Ideas Have Consequences
Denis Ambruš, Vlatko Dusparić
https://doi.org/10.60152/s777vquv
Abstract: “The Bat’a Company implemented the ideas for an industrial garden city that had been formulated in theory,” is a quote from Ladislava Hornakova’s book, referencing Bat’a’s ideal industrial cities of the future in Zlin. In our view, the progressivist theoretical models of these cities, developed within the urban planning department of the Bat’a Company’s Construction Office from 1930 to 1937, have little in common with the principles of the culturalist urban planning model proposed by Sir Ebenezer Howard, the founder of the garden city concept. This confusing label, viewed through the lens of urban planning, leads us to further exploration in order to avoid possible misclassification of these plans in accordance with the appropriate urban planning model as suggested by Francoise Choay. Choay categorizes European urban planning into two opposing models: culturalism and progressivism. Although these models share certain elements, Choay suggests nuancing as a way to distinguish between them, indicating a range of variations. Regarding the classification of the urbanization type and the urban planning model for the Ideal Industrial City of the Future by R. H. Podzemny, from the Bat’a Company’s Urban Planning Department in Zlin, we propose the following preliminary hypotheses: The plan offers an entirely new satellite city to serve the function of urban decentralization; it belongs to the progressivist model of modernist urban planning (functionalism); and it fundamentally opposes the core principles of Howard’s culturalist garden city model. When it comes to the “garden city” label, as preliminary research shows, the only connection between these opposing urban planning models lies in the high value placed on greenery in spatial planning. At the same time, the approach to urban greenery design differs significantly: public parks and private gardens stand in contrast to the non-functional greenery of the functionalist city. Another significant difference is in the type of urbanization: Howard’s “social city” versus the singular satellite city.
Keywords: garden cities, type of urbanization, theoretical urban planning model
How to cite this Paper (Harvard referencing style):
Ambruš, D. and Dusparić, V. (2024) ‘Ideas Have Consequences’, in R. Bogdanović (ed.) On Architecture — Shaping the City through Architecture, Proceedings. Belgrade, Serbia: STRAND, pp. 23–26.
See publication On Architecture (2024) Conference Proceedings