On the search of a lost modern planning

Starting from the correspondence held by Mumford and Muntañola, the article follows a critical trace developed by the same Muntañola with Saura Carulla, pointing out some key issues faced by Mumford in his vast work. Such issues allow to highlight, among the rest, the very contemporary, innovative a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Saura Carulla, Magdalena|||0000-0003-4523-0195, Muntañola Thornberg, José|||0000-0002-1536-0901
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/24187
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/24187
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Cities and towns
Mumford, Lewis, 1895-1990--Correspondence
Lewis Mumford
planning
multidisciplinary
trans-disciplinary
critical reading
Urbanisme
Mumford, Lewis, 1895-1990 -- Epistolaris
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Urbanisme::Teoria de l'urbanisme
Descripción
Sumario:Starting from the correspondence held by Mumford and Muntañola, the article follows a critical trace developed by the same Muntañola with Saura Carulla, pointing out some key issues faced by Mumford in his vast work. Such issues allow to highlight, among the rest, the very contemporary, innovative and critical strength of the message left by the American Regionalist movement, centered on an integrated and complex relationship among man, nature and technology and a multidisciplinary vision considering planning as a ‘civic’ practice, emphasizing its ‘education’ and communication dimensions. Using the metaphor of “The Egg of the Snake” for the basic theoretical and practical errors of urban planning, the article highlights how Mumford had carefully analyzed such ‘eggs’ over time - a critique of contemporary urban planning in relation to ecological balances and wrong social practices, an analysis of the role of technology in relation to social welfare and so on - and for this had been charged, to his regret, of retrograde attitude. This critical reading of the typical approach to urban project, especially revealed in his last years, shows perhaps a state of anxiety that, in Mumford, was about to flow into a trans-disciplinary approach.