Benjamin Hardy 104991

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Le Corbusiers Radiant Citys Influence on post war council buildings

in terms of the front garden space

Word count: 1088

This paper is to address the absence of the the front garden within
post war housing blocks, through taking inspiration from Le
Corbusiers Radiant City, and how that affected the social structure
and crime within the local residents within council blocks. These
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effects have lasted until present where the original reputation of

1950s council blocks have turned in to almost a dirty word, in which
people are almost ashamed of, this is due to the development of
certain negative stereotypes of the residents. I chose this topic to
research because in my P1b Domestic Matters project I developed a
housing block aimed partially for council residents, which didnt
contain a front garden space, to promote a social cohesion. Said
housing block took precedence for Le Corbusiers Unite dhabitation
that was a housing block from his Radiant city master plan. I am
going to look at the style he inspired through Radiant City, and re-
appraise it through ideas of critical analysis.

Post war housing crisis, le Corbusiers modernist Unite dhabitation

building influenced British architects, with its fast prefabrication
construction style with the idea of quickly housing the masses. With
the rise of these city blocks for council housing, so did rise a variety
of criticism, Jane Jacobs argued that we shouldnt just observe the
failures of the city and then invent a good substitute, but that we
should learn from the good and the successfulness of traditional
design to help promote a stable social structure1. Architects had
took the new ideas of a radiant city and put them in to play without
any consideration of what worked at the time, such as the front
garden, which resulted in changes to the social structures and
cultures of the residents. The idea they acted on was that of le
Corbusiers where he believed that the traditional city obstructed
the development of: transport, cramps and debilitates activity, kills
progress, and discourages new ideas2. The front garden space was
a part of traditional design, and a part of design in which we have
always designed our shelters, but it didnt belong in Le Corbusiers
modern vision.

Carl Sagen studied the evolution of the human brain and made a
connection from the development of our brain, to the development
of our shelters. From the early stages of where aggression and
territorial behaviour developed, we started too produce shelters with
adjoining territory that had distinctive marks of identity3. This
adjoining territory developed decoration, a fence, and a garden that
all enhanced the identity of the family inside each home. The front
garden is not only part of traditional design, but it is ingrained in our
1 Jane Jacobs, THE DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES, ed.
by Jason Epstein, 50th Anniversary Edition edn (New York: Modern
Library , 2011).
2 Le Corbusier, The Ideas of Le Corbusier on Architecture and Urban
Planning, ed. by Jacques Guiton, trans. by Margaret Guilton (the
University of Michigan: G. Braziller, 1981), p. 97.

3 Carl Sagen, The dragons of eden: Speculations on the evolution of

human intelligence (New York: Random House USA, 1988).
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development as human beings. This makes Le Corbusiers influence

of modernism and the removal of traditional garden seem as a
drastic moment in society as it is changing something that has been
naturally developed throughout history. The social benefits of a front
garden in modernist council buildings are ignored and only very
literal interior luxuries are focused on, such as number of rooms, a
hot shower etc., ignoring the identity and culture of the person
making their shelter its self anonymous, a repetition of faces
completely ignoring the individual dweller. Alice Coleman talks
about anonymity through Oscar Newmans thoughts, in which they
believe strengthening the anonymity through loss of personalisation
promotes crimes, such as vandalism or robbery. The criminal may
find the notion of the crime easier as it may feel like affecting less of
a person and more of an inanimate4. I feel that promoting the idea
of the front garden back into the housing block will promote a better
social structure and give the face of a apartment a human nature,
encouraging the growth of the individual and children to create a
stronger society. If I were too further my design studio project I
would certainly try to install a notion of a front garden to ensure
crime prevention within the residents.

Oscar Newman discusses the concept of defensible space and its

relation to crime rates.5 He identifies the dissolved social
mechanisms that kept crime in place, and that we have become
strangers within a larger collective, such as a housing block than
ever before. Defensible space can come from a range of real and
symbolic barriers strongly defined areas, and improved
opportunities for surveillance. The front garden space fits within
what Oscar Newman defines as defensible space, because crossing
the garden boundary through a fence is a symbolic change in
threshold and privacy. Other people instinctively take note of who
lives there through the identity of the garden, so a local communal
surveillance takes affect where people are watching into that space,
warding off the criminal. Oscar Newmans concept of defensible
space would have been ignored in the le Corbusier Radiant City, as
it is strongly part of traditional architecture. If Radiant City were
built, through Newmans view it would have developed into a city of
anonymity where crime would of thrived, in which it did with the
buildings it inspired. The lack of a defensible space hindered the
4 Alice Colman, Utopia on trial vision and reality in planned housing,
ed. by Jason Epstein, 2nd Revised edition edn (London: Hilary
Shipman Ltd, 1990).
5 Oscar Newman, Defensible space: People and design in the violent
city (London: Architectural Press, London, 1973)
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success of a high rise, creating a place in which almost bred

criminals for the rest of the city.

The loss of the front garden space in le Corbusiers Radiant City

design had a detrimental social affect on the council buildings of
post war Britain and in present times. The lack of sensitivity created
towards that social class has created generation of council dwellers
who changed their normal social attitudes, in which they have
taught their children how to behave unsociably. This creates a
domino effect in a sense Radiant City has further excluded council
dwellers from a normal social society. I do not think the annihilation
of defensible space is the main problem with crime within council
residents, but I think this document suggests it certainly plays a part
in it.

Bibliography

Brolin, The Failure of modern architecture, ed. by Brent C and

C.Brent Brolin (London: Littlehampton Book Services, 1976).

Bullock, Building the post-war world: Modern architecture and

reconstruction in Britian, ed. by Nicholas (New York: Taylor & Francis,
2002).

Coleman, Alice, Utopia on trial vision and reality in planned housing,

ed. by Jason Epstein, 2nd Revised edition edn (London: Hilary
Shipman Ltd, 1990).

Corbusier, Le, The Ideas of Le Corbusier on Architecture and Urban

Planning, ed. by Jacques Guiton, trans. by Margaret Guilton (the
University of Michigan: G. Braziller, 1981), p. 97.

Jacobs, Jane, THE DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES, ed.
by Jason Epstein, 50th Anniversary Edition edn (New York: Modern
Library , 2011).

Newman, Oscar, Defensible space: People and design in the violent

city (London: Architectural Press, London, 1973)

Sagan Carl, The dragons of eden: Speculations on the evolution of

human intelligence (New York: Random House USA, 1988).
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Film References:

Mrmattandmrchay, Original council block lift - remind you of the

1970s?? BLDG KNOCKED DOWN LATE 2013, online video recording,
Youtube, May 13 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=9c7bF2H9R6g, [accessed 17 January 2017]

Ips, me walking down my street, online video recording, Youtube,

March 13 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8hMO-8jR5s,
[accessed 17 January 2017]

Tim M, Drone operation, residential flyover 1000 ft, crash landing

(multiple times)
, online video recording, Youtube, May 28 2014,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYhfPnke9kk, [accessed 17
January 2017]

John edwards, Aylesbury Estate london UAS aka Drone, online video
recording, Youtube, Jun 3 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=5kbY3q-MLzk, [accessed 17 January 2017]

ToysHD, Kids Playing in The Garden With Garbage Truck Fire Truck -
Air Pump Action HD, online video recording, Youtube, July 9 2015,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G7c5DnwfWI, [accessed 17
January 2017]

Christina Langer, BBQ with friends in Leeds, online video recording,

Youtube, July 9 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=jwwAWZTQfmo, [accessed 17 January 2017]

Thekinolibrary, Old ladies tell off kids playing in London council

estate 1970s, online video recording, Youtube, May 28 2013,
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xKn0-03Pw4, [accessed 17
January 2017]

Jesper juhani Nurkkala, kidulthood, online video recording, Youtube,

January 18 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT4ideloDfo
[accessed 17 January 2017]