DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13852#0127
THE CITY.
79
Indeed, modern city planning cannot draw its best forms from the
ancients, for to-day there is the growing demand for expansion, for free cir-
culation, and for the security of the life and property of vast numbers of
people, who need protection less against the enemy outside their walls than
against those within, which, in the form of disease and immorality, ravage
populations. Modern planners of cities have the task of creating new beauties
adapted to the changed conditions.
One may be sure that great progress will be made. The tendency of
the present is to consider city planning more and more from a scientific point
of view. Soon it will undoubtedly be treated as an absolute science. Already
the sympathies of men and women who understand the requirements of life,
have been awakened, and the mind of thinkers has been turned towards pro-
viding for the needs of the great masses of people who are attracted in ever
larger numbers towards the centres of civilisation. The amount of cubic
space, hygienically proportionate to the needs of the people both in and out
of doors, free access to public baths, laundries, hospitals, churches, theatres,
lecture halls and markets according to popular needs, all the various spaces
necessary for human rest and relaxation, are considerations that in the last
few years have been acknowledged by the world.
That the sections of a city be laid out according to the employment of
the people living therein appears more and more to be desirable in order that
these may, to the greatest extent possible find their requirements met. In
the present day, it is no longer a question of erecting a group of palatial resi-
dences for an elect few only, but of providing means that the whole popula-
tion may enjoy light, air, opportunities for natural recreation, and all the
conveniences which facilitate their activities. For every individual life seeks
expression, and surroundings are often a determining force in the expression
which it will give.
It is with these considerations in view, that this City, planned to house
the population which would naturally be attracted to an international World
Centre, was arranged in the following manner.
As will be seen by referring to the general plan, the Tower of Progress,
rising in the midst of the Congress Square, forms the heart of both Interna-
tional Centre and City. Long avenues radiating from it in all directions,
connect every part of the latter with the monumental group. This last, as
was noted in the first chapter, is divided from the residential, business and
industrial quarters by a broad canal surrounding it on three sides and traversed
by bridges.
The adjacent city is divided into zones, each containing several sections
or quarters. These zones are likewise separated from one another by broad
belts of water. The outermost of these forms a wide, navigable canal,
connecting the sea with the inland basins for commerce, which lie at the
further extremity of the town.
79
Indeed, modern city planning cannot draw its best forms from the
ancients, for to-day there is the growing demand for expansion, for free cir-
culation, and for the security of the life and property of vast numbers of
people, who need protection less against the enemy outside their walls than
against those within, which, in the form of disease and immorality, ravage
populations. Modern planners of cities have the task of creating new beauties
adapted to the changed conditions.
One may be sure that great progress will be made. The tendency of
the present is to consider city planning more and more from a scientific point
of view. Soon it will undoubtedly be treated as an absolute science. Already
the sympathies of men and women who understand the requirements of life,
have been awakened, and the mind of thinkers has been turned towards pro-
viding for the needs of the great masses of people who are attracted in ever
larger numbers towards the centres of civilisation. The amount of cubic
space, hygienically proportionate to the needs of the people both in and out
of doors, free access to public baths, laundries, hospitals, churches, theatres,
lecture halls and markets according to popular needs, all the various spaces
necessary for human rest and relaxation, are considerations that in the last
few years have been acknowledged by the world.
That the sections of a city be laid out according to the employment of
the people living therein appears more and more to be desirable in order that
these may, to the greatest extent possible find their requirements met. In
the present day, it is no longer a question of erecting a group of palatial resi-
dences for an elect few only, but of providing means that the whole popula-
tion may enjoy light, air, opportunities for natural recreation, and all the
conveniences which facilitate their activities. For every individual life seeks
expression, and surroundings are often a determining force in the expression
which it will give.
It is with these considerations in view, that this City, planned to house
the population which would naturally be attracted to an international World
Centre, was arranged in the following manner.
As will be seen by referring to the general plan, the Tower of Progress,
rising in the midst of the Congress Square, forms the heart of both Interna-
tional Centre and City. Long avenues radiating from it in all directions,
connect every part of the latter with the monumental group. This last, as
was noted in the first chapter, is divided from the residential, business and
industrial quarters by a broad canal surrounding it on three sides and traversed
by bridges.
The adjacent city is divided into zones, each containing several sections
or quarters. These zones are likewise separated from one another by broad
belts of water. The outermost of these forms a wide, navigable canal,
connecting the sea with the inland basins for commerce, which lie at the
further extremity of the town.