New Urbanism

The International Modern Movement produced, for the most part, buildings that were free-standing and unrelated to their contexts. The bits of urban space (see sloap) left by the rigidities of Modernist architecture could never be made into urban spaces that meant anything or had any qualities except an ability to dismay those who experienced them. Five thousand years of urban history demonstrate that the complex relationships of streets, squares, parks, monuments, buildings, etc., not only form means of communication, but help identification and orientation, giving the urban fabric a sense of character and place. Traditional urban blocks, mixed uses, and a coherent, literate, architectural language were promoted by the New Urbanists as an antidote to the unpleasant, inhumane, and incoherent environments that were the direct result of the work of devotees of the Athens Charter, CIAM, Le Corbusier, etc. Among the promoters of New Urbanism the Krier Brothers, Duany & Plater-Zyberk, John Simpson, Rossi, and Porphyrios, among others, may be cited.

Bibliography

• Kelbaugh (2002)
• R. Krier (1979, 1995, 2003)
• L. Krier & Pavan (1980)
• Papadakis & Watson (eds.) (1990)

The full bibliography for this book is available to download as a pdf file.
Download the bibliography for A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (PDF: 1.2MB)