried out to understand the

characteristics of the ideal urban-architecture

chronologically.

216
To define the concept of utopia and the ideal

society through different time periods, I

investigated the processes of the urban-

architectural developments from the Renaissance

until the end of the 20th century.

As a result, there are some principles that play

important roles in the concepts of the ideal urban-

architecture.

Most of these principles have not been realized in

the cities. Some ideas for urban systems have

failed as a result, and some predictions have been

completely wrong. However, seeing urban-

architecture in a broad perspective, they have

been used as a key-reference for new ideal urban-

planning continuously, and not just for one or two

decades. Actually, they repeatedly have appeared

in the process of constructing the ideal urban-

architecture in other periods of time.

Hence, it is possible to draw common constructive

principles, which have worked for the ideal urban-

architecture, from the analysis of the flow of

urban-planning in history.

Until now, I have analyzed the flow of the ideal

urban plans by periods, not only theoretically, but

also practically.

217
As a result of this research, I could draw the

concept of the ideal city with three principles:

Perception, Compression and Technology.

As a conclusion of this study I analyzed and

summarize the concept of the ideal urban-

architecture towards the 21st century under three

constructive principles.

These three constructive principles are defined as

follows:

VIII.1 Perception: utopian thought

Perception is closely related to the utopian

thought. The concept of utopia is composed by

complex factors on each period of time. And the

utopian spirit is valid on each of these periods.

However, the phenomenon of utopian thought

has physically different aspects in each period

and it has been illustrated in certain geometry.

In terms of geometric systems for the ideal

urban-architecture, it has been symbolically

transformed from square figures to regular

polygon figures up to the Baroque.

The ideal city in ancient Greece was formed by a

grid system. This grid system has been applied

in many urban plans through history. It has

218
been built in American modern cities. And the

modern utopian concept has been realized in

Brasilia and Chandigarh. The ideal city in the

Renaissance period has unfolded as the palace

city in the Baroque.

As above, the utopian thought in urban-

architecture has concretized as the image for the

future and it is partly realized or modified over

time. But what is significant in the concept of

utopia is the spirit that is fundamental to revolve,

or sometimes evolve, reality.

As I mentioned in chapter II, the thought of utopia

starts from the criticism of reality. When the

present society starts being viewed as a dystopia,

filled with disorder and chaos, people start to

draw an imaginary society which doesn’t exist in

this world. It is a very natural behavior in the long

line of human history.

The thought of utopia, hence, usually has an echo

on the future. Over time, people begin attempting

to bring to reality this ideal society based on the

thought of utopia. The ideal cities in history are

the physical images of utopia. In a simple way,

imagination is just the beginning of utopia in

urban-architecture. And that kind of imagination

219
is perception on the new spirit of the time.

New perception, it doesn’t matter if it is positive

or negative, criticizes reality and plays an

important role in the creation of a utopian society.

In this case, reality is normally considered as a

negative condition: Dystopia, while the imagined

world is usually considered as a positive

condition: Utopia. However, both of them are

based on the new perception of reality.

In the 19th century, reality was surrounded by

many negative social environments, caused by the

Industrial Revolution, such as pollution in the

industrial areas, excessive labor, a poor working-

class population, and poor condition of the

dwellings for workers, etc. The Utopian

community and the Garden City as the ideal city

began as a critic on those miserable social

conditions. At the same time, they were

considered as a longing for a better society. It was

the result of the perception of this phenomenon of

the society in that time. People wanted to live

around nature, while being in the city to work.

The Garden City by E. Howard and the Master

Plan ACT for Canberra, Australia, were both

affected by this idea.

220
In the early 20th century, ‘La Città Nuova’ of

Sant’Elia and several other ideal cities from Le

Corbusier were also caused by a new perception of

reality: the Industrial City.

The fast speed of urbanization occurred through

the massive influx of population from the rural

areas to the cities. And the urban environments

were getting worse and disordered, due to the

amount of factories, and the shortage of housing,

natural light, fresh air, and green areas.

Consequently, people imagined the city where

they wanted to live in as full of amenities. The

result of people’s imagination was designed with

zoning systems in the urban structure, and

housing in high-rise buildings with many green

areas.

This modern paradigm progressed until the

middle of the 20th century. Actually, Brasília, by

Lúcio Costa, and Chandigarh, by Le Corbusier,

have both been planned under this modern urban-

architectural theory.

Since the middle of the 20th century, the

development of modern technology extended its

boundary. It also stimulated the range of

perception and led the new ideal city for that time.

221
Modernist urban-architecture in the early 20th

century considered the city as some sort of mass-

production. And these characteristics of

Modernism have automatically created the

monotonous and homogeneous cities. To

overcome this depersonalized urban-architecture,

architects imagined new types of urban-

architectural systems, such as the moving city, or

the floating city. This sort of ideal cities changed

the point of view on the city. Mobility and

compactness were the new perception for urban-

architecture. “The Spatial City” by Yona Friedman,

and “Walking City” by Archigram, were both

representative structures for that kind of urban-

architecture. People who live in these cities can

change their environments without reforming

their urban infrastructure; they just need to move

where they would like to live in.

Meanwhile, in “Non-Stop City” by Archizoom, and

in “Generic City” by Rem Koolhaas, perception on

the city was different from before. They just

needed to add, mix, or eliminate what society

required, or not, instead of reforming society. It is

based on the necessities of reality. The ideal

222
urban-architecture of that time was just

complexity, diversity, and uncertainty, instead of

some ideal thought for the city. In contrast, the

ideal city should be easy to reform if necessary.

This new perception of the city life guided some

master plans for new contemporary cities.

Decentralization as a urban form in Sejong city

and the mixed zoning system in Songdo IBD are

good examples.

Moreover, the master plan for Masdar by Norman

Foster shows a city with zero carbon emissions. It

is also an example for a new perception on a

contemporary city.

As we can see, in the historical process of the ideal

urban-architecture, perception of reality has led

the direction of the ideal urban-architecture. And

perception has changed dynamically relying on

the different time periods. The urban-

architectural point of view referred to as

‘perception’, however, is always based on the

possibility of the reality. Perception is based on

real experiences, or at least imaginable

experiences. And it is one of the constructive

principles of the ideal urban-architecture.

223
VIII.2 Compression: time and space

Time and space are very significant factors as

indexes in the ideal urban-architecture, based

on the utopian thought. They are consequently

related with people’s new experiences and new

perceptions.

Compression of time and space physically

influences the urban form in the construction of

the ideal urban-architecture.

Before the 18th century, the meaning of space

was “placeness” and the meaning of time was

“territorialization”. It represented the enclosing

figures of geometrical forms in terms of the

shape of the urban structure. Later on, in the

19th century, the meaning of time was a relative

factor due to the appearance of the railroads. It

caused a change in the meaning of time and

space. “Connection” was more important than

“territorialization”. It required a new form of

urban-architecture: the extension to the outside,

rather than the enclosure.

And in the early 20th century the meaning of

space changed to “integration” based on the

high-rise buildings and zoning in the partition

of urban space. Nature as a urban element was

224
brought inside the city. The distance between

the city and nature was shorter than before.

After that, in the middle and at the end of the

20th century, the meaning of time and space

changed into “mobility” and “instant”. The

structure and form of the city was just like a

machine itself. In other words, the shape of the

city was not important anymore. The operation

system functionally became the city itself. The

city could move places and change urban

environments instantly.

The meaning of time and space has

continuously transformed again in the late 20th

century. “Mobility” for time has been turned

into “synchronization” and “instant” for space

has become “invisibility”. These changes also

brought the change of urban-architecture in

terms of the point of view and also of the urban

structures. The size and the form of the city is

not a key for the construction of the ideal

urban-architecture. It can be big and small, or

physical and non-physical at the same time.

All of these evolutions of the ideal urban-

architecture are based on different meanings of

time and space. Analyzing the flux of the meaning

225
of time and space there appears the question of

“Compression”. The form and structure for the

ideal urban-architecture has been dynamically

transforming in relation to the level of this

compression of time and space.

Since the 19th century, the fundamental motif for

the ideal cities is to overcome time and space in

people’s daily life. The progress of the ability to

overcome time and space has rapidly affected the

perception of the society. Then, it has also played

a key role in the construction of the ideal urban-

architecture.

The railroad in the 19th century, the car and the

airplane in the early 20th century, and the

computer information-communication at the

middle-late 20th century, have brought new

experiences in terms of the meaning of time and

space. In fact, they rebuilt the relationship

between time and space. And it has required a new

type of physical urban structure and shape for the

ideal urban-architecture.

For example, horizontally, the railroad made the

boundary of the city to expand, and the car

brought a grid system as an urban structure

system. Meanwhile, vertically there were high-rise

226
buildings and the hanging city.

The former is a case of the integrated space

through the compression of the time between the

urban and the rural; the latter is a case of the

integrated time through the compression of space,

overlapped floor to floor. La Ville Contemporaine

by Le Corbusier shows well the compression of

space and time between urban and nature.

The progress of mobility and virtual reality in the

late 20th century is a trial to accelerate the

compression of time and space at the same time.

Sejong City will be a high-compression city in

terms of space and time. It breaks the function of

the capital city. Usually, the capital city has all of

the national administrative functions due to the

effectiveness of the time factor. But Sejong City is

not the capital city but the administrative city of

South Korea, while the capital city, Seoul, will be

just a representative city with a few Ministries.

Even if the two cities are far from each other, they

can be synchronized in terms of national

administration. It can be a new way of

compression of space and time. Geographic

location in the 21st century will not be as

important as before.

227
As we can see, the history of the ideal place in

urban-architecture is the history of the

compression of time and space physically. It

usually happens together with the extension of the

perceptional experience and the progress of

technology. Hence, compression is one of the

constructive principles of the ideal urban-

architecture.

VIII.3 Technology: tool

Historically, technology has been a key factor as a

tool in the process of the flux in the ideal urban-

architecture.

It worked together with the other two principles:

Perception and Compression. It accelerated the

compression of time and space and renewed the

perception on time and space at the same time. In

other words, the boundaries of imagination for

utopia should be extended.

The ideal urban-architecture in history has

progressed in a series of these processes. It usually

pursues a place out of time and space from the

reality. For this reason, utopia in urban-

architecture is not an absolute concept but a

228
relative and dynamic concept. Moreover, new

technology pushes utopian thought further due to

their inter-relationship.

Since the 19th century the speed of innovation in

technology has progressed with an astonishing

velocity. In terms of people’s daily life, most of the

new technologies have brought the liberation from

limitations. In fact, the technology of the steam

engine caused the automation system in the field

of industry and it gave people freedom from

natural time and labors. Besides, the progress of

transportation: train, steamship, car, airplane, etc.,

also accelerated the speed of the compression of

time and space in the 19th and in the early 20th

century.

Meanwhile, the progress of information and

communication has brought the concept of

synchronization and the virtual world into our

daily lives. They have brought freedom into our

physical world.

Thanks to these new technologies, people can have

new experiences in terms of time and space and

the boundary of perception has been getting wider

and deeper at the same time. These changes in the

daily life continuously make people draw

229
something out of reality. And this imagination

reflects into the image of the ideal city in the way

of urban shapes, urban structures, building types,

functions, programs, and sometimes systems for

infrastructure.

In the early 20th century, “La citta’ nuova” by

Sant’Elia, or the ideal cities by Le Corbusier, have

been the representative cases of the ideal urban-

architecture regarding the new meaning of

transport and the new construction technology.

Cars and reinforced concrete have been applied as

key-elements to build the image of the ideal

urban-architecture. Furthermore, the information

network technology is the key element in many of

the proposals of the competition for the New

Multi-Functional Administrative City. As we can

see, technology will be an important factor for

planning in urban-architecture. It used to be

applied as a tool, but the value of technology in the

ideal city should be equal to the other principles of

the ideal city. Hence, technology is also one of the

constructive principles of the ideal urban-

architecture.

*****

As has been mentioned above, the ideal urban-

230
architecture makes progress under the

constructive principles, even though their

characteristics are different in each period. In

other words, the constructive principles

significantly influence the construction of the ideal

urban-architecture under the spirit of utopia.

Therefore, these constructive principles are a

useful frame to draw the concept of the

construction of the ideal urban-architecture in the

21st century.

In the next chapter the phenomena of the 21st

century are analyzed categorizing them in three

principles. And the contents of these three

constructive principles will be the new image of

the ideal city of the 21st century. They will be also

keys for new urban forms and structures as a

symbiotic relationship.

231
IX. Conclusion

IX.1 Perception of the 21st century Ideal

City

1) Glurbanisation71:
Integration of Globalization and Urbanization

A transition to the society of the 21st century is

taking place through means such as the

advancement of science and technology, the

setting of high-speed IT networks, the formation

of transnational production and division of labor

networks, the increase in cultural desires and

cultural capitals, the fragmentation and

globalization of cultural capital, and the

dissemination of civil awareness on a global scale.

This is profoundly reorganizing the spatial

71
Combination of globalization and urbanization, B. Jessop.

232
dimension of society. Spatially-speaking, the

loosing of the state-centered social system

destroys the fixed nature of life formed on a

national scale. It creates a state where the

relationships of life are formed flexibly on diverse

scales ranging from local to global. In this process,

the space called a city is merely one in a series of

multilayered scales that are opened by the

interactions of globalization-localization, yet it

acts as a means to converge and at the same time

disseminate the flows on a global scale and the

flows on a local scale. Sassen, who calls for the

‘Global City’, said that a large city in the era of

globalization was like a pin that fixes the flows of

globalization and localization.

2) Division of Urban Society

Globalization of cities creates occupations and

new job categories in the cities. New occupations

provided by globalization in the cities provide

employment opportunities mostly to those with

higher education or with advanced skills and

knowledge. Thus, population groups having

occupations related to globalization received

relatively higher wages and emerged as a class

233
that occupies the upper echelons in consumption

and leisure activities. On the other hand,

population groups that work for activities

unrelated to globalization have relatively insecure

employment status and lower income. In terms of

consumption and leisure, these activities have a

relatively inferior status. The world’s largest cities

leading globalization today already display such

tendencies. Population groups working for

international business rapidly emerge as a new

high class in urban society, whereas population

groups excluded from such business descend into

the lower part of urban society comprehensively,

leading to the emergence of a new social issue of

‘division or bipolarization of urban society’.

3) Urbanization of Culture

The competitive industry of the 21st century is

predicted to be the so-called culture industry, in

which such elements as information, knowledge

and aesthetics are produced and consumed as

products. In the past, the manufacturing industry

mass-produced standardized products through

advancements in the input of production elements

and efficient organization of labor, resulting in the

234
mass consumption of the products. On the other

hand, the culture industry views aesthetic and

knowledge elements as a source of creating added

value and puts them through a creative and

flexible production process to manufacture

individual products that are consumed in a coded

sense. The culture industry can be said to be a

result of conditions to industrialize post-modern

culture, amid the dissemination of the so-called

post-modern culture, such as the formation of a

consumption identity, a gradual increase in

cultural desires, a development of the press and

visual media, a commercialization of performing

arts, and a formation of transnational

consumption distribution networks, to be

transformed into a new industry. Such conditions

are easily obtained and nurtured, mostly in large

cities. This is already being witnessed in leading

global cities of today. In other words, in everyday

life in cities, the consumption of cultural products

with coded meanings is on the rise and the city

identity or the cultural codes in human

relationships are penetrated more strongly than

ever. As consumption of cultural products

increases and various facilities and buildings for

235
such purpose fill the urban spaces, cities are

transformed into a glittering cultural landscape.

In addition, urban policy centers on the so-called

cultural regeneration strategies that are designed

to enhance the cultural competitiveness of cities,

so interests surrounding them dominate the urban

political process. Such changes in which everyday

relationships and the space of cities are

restructured and enacted in cultural meanings are

called ‘urbanization of culture’ and it is evident

that such tendencies will be further accelerated in

the 21st century.

4) Ungovernable Cities:
utility and participation emerging as issues

Cities in the 21st century are very likely to make

systematic management and control of them

difficult. If management of cities is realized

through political relations among people living in

them and their institutionalization, the social

composition of future cities is likely to be formed

through fragmented and post-material, yet

symbolic rules and meaning systems, rather than

through social agreement or by the democratic

principles of the past. Accordingly, establishing

consensus and norms for the governing of cities

236
grows more difficult. Moreover, as urban activities

get more complex, the demand for urban

governance soars, yet it cannot be effectively

responded to with limited institutional means.

Such cities are called ‘ungovernable cities’.

Ungovernable cities are a phenomenon that

appears when the utility of cities is weakened as a

result of fragmented and individualized interests

and relationships of urban people and they are

absorbed into a huge system as passive players.

However, ironically, such situations stimulate

peoples’ awareness that cities should be changed

into something more human. Therefore, it is likely

that in the cities of the 21st century questions of

how to realize utility and citizen participation will

emerge as a key issue in urban governance.

IX.2 Compression for the 21st century Ideal

City

1) Decentralization

As globalization accelerates, the existing

governance structure centering on the nation-state

has been surprisingly loosening or transformed.

237
The social process in the era of globalization

involves the expansion of political and economic

activities on a global scale and at the same time

involves the reestablishment of everyday’s

relationships in the form of local places or in local

context. Under these circumstances, ‘fragmented

politics’ or ‘sub-politics’, are replacing the existing

political bodies or state politics. On the other hand,

along with these trends, in social relationships as

well, modes centering on decentralized and

fractional individual values, meanings and

symbolism are becoming more common than

those focusing on traditional conventions, ethics,

rules and class-oriented hierarchical order or

hierarchy.

2) Networked and the Fractal City

Concentration of flow activities is predicted to

profoundly change the spatial structure of cities.

The spatial structures of modern cities were

organized in a way in which activities with high

productivity and activities with low productivity

are located in a hierarchical manner with central

office districts at their centre and there were strict

divisions among different activities. On the other

238
hand, the space of the city where activities of flow

are concentrated is decentralized and created in

the form of an interwoven network with joints of

broadband networks resembling the Milky Way.

The process of space containing network

relationships among individualized joints is

continuously deriving from similar patterns

internally leading to the emergence of the city with

fractal structure where the central part repetitively

resembles the whole. The growth of the fractal city

signifies that the traditional urban space system is

becoming outdated. Therefore, traffic systems in

cities are changing from concentrated, wide-area

traffic networks centering on highways, to

distributed wide-area traffic systems centering on

circular networks by district.

3) Concentration and Intensification

As social changes occur in the 21st century through

means such as globalization, informatization and

market opening, associated activities are likely to

be concentrated mainly on large cities. Such

activities tend to be linked more closely to a global

flow (a concept of ‘flow’) rather than fixating on

regions or places in a country (a concept of ‘stock’).

239
Because of this, cities in the 21st century have

closer exchanges with cities outside the country

rather than local cities and to this end, city

governments competitively provide large, high-

tech infrastructure such as hub airports, teleports,

free economic zones, and amenity facilities for

foreigners. Such infrastructure is designed to give

advantages to city governments competing with

cities in other countries over hosting headquarters

or branch offices of multinational companies,

international business services, overseas talent,

financial capital and global events. Transnational

networks among cities create the flow of

globalization, yet their operation is mediated by

competition among cities over hosting leading

areas in the global arena. Competition among

cities results in competitive area among global

activities concentrated in specific large cities. As a

result, concentration in large cities in the era of

globalization and opening results in widened gaps

between large city zones and non-city zones in a

country and emergence of transnational

hierarchical structures among large city zones on

an international level.

240
4) Global Competition Action
as a Mechanism for Dominant Social Control

The most crucial aspect among changes being

experienced by modern society is a phenomenon

where state-centered political and economical

systems are rapidly disintegrating or being

restructured. This is a result and a condition at the

same time for accelerated globalization where

transnational interactions increase, which is a

phenomenon taking place globally.

Changes being experienced by state-centered

modern society are occurring in a multi-faceted

way. First of all, the dominant force that had

moved and comprised society used to be capital or

power in the past, yet they are being replaced by

the post-material and discourse-like forces, such

as information and knowledge, under which the

composition of society itself is changing into

something more flexible and open. As the

production-distribution, the consumption system

as a mode of survival has started to disappear, the

material foundation (particularly accumulation

system) of modern society, which is based on

territories, has become no longer viable.

Meanwhile, due to globalization of the

consumption process, everyday relationships are

241
more closely linked to global product distribution

networks. In this process, reproduction of life is

expanding beyond the borders of individual

countries and being integrated into multinational

capital. Owing to such global changes, global

competition is acting as a mechanism for today’s

dominant social adjustment.

IX.3 Technology of the 21st century Ideal

City

1) City of Flow

External appearance changes of cities are

predicted to be accomplished by internal changes

and the most important aspect among them is the

advances in technology, which are the product

structure of cities. Traditional cities grew and

performed specific functions, centering on

production and trade of products, whereas cities

in the 21st century will develop with activities to

mediate, control and facilitate the flow of

production and distribution. For instance, service

industries such as IT, software and finance, will

control the flow of the real economy and the

culture industry such as arts, performances and

242
tourism will become the mainstream economic

activities of cities and create characteristics of

urban societies.

Such economic activities, which are leading

globalization, have characteristics of ‘industries of

flow (e.g. IT industry, tourism industry, and

finance industry)’. Spatially speaking, facilities

and functions which will correspond to joints

among the infrastructure of information

technology that will support such ‘industries of

flow’ physically and technologically will be

established in the form of key physical facilities of

cities and they will include intelligent buildings,

teleports, broadband networks, and electronic

control networks. A city equipped with such

infrastructure which facilities the fluidity of cities

is called a ‘city of flow’.

2) Network Society

The weakened institutionalization of modern

society is further accelerated by trends where

communication in cyber space, which is external

to today’s material space and is created by the

utilization of cyber technology, is replacing

everyday relationships. In other words, cyber

243
space formed by electronic and IT networks is

creating a fundamental realignment of the system,

which has been limited to material and

institutionalized space, into surreal or supra-

spatial flows. A new society controlled by the logic

of flows, relationships of flows and the force of

such flows is called a ‘Network Society’ by

Castells 72 . This is a new concept that defines

several characteristics of the future society, which

is often dubbed as the information society, the

post-industrial society, or the post modern society.

72
According to Castells, networks constitute the new social
morphology of our societies. The definition of a network
society is a society where the key social structures and
activities are organized around electronically processed
information networks. The diffusion of a networking logic
substantially modifies the operation and outcomes in the
processes of production, experience, power, and culture.

244
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