19th Century Architecture and Urban Planning - One of the First International Styles in Town Planning?

Abstract

All around the First World, the cities of the 19th century experienced a major wave of industrialisation and urbanisation. The technical and medical achievements of the time led to a greater population survivability, regional demographic peaks, and - supported by the prevailing political situations - an unprecedented rural exodus. In addition, technical inventions and political shifts of that time fundamentally changed the established social order. Interestingly, urban planning and architecture responded to what was happening globally with similar means: a gridded urban structure, the emergence of public transport, the boosting of housing and - somewhat surprisingly - a strongly historicising architectural language. The Gründerzeit style, en vogue in the Austrian monarchy, in Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Zagreb; the architecture d´entrepreneur in Haussmann´s Paris; the Wilhelminian architecture in Hobrecht´s Berlin and Barcelona´s Pla Cerda, shall they be seen as facets of the same - and maybe first - global city planning approach? Was the similarity in the town planning approach led by the first World Fairs and exhibitions or the upcoming Städtebau and Stadtbaukunst manuals or other journal publications? In which way do the implementations of national urban design strategies differ and where did the institutionalisation of town planning lead to similar outcomes? What led these similarities? In which way do the implementations of national urban design strategies differ and where did the institutionalisation of town planning and legislations lead to similar outcomes? Did the topographic and climatic conditions have a mayor impact?