The Liberal Monument

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Publishers

Architecture

ISBN: 9781568988245
English edition
Princeton Architectural Press
Hardcover, 152 pages
15,2 x 22,9 cm
black & white
November 2010
€21,70 (excl. VAT)

The Liberal Monument

Urban Design and the Late Modern Project

Alexander D'Hooghe

In The Liberal Monument, D’Hooghe argues that architecture and urbanism must boldly intervene in city planning and growth management. This strategic use of architecture represents the last hope to revitalize the “quasi-endless gray carpet” spreading between the world’s urban centers. D’Hooghe posits the theory that top-down urban planning and monumentalized space was jettisoned because of its association with Nazi architect and urban planner Albert Speer and he advocates rethinking these long-held associations; to this end he explores the work of “second-generation” modernists Sigfried Giedion and Louis I. Kahn in an effort to connect architecture, planning, and liberal politics.

The Liberal Monument is a provocative, accessible work of theory that challenges the accepted truths of urban design. Its goal is to restore the confidence architecture will need, whether it is building cities from the ground up in China and Dubai or managing the growth of the sprawling suburbs of Phoenix and Raleigh/Durham.