Architecture — Choice or Fate
“Exactly like an individual who has reached maturity, a “mature” city cannot grow bigger or spread out (vertically or horizontally) without losing its essential quality. Just like a family of individuals, a city can grow only by reproduction and multiplication, that is, by becoming polycentric and polynuclear.” — Léon Krier
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In this book, Léon Krier provides new and refreshing concepts for urban development while also advocating for a resurgence of traditional architecture. This work deals with a great number of architectural concepts and contains well-developed critiques of the modernist ideology, but the focus here will be primarily on what is written about urban development and public infrastructure.
One of the most important ideas presented is that of the organic expansion of cities through duplication. What frequently happens in metropolises is a vertical and horizontal overexpansion: A small core is filled with skyscrapers creating an unhealthy and expensive hyper density, while the periphery turns into suburbs with very low densities of buildings and activities, forcing its residents to waste hours weekly commuting to the urban center.
Another problem identified in current cities is that of mono-functional zoning, which imposes a mechanical segregation of urban functions. This “anti-city” of monocentric conurbation wastes society’ land, energy and time, and is the cause of many social and ecological problems.
A city, as Léon says, should instead be able to organically integrate itself through a variable number of complete urban communities. He advocates for a polycentric reorganization of cities, with “cities within the city”, that is, cities made of autonomous urban quarters and villages, in which a citizen’s weekly destinations are in walking distance. Growth by duplication, not hypertrophy.
This strategy could be implemented by abrogating functional zoning practices, radically redrafting land use plans, and revising urban development programs. In the author’s view, this would end up both developing the suburbs and relieving the real estate pressure on current urban centers.
Lastly, Léon gives plenty of advice on a wide variety of topics concerning the drafting of masterplans and the design of urban communities. From the implementation of a polycentric zoning of functions to the effective regulation of building heights, from the ideal relative quantity of public space to the use of artificial lighting, the Luxembourgian architect has well-developed thoughts on everything city-related, and his New Urbanism should definitely be studied by any city looking to become a better place to live in.
The book is made of 7 chapters, which first define architectural concepts, the topics of modernity and modernism in architecture, then criticize the former while also demonstrating prospects for a new urbanism and a contemporary resurgence of traditional architecture.
Creators of zones and societies will find in chapters 5 and 6 concrete advice on designing harmonic, polycentric cities and how traditional architecture can be applied in a modern city to its benefit.
Policymakers and analysts should refer to chapters 3 and 4 for a devastating critique of the architectural modernism and for the new ways of thinking urbanization that is laid out therein.
Scholars and experts can read chapters 1, 2 and 7 for explanations of aspects of modernity, architectural definitions, the need for a resurgence of crafts, and on how to evaluate the real cost of buildings.
The book can be found here.
Written by: Francisco Litvay
