The American and European

cities in the 19th century

Module: BSc Urban & Regional Planning
Course: History of Urban Planning
Course Leader: Andrea Raffaele Neri

Tel 0937025660
Room: L14-416
Email andrea.neri@mu.edu.et
andrearneri@gmail.com
 Features of the American and
European cities in the 19th century
 Massive urban transformations. Particularly in Europe.
 The main drivers for this transformation were:
1. demographic growth. The cities grew in size.
2. industrial revolution. The cities diversify the use and
appearance
of the urban areas.
3. call for beauty. The raising middle class pretends beautiful
cities.
4. call for better hygienic conditions. Application of science and
technique to improve the living conditions of the
population.
“Abundant circulation of air in the streets” to refrain
L’Enphant Plan for
Washington, USA (1)
 L’Enphant Plan for
Washington, USA (2)
 Pierre Charles L’Enfant, neoclassic architect (= influenced
by the Roman/Greek heritage), was the first Major of
Washington. He drew up the plan for the construction of the
new capital of the USA in 1791.
 Grandiose and monumental planning which incorporates
architectural details for the major buildings such as the
Congress House (Capitol) and the President’s House (the
White House).
 Grid shape with important diagonal avenues.
 Open space for emphasise the monumental scale. Important
role of the river and artificial canals.
The Commissioners’ Plan for
New York, USA (1)
 The Commissioners’ Plan for
New York, USA (2)
 The Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 was the
original grid design plan for the streets of
Manhattan that define the city still today.
 It was described as a plan for “beauty,
order and convenience”. It shows predilection
for control, balance and somehow distrust
of nature (which mostly prefers irregular shapes).
 The commissioners were empowered to enter private properties to
undertake their duties.
 Big debate about the streets layout. The gridiron, without regard to the
topography of the land, was considered the most practical
and cost-effective.
 A revision in 1853 introduces Central Park.
Nash’s Regent Street,
London, UK (1)
 Nash’s Regent Street,
London, UK (2)
 John Nash is the architect who drew up one of the
first urban planning development plan of London
in 1811 for the new Regent Street.
 It was intended to connect the new parks with the
most affluent areas of the city.
 The commissioner was the London Office of Woods, Forests
and
Land Revenues.
 Clearance of poor buildings to make room for wide streets.
 Regent street was intended for commercial porpuses. This
pattern of
development in time was sponsored mostly for the
Haussmann’s renovation of
Paris, France (1)
 Haussmann’s renovation of
Paris, France (2)
 Georges Eugène Haussmann was nominated
prefect (major) of Paris by the Emperor
Napoleon 3rd in 1853.
 To him “geometry and graphic design play a more
important role than architecture itself”. Enormous
boulevards replaced the old Medieval irregular grid.
 Strong authoritarian regime to encourage capitalists to undertake
important projects which would benefit the society as a whole, at
least in theory.
 Massive use of expropriation “for public uses”.
 Wide streets: a “soft” measure for military control
of the city by creating big spaces easier to patrol? (not
proved that this was the aim in Paris).
 Haussmann’s renovation of
Paris, France (3)

 Building owners were required to clean the facades

every ten years.
 The levelling of the streets, the buildings allignment
and the connection with the sewers were regulated.
 Set of strict rules regarding outside appearance to give a strong sense of
uniformity.
 In twenty years 20,000 houses were distroyed, 40,000 were built.
 Distinctive features: large streets and squares, perspectives, monumenta
buildings (theatres, governmental, churches), modern
facilities (bridges, sewers, railway stations), parks.
Haussmann’s renovation of
Paris (4)
Haussmann’s renovation of
Paris (6)
The Ringstraße of Vienna, Austria (1)
 The Ringstraße of Vienna, Austria (2)

 The Ringstraße (Ring road) is the wide street designed

to replace the ancient city walls in 1857 under direct
order of the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.
 It was a means for incorporating the external areas
of the city with the city centre.
 It was intended to be a showcase for the grandeur
and glory of the Habsburg Empire.
 Great buildings like the Parliament, the Opera, the
Theatre, the Museums.
 As in Paris, the reason for such width might also be
military, to make the erection of revolutionary
barricades impossible.
The Plan Cerda’ of Barcelona,
Spain (1)
 The Plan Cerda’ of Barcelona,
Spain (1)
 The Plan Cerda’ is the Hipodamian plan designed
for Barcelona by the engineer Ildefons Cerda’ in 1860.
 It was a means for incorporating the external areas
of the city with the city centre.
 The medieval city is preserved but contained into the
new development.
 Rigid grid streets layout with 45º diagonals.
 Strong architectural constraints about facades and height,
like in Paris.
 High densities (further increased in time) compensated
with big parks (reduced in time).
 Hobrecht Plan of Berlin, Germany
 Jamezs Hobrecht, serving the royal urban planning police
of Prussia (actual Germany) finalized a binding land-use for
the environs of Berlin in 1862.
 The plan was intended to be in place for a time frame of
50 years.
 Innovative way to plan the city together with the
surrounding region.
 More land surveying based than architecturally driven.
 Ring roads around the existing cities and sprowling grid shape pattern in
the gaps.
 Unlike Haussmann, he respected the existing roads, villages and railways
including
them into the planning process.
 The plan favoured the creation of Mietskaserne housing estates,
Some more examples from Italy (1)

Above: Bari, 1865.

Right: Florence, 1865.
Some more examples from Italy (2)

Rome, 1865.

• Sprawling street
grid (red).
• Clearings and
roads enlargements
in the existing city
(black).
Thank you

(London, Regent Street)