International symposium “The idea of decentralization and regional planning, in the 20th Century” – School of Architecture, Grenoble (ENSAG) – November 9th – 10th, 2017

International symposium “The idea of decentralization and regional planning, in the 20th Century”

School of Architecture, Grenoble (ENSAG)

Date : November 9th – 10th, 2017

Website : decentralization20172018

Abstract : Throughout the 20th century, from URSS to the United-States, Germany, Italy and Japan, architects, planners, economists, and politicians have repeatedly proposed decentralization as a way to restructure societies and their spaces—notably in response to political, economic, environmental, social, or cultural crisis. Our purpose is to revisit the concept and projects elaborated during the 20th Century (mainly until the 1970s). Many of its promoters considered decentralization not solely a reorganization of the diverse activities on the ground; they also saw decentralization as a means to establish a new economic and social order, intended to be more egalitarian also thanks to the diffusion of modern techniques – such as electricity, telephone, motorisation or radio.

We will attempt, with the different papers, to understand the ideals that founded them, the references mobilized, the tools – conceptual as well as practical – they experimented, the influences they could have – or not – on the making of the urbanized world and on a new image of it; we will also explore the transfers from a scientific field to another, from a cultural space to another.

Pascal Fort

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