Wolfgang Sonne Book order

In the writing of urban design history of the 20th century functionalist and avant-garde models of the dissolution of the city are dominating. In contrast this book presents projects whose goal is the ideal of a dense and urbane city. Drawing on plans, built examples and theories of dense and urbane cities and city districts in the 20th century, modern examples of urban design are analyzed and highlighted which until now have been evaluated more as fringe phenomena. These include examples characterized by functional mixture, social openness, spatially defined public spaces, urban architecture, historical reference and a cultural understanding of the city. The book’s new evaluation of modern urban design history creates opportunities for current planning by offering best-practice models which better reflect the striving for urbanity and density.

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