On the search of a lost urban planning modernity: throughout the legacy of Lewis Mumford

SCIENZE DEL TERRITORIO 2/2014 pag. 433 On he sea ch o a los u ban planning mode ni y: h oughou he legacy o Lewis Mum o d Josep T. Mun añola Tho nbe g, Magda Sau a Ca ulla In oduc ion I is wi h g ea sa is ac ion ha we w i e his a icle o he new in e na ional jou nal o he also new “Te i o ialis ” Associa ion ounded in 2011 in Flo ence, a ci y, indeed, wi h a e y impo an his o ical legacy on a chi ec u e and u ban planning…. Some new heo ies and p ac ices in planning a e s ongly needed oday, and i is jus o his cha ac e iza ion o “new” heo ies, ha we link ou ex o Lewis Mum o d’s lega- cy, books and a icles ha in oduced a chi ec s and u ban planne s du ing he wen ie h cen u y A.C. in o a new wo ld o mode n ideas, opening, a he same ime, he planning p ac ices o he nex cen u ies, as he himsel w o e in 1975 (MuM o d 1980): … he as ophysicis s mus eckon wi h he possibili y ha hei ou e wo ld is only ou inne wo ld u ned inside ou . So pe haps wi h a u he wis he impene able Black Hole migh p o e he shadow o a b igh e sun. E en he no ion o an ‘explosion’ and an ‘implo- sion’, a ‘beginning’ and an ‘ending’, may be only a e y human me apho , which he uni e - se o easons o i s own, nei he ecognizes, no exhibi s. On ha ul ima e skep icism my own ai h bli hely lou ishes. LET THE CURTAIN RISE ON THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY - AND AFTER! … So, le us open he cu ains o he play… 1. Fi s ac : “ he egg o he snake” Taking in o accoun he me apho ical idea o Be gman in he known ilm “The Egg o he Snake” poin ing ou o he da k o igins o ascism in Ge many and in Eu ope, we will expand his me apho ical meaning o hose da k o igins, o he undamen al heo e ical and p ac ical u ban planning mis akes ha ha e p oduced he ca as o- phic si ua ion oday in a lo o coun ies and mo e speci ically in Spain, a comple e pa adigm o hese mis akes ha Lewis Mum o d o ecas in such a clea manne .1 The i s ‘egg’, and he i s mis ake, deals wi h ‘ ee ade’ and akes in o accoun he wo d ‘ ee’. Mode n u ban de elopmen has been ied o cen u ies o heal hy u ban ade. The ‘egg’ o ee ade has been ela ed wi h social and u ban de elopmen as a 1 Mo e han wo million o emp y houses, and mo e han hal a million o people who need social hou- sing, show he o al social igno ance o u ban planning p ocedu es. Mum o d insis ed upon he ac ha his ‘blind social’ condi ion o planning is ela ed wi h a w ong use o echnologies and inancial powe s. © 2014 Fi enze Uni e si y P ess ISSN 2284-242X (online) n. 2, 2014, pp. 433-444 SCIENZE DEL TERRITORIO 2/2014 pag. 434 basic componen o space cons uc ion. The ‘egg’ began o de elop in o a poisonous snake when we o go ha ee ade canno su i e ecological des uc ion o social con ol by gigan ic inancial ne wo ks, as Lewis Mum o d insis ed upon o yea s and yea s. Then, educa ion is con e ed in o a igid ule, like hese days in Ba celona whe- e child en in he schools build high skysc ape s because ‘ hey wan o be as ich as hei pa en s’. This is no mode ni y a all, his is ascism. The second ‘egg’ is also e y signi ican . U ban sys ems and echnologies a e o ally nee- ded in planning, bo h in design, in building and in dwelling. Howe e , hese ools be- come a dange ous egg when hey con ound neu ali y wi h eedom. Then, a chi ec u e and planning become unlimi ed ne wo ks o eeways wi hou his o ical and geog aphic in e aces. U ban sys ems a e no neu al as Wal e Benjamin claimed when he saw he eggs o he snake in he “glass cul u e” and ound no mode ni y a all. A hi d ‘egg’ is when ecology and pa icipa ion is manipula ed o poli ical pu poses o e y small heal hy social g oups, and his p oduces deep misunde s andings. Lewis Mum o d analyses e y ca e ully hese h ee ‘eggs’ and he was accused o old- ashion beha io and o e o mism, a big mis ake and, again, a poisonous snake. In 1980 he sen o us his las book My Wo k and My Days, whe e i is possible o ind he ollowing hough s: … we discussed DH Law ence oge he … you had ac ually seen him in I aly. His le e om Ge many was w i en in 1924 (and i was no published un il a e he wa ). He e he w o e (p ophe ically) “... Ge many is e y di e en om wha i was wo and a hal yea s ago … he g ea leaning o Ge man spi i , is once mo e eas wa ds, owa ds Russia, o- wa ds Ta a y … THERE IS A SENSE OF DANGER. IT ISN’T THE PEOPLE. THEY DON’T SEEM DANGEROUS. OUT OF THE VERY AIR COMES A SENSE OF DANGER, A QUEER, BRISTLING FEELING OF UNCANNY DANGER…” ( om a le e o F au V. alking abou a mee ing in Lubeck in 1934). And Mum o d ollows: all o hese p ophecies by Law ence, has come o pass in ou ime, wha masses o men el in hei souls was al eady decla ed in he sel -conscious doc ines o Moelle an den B uck, E ns Junge and Oswald Spengle , who p o ided new symbols o e e y hing in he Ge man soul ha was da k, ep essi e and alien o he es o he wo ld…. End o he i s ac . 2. Second ac : Lewis Mum o d’s legacy A se ious analysis o Lewis Mum o d’s legacy will need some books, so we will use a long p i a e in e play o le e s wi h Josep Mun añola, aking place since a pe sonal isi o he old p o esso in Albany (New Yo k) in 1963.This in e play is summa ized he e in h ee di e en diag ams. The i s - diag am I - is he las le e he sen , da ed 6 o July 1981, when he was 86 yea s old; i is a somewha sad le e , bu ull o deep conside a ions. The second - diag am II - is a mul idisciplina y mix o ex s, in o de o g asp he comple e ange o unde s andings he had. The hi d - diag am III - ga he s some opinions and ideas abou he ques ions ha he esea ch by Josep Mun añola a ose in o his mind. You should keep in o conside a ion ha he e was a di e ence o age o 45 yea s, howe e his was ne e a ba ie o a long iendship and mu ual conce n. Each diag am ca ies i s own commen s wi h i . SCIENZE DEL TERRITORIO 2/2014 pag. 435 Diag am I - Le e , 6 July 1981 SCIENZE DEL TERRITORIO 2/2014 pag. 436 In ela ion o his i s diag am, his las le e in 1981, i is impo an o poin ou he signi icance o him o he new ecological ends, especially in he ecen gene a ions. He was ac i e and wi h a lo o in i a ions, bu he also el o be misunde s ood by in ellec uals and mo e speci ically by a chi ec s. The idea ha he was conside ed an ‘old ashion’ u ban planne dep essed him deeply. Diag am II - Le e , 2 June 1970 SCIENZE DEL TERRITORIO 2/2014 pag. 437 SCIENZE DEL TERRITORIO 2/2014 pag. 438 In ela ion o diag am II, he selec ion o p o essionals is linked o he p oposi ion o he co esponden abou s udies on he in e ac ion be ween psycho-sociological e- sea ch and a chi ec u e. The inclusion o p o esso J. L. Mo eno, o Ge man o igin, and his “ hea e o spon anei y”, a e y di icul book o ind (Mo eno 1934), was a p oo o his mode n ision, since he connec ions be ween hea e and a chi ec u e, and hei psychoanaly ical implica ions, ha e been unco e ed many yea s la e by he heo- e icians o a chi ec u e and u ban planning. So he mul idisciplina y pe spec i e o Lewis Mum o d was no simply e udi ion, bu a deep unde s anding o he design and planning inno a ions in ela ion o science and a s in gene al. And, o cou se, he same can be de ec ed in hei ecological iew poin s, e y di e en om Pa ick Geddes’ p e ious o i- en a ions, in spi e o he deep e e ence o his mas e mixed wi h a need o ake dis ance om wha he e alua ed as an excess o a ogance and sel -es eem.2 Diag am III, Le e s, 17 Sep embe 1967, 18 Oc obe 1972 2 This is clea ly s a ed in he au obiog aphy (MuM o d 1980), no e 1. SCIENZE DEL TERRITORIO 2/2014 pag. 439 SCIENZE DEL TERRITORIO 2/2014 pag. 440 SCIENZE DEL TERRITORIO 2/2014 pag. 441 Finally, in ela ion o le e s in diag am III, hei ideas abou planning and he ci y a e e y clea . Pe haps some a gumen s in he le e o 17 Sep embe 1971 a e he bes summa y. Following hese sho ex s, wo ideas wo ied Mum o d he las yea s o his li e: he ole o echnology in social wellbeing, and he w o e a lo o books and a icles on ha ; and he second opic was he need o a c i icism o he con empo- a y u ban planning p ac ices in ela ion o ecological misconcep ions and w ong social p ac ices. The wo ques ions we e ela ed o he bad use o echnologies, no o he echnologies in hemsel es. This is he eason o he las undamen al book: “The Pen agon o Powe ” (MuM o d 1970). And i is clea ha he compu e was o him a dange ous snake, hope ully o us, less poisonous han he el i o be. We should ead Mum o d’s books as a basic he i age o s a hinking on he bes u u e o planning ac i i ies. In his book The Cul u e o Ci ies (MuM o d 1938), he summa izes his iews o a new u ban planning ha oday s ill sound e y mode n and con empo a y. 3. Thi d ac : he cou se o planning Taking again some concep s om Mum o d’s legacy, we ha e in mind he ex ao di- na y a icle w i en in 1934 in The New Yo ke (MuM o d 1934), abou an exhibi in he MOMA on abs ac pain ings by Picasso, Duchamp, e c., whe e he desc ibes he pow- e o ep esen ing eali y in a mode n way, in such a way ha abs ac ion becomes close o eali y han igu a i e ep esen a ion. The “Cou se o Abs ac ion”, which was he i le o he a icle, means he cou se o a , science, and social li e al oge he , in an ex ao dina y mode n manne . Following he open pa h by Pa ick Ged- des, biologis , u ban planne and sociologis (see diag am IV), he was also e y imp essed by he ecological s udies and by biosocial heo ies, lying ou side o he scope o he p esen a icle. This is an ex ao dina y heo e ical poin , since his iew on mode n a des oys o - e e he incompa ibili y be ween he new and he old, and he local and he global, in a chi ec u e and in u ban planning. Almos one hund ed yea s a e abs ac a began, millions o a chi ec s s ill misunde s and he poin . F om now on, o build new buildings o o ehabili a e old ames is exac ly he same, and ansla ions o new w i ings a e no mo e spli in o wo di e en wo lds.