The Contemporary City (1922)
In 1922 Le Corbusier designed a ‘Contemporary City’ to inhabit three million people. Although the plan was never actually implemented, the ideas put forward by Le Corbusier have played a key role in the way that city planners think about urban space. One of the main concepts of the contemporary city was to build vertically, to allow traffic to flow more freely and provide space for planted areas. Influenced by Ebenezer Howard’s book Garden Cities of Tomorrow (1902), Le Corbusier was convinced that green space was essential to create a tranquil atmosphere and offset the strain of urban living; 'we must bridge the gap between man and his city by introducing a mean that fits in to both scales... we must plant trees!' (Le Corbusier, 1922:96). This was key to the development of the ‘Radiant City’.
The Radiant City (1935)
In 1935 Le Corbusier updated his plan for the Contemporary City and renamed it the ‘Radiant City’. The main difference between the two plans stems from Le Corbusier’s growing determination 'to give city dwellers a more pleasant and efficient environment to live in.' He suggested the elimination of suburban garden cities, which waste time due to the necessity to commute, and instead to bring nature within the city boundaries by building multi-storey apartment blocks with green space and trees surrounding them at ground level. This was put in to practice on a relatively small scale with the building of ‘Unité d'Habitation’ in Marseille, France, which has since been widely praised (Hall, 2002).
In 1922 Le Corbusier designed a ‘Contemporary City’ to inhabit three million people. Although the plan was never actually implemented, the ideas put forward by Le Corbusier have played a key role in the way that city planners think about urban space. One of the main concepts of the contemporary city was to build vertically, to allow traffic to flow more freely and provide space for planted areas. Influenced by Ebenezer Howard’s book Garden Cities of Tomorrow (1902), Le Corbusier was convinced that green space was essential to create a tranquil atmosphere and offset the strain of urban living; 'we must bridge the gap between man and his city by introducing a mean that fits in to both scales... we must plant trees!' (Le Corbusier, 1922:96). This was key to the development of the ‘Radiant City’.
The Radiant City (1935)
In 1935 Le Corbusier updated his plan for the Contemporary City and renamed it the ‘Radiant City’. The main difference between the two plans stems from Le Corbusier’s growing determination 'to give city dwellers a more pleasant and efficient environment to live in.' He suggested the elimination of suburban garden cities, which waste time due to the necessity to commute, and instead to bring nature within the city boundaries by building multi-storey apartment blocks with green space and trees surrounding them at ground level. This was put in to practice on a relatively small scale with the building of ‘Unité d'Habitation’ in Marseille, France, which has since been widely praised (Hall, 2002).