Die Stadt als „ein Kunstwerk ersten Ranges“. Der Wiener Diskurs zur Schönheit der Stadt im Vor- und Umfeld Camillo Sittes – Grundlage einer Wiener Schule des Städtebaus?

Abstract

Up to now, the question of urban beauty is a central topos in the professional discourse of architects and urbanists. Amazingly, it is answered in a quite similar way by personalities of different architectural attitudes, as, for instance, a comparison of correlating statements by Daniel Libeskind or Hans Kollhoff witnesses. Furthermore, forums dealing with questions of urban morphology have been established during the last years amongst german-speaking planners (e.g. Dortmunder Konferenzen zur Schönheit und Lebensfähigkeit der Stadt). A predecessor of these approaches can be seen in the ouevre of Camillo Sitte who, by publishing his book "Der Städte-Bau" in 1889, created the basis for a morphological view of the urban environment and for a re-orientation of the pratice of town planning. Although his publication was innovative, Sitte could rely on numerous impulses received in his hometown Vienna since the end of the 1850s. These included reflections outlined in view of Vienna's dynamic urban development by prominent personalities in the sphere of architecture and art history. This widespread discourse on issues towards the shape of the city - including also economical and social aspects - had particularly been initiated by Sitte`s teachers Rudolf von Eitelberger and Heinrich Ferstel in the course of the formation of Vienna's "Ring" boulevard. An important forum for these discussions was set up by the Österreichischer Ingenieur- und Architekten-Verein (Austrian engineers' and architects' society) - an organisation which had analysed the bases of the "beauty of the city" since the 1870s in various memorandums and hence had raised the well-shaped city to the rank of a "first-rate work of art". Beginning with Eitelberger and Ferstel, the paper discusses this Viennese discourse and its ideas towards a "grammar" of the beautiful city (streets, public squares, gardens etc.). This discourse can be seen as the foundation stone of an own Viennese School of Townplanning (Wiener Schule des Städtebaus) marked by a specific emphasis on "Beauty" in the urban fabric - therefore comprising eminent personalities like Camillo Sitte as well as Otto Wagner as two different sprouts pursueing - they in turn - different creative approaches.