Urban planning of the 20th century, especially in countries under authoritarian regimes, has left behind significant traces in the urban environment as well as in the countriesʼ landscapes. It wasa turbulent period when the policies of often-shifting political orders could easily change from one day to the next, along with the preferred approaches of urban planning and development, while at the same time the efforts towards technocratic progress and national development clashed (often aggressively) against local customs and traditions.
The aim of this thematic issue is to point out the parallels and, at the same time, the differences or peculiarities of the results of modern urban planning in different regions, with an emphasis on identifying the influences highlighting local and regional (urban, state and national) impacts that have translated into specific reflections of global modernity. The topic is discussed across several layers – from the definition of the basic principles and differences of the systems of developing and developed countries, the identification of the role of “exported” impacts on local specifics and, of course, the role that education influences the further careers of architects and urban planners.
In the context of the Central European region, the topic of “export” of this specific local approach on architectural and urban design in other countries is still little known and neglected in research. However, it was Eastern Bloc countries that encouraged the participation of their engineers, architects, and other technical staff in the preparation of various construction projects in the transforming post-colonial regions, especially in Central Asia and Africa. The export of project work lay fully within the intent of “strengthening the importance of international coordination of the management of the economies of socialist countries”. This cooperation was regarded as an aid to developing countries, but also spread the reputation of socialist architecture, technology and its politics.
The issue discusses the development of urban planning in Central European region in the contribution of Kateřina Čechová on the modernization of the Gründerzeit city in Prague. Particular emphasis is placed on the experience of which Czechoslovak experts influenced the development on the African continent, which is discussed in the paper of Ľubica Vitková and Michal Bogár using the case study of Algeria. Jelica Jovanović discusses the impact of the popular Yugoslavian construction system IMS Žeželj up to the largest architectural scale of the Yugoslav experimental project in Angola. This situation of the Cold War era and its reflection in urban form is treated in greater detail further on using the example of the development of the city of Kabul, discussed in the contribution of Katarína Smatanová and Mirwais Fazli which addresses the case of Afghanistan. An example from a similar region, but stemming from the opposite principle – of independent political and professional know-how – is analyzed in the contribtion of Nevin Turgut Gültekin on the case study of Ankara. Rita Karácsony and Zorán Vukoszávlyjev illustrate the role of educational institutions and the integration of students and architects of Hungary’s emigrant ‘56 generation who settled in Western countries.
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