Städtebau als kulturelle Praxis

The development of urban planning theory in the 1920s and early 1930s was characterized – not only in Germany – by the idea that the contemporary city had to face new tasks and challenges that could only be solved with the help of scientific knowledge. A new concept of purposes and functions replaced the talk of needs that had been common until World War I and led to the model of a “functional city.
The fundamental notion of a need for reform in urban planning practice in the early 20th century made the urban planner and architect a reformer with the task of raising the cultural level of everyday life and architecture. Social reform and aesthetic reform are equally part of this mission. The fact that these were not just isolated individuals, but that numerous urban planners of the Weimar Republic shared this attitude, both theoretically and practically, sheds new light on the history of urban planning of this period, which until now has been strongly characterized by the study of avant-garde or – in contrast – conservative to National Socialist attitudes in the political sense.
With its convincing structure, scholarly precision, and clear argumentation, the study is suited to reopen the discussion of urban planning theory in the 1920s.