Alternative Visions of Post-War Reconstruction: Creating the Modern Townscape

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.

John Pendlebury is Professor of Urban Conservation at Newcastle University, UK. He has written extensively about how historic cities were planned in the twentieth century and about the role that heritage and its conservation perform in the contemporary city. His previous books are Conservation in the Age of Consensus and Valuing Historic Environments. Projects include Town and Townscape: The Work and Life of Thomas Sharp.

Erdem Erten teaches architectural design, and architectural history and theory classes, as Associate Professor of the Department of Architecture at Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey. His research interests include the theorization of culture and its impact on modern architecture in the post-war period, architectural journalism and the problem of the avant-garde in architecture and romanticism.

Peter J. Larkham is Professor of Planning at Birmingham City University, UK. An urban geographer by background, he has researched and written widely on urban form and conservation, with post-war reconstruction developing as a major research interest over the past decade. His books include The Blitz and its Legacy and Shapers of Urban Form.