Modern Visions of the Medieval City: Competing Conceptions of Urbanism in European Civic Design

Abstract

In Europe, during the early 20th century, new civic designs often drew upon images of medieval cities, In order to create the ‘city of tomorrow’, and define what was ‘modern’ in new city design, the medieval city frequently became characterized and depicted as ‘natural’ and ‘irregular’ in its development and form. This can be seen in the writing of particular urbanists, planners, and designers working on European civic designs in the period between 1890 and 1950. I examine the writing of Camillo Sitte, Le Corbusier, and Thomas Sharp to chart how they, as well as some of their contemporaries, called upon particular visions of the medieval city to develop and mobilize their own competing conceptions of modern urbanism.