Misogyny and Disregard: The ‘Sentimental, Pretending Erudite, Ugly Prussian Countess Poninski-Dohna’, Author of the First Urban Planning Treatise in Germany

Abstract

In 1874, the social reformer and urban planning theorist Adelheid Gräfin von Poninska (1804 –1881) published her treatise Die Großstädte in ihrer Wohnungsnoth. This was not only the first in-depth treatise on the housing question in Germany, but also the first urban planning handbook to be published there. Poninska’s study, which was based on a systematic, holistic and relational approach had a clear theoretical claim. In her treatise she constructed an integral theoretical framework on the question of the advantageous layout of modern, industrialised large cities. This systemic overall view of the phenomenon of the large city and its planning broke new technical and political ground and contributed significantly to the scientific strengthening of the still fledgling discipline of urban planning.