‘The Industrial City’ by Tony Garnier: rethinking the genesis of progressive urbanism, in the centenary of its publication

Abstract

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the French architect Tony Garnier designed a plan for a new city called ‘The Industrial City’. However, the proposal was considered too radical by his peers. In 1917 Garnier used this plan as the basis of the book: Une cité industrielle, étude pour la construccion des villes. The book received much criticism both by academics and professionals. Yet, some years later, it was considered by many authors as one of the most significant planning publications of the twentieth century, becoming a source of inspiration for the proposals of many progressive architects, such as Le Corbusier, and having significant impact on the urban form of cities around the world. 100 years have passed since the publication of the book. Professionals working in the urban and architectural fields should reflect on the breadth of the Industrial City proposal. This paper aims at analysing the elements of urban form proposed by Garnier in his book, as well as the consequences of the use of these elements and the importance they had in architecture and urbanism. Research is based on primary sources, namely the book itself, and on secondary sources, including the critique of the book. The paper concludes that, even after all the years since the publication of the book, many elements proposed by Garnier in his definition of the urban form of the Industrial City are still informing contemporary urban projects and practices at many different scales.