The Power of Past Greatness

1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-3-86922-205-9
Verlag: DOM Publishers

Buch, Englisch, 192 Seiten, Format (B × H): 240 mm x 300 mm

Reihe: Schriften des Bauhaus-Instituts für Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur und Planung der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

The redevelopment of historical centres became an important policy field in the era of European dictatorships following the First World War. At that time historical centres were regarded as shabby and as tarnishing the desired image of a magnificent new city, of a showcase of the dictatorship. This led to the widespread demolition of older buildings. Historical streets and squares disappeared and were replaced by new apartments and workplaces for the loyal middle classes, by car-friendly roads and ostentatious new buildings. Nevertheless, the redevelopment of historical centres did not exclusively mean the eradication of the ‘old town’. The aim of the dictatorship in many cases was also the preservation, and often the cultic display, of historical testimonials to past greatness.
The book presents examples of the redevelopment of historical centres in Mussolini’s Italy (Rome, Brescia, Bologna, Naples), in Stalin’s Soviet Union (Moscow), in Hitler’s Germany (Berlin), in Salazar’s Portugal (Lisbon, Évora, Óbidos) and in Franco’s Spain (Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Santillana del Mar). These are followed by a brief summary of the history of the redevelopment of historical centres in Europe. This volume represents the very first attempt to identify the commonalities and differences in the redevelopment of historical centres in dictatorships in Europe in the first half of the 20th century.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bodenschatz, Harald

von Oppen, Christian

Ott, Steffen

Post, Christiane

Sassi, Piero

Welch Guerra, Max

Über Autor(innen)

Bodenschatz, Harald
Prof. Dr. Harald Bodenschatz, *1946, town planner and social scientist; from 1995 to 2011 University Professor for the Sociology of Planning and Architecture, Technical
University (TU), Berlin; now Associate Professor at the Center for Metropolitan Studies, TU Berlin, and member of the Bauhaus Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture and Planning, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Research projects and publications on urban development, including urban development in the dictatorships in Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the Soviet Union.

Welch Guerra, Max
Prof. Dr. Max Welch Guerra, *1956, political and planning scientist; since 2003 University Professor for Spatial Planning and Spatial Research, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar; director of the Bauhaus Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture and Planning; head of the degree programmes B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Urbanism. Project director of the international research association urbanHist (History of European Urbanism in the 20th Century). Research projects and publications on the area of tension between spatial planning and politics, and on urban development and urban planning in the dictatorships in Germany, Portugal and Spain.