The history of post Second World War reconstruction has recently become an important field of research around the world; Alternative Visions of Post-War Reconstruction is a provocative work that questions the orthodoxies of twentieth century design history.
This book provides a key critical statement on mid-twentieth century urban design and city planning, focused principally upon the period between the start of the Second World War to the mid-sixties. The various figures and currents covered here represent a largely overlooked field within the history of 20th century urbanism.
In this period while certain modernist practices assumed an institutional role for post-war reconstruction and flourished into the mainstream, such practices also faced opposition and criticism leading to the production of alternative visions and strategies. Spanning from a historically-informed modernism to the increasing presence of urban conservation the contributors examine these alternative approaches to the city and its architecture.
Part 1: Introduction 1. Erdem Erten, John Pendlebury and Peter Larkham: Introduction: On Alternative Visions 2. Wolfgang Sonne: The Enduring Concept of Civic Art Part 2: Imagined Townscapes 3. Erdem Erten: Townscape as a Project and Strategy of Cultural Continuity 4. Filippo De Pieri: Visualizing the Historic City: Planners and the Representation of Italys Built Heritage. Giovanni Astengo and Giancarlo De Carlo in Assisi and Urbino, 1950s-60s 5. Harriet Atkinson: 'The First Modern Townscape? The Festival of Britain, Townscape and Picturesque 6. Andrea Yuri Flores Urushima: Everyday Unavoidable Modernization and the Image of Hell: Visual Planning in the Writings of Nishiyama Uzô Part 3: Townscapes in Practice 7. Peter Larkham and Keith Lilley: Townscape and Scenography: Conceptualising and Communicating the Urban Landscape in British Post-war Planning 8. John Pendlebury: Making the Modern Townscape: The Reconstruction Plans of Thomas Sharp 9. Francesca Bonfante and Cristina Pallini: The Role of an Historic Townscape in City Reconstruction: Plans for Milan, Turin and Genoa After World War II 10. David Snyder: Rhetorics and Politics: Polish Architectural Modernism In The Early Postwar Years Part 4: Townscapes in Opposition 11. Nicholas Bullock: Charting the Changing Approaches to Reconstruction in France, Urbanisme 1941-56 12. Barnabas Calder: Brutal Enemies? Townscape and the 'Hard Moderns 13. Peter Laurence: Jane Jacobs, the Townscape Movement, and the Emergence Critical Urban Design 14. Eamonn Canniffe: Neo-Realism: Urban Form and La Dolce Vita in Post-war Italy 1945-75
