A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Making the most of tomorrow : a laboratory of socialist modernity in Czechoslovakia
Most, one of the most impressive historical cities of Northern Bohemia, was destroyed in the sixties and seventies for coal mining. When plans to redevelop the city began, hope and expectations ran high; in the end, however, Most became a symbol for the heartless incompetence of Czechoslovak communism. In this book, Matěj Spurný explores the historical city of Most from the nineteenth century into the years following World War II, investigating the decision to destroy it as well as the negotiations concerning the spirit of the proposed new city. Situating postwar Most in the context of cultural and social shifts in Czechoslovakia and Europe as a whole, Spurný traces the path a medieval city took to become a showcase of brutalist architecture and the regime’s technicist inhumanity. But the book, like the city of Most itself, does not end in tragedy. Fusing architectural and political history with urban and environmental studies, Spurný’s tale shows the progress that can be made when Czechs confront the crimes of the past – including the expulsion of local Germans and the treatment of the Romani minority – and engage with rational, contemporary European concepts of urban renewal.
Making the most of tomorrow : a laboratory of socialist modernity in Czechoslovakia
Most, one of the most impressive historical cities of Northern Bohemia, was destroyed in the sixties and seventies for coal mining. When plans to redevelop the city began, hope and expectations ran high; in the end, however, Most became a symbol for the heartless incompetence of Czechoslovak communism. In this book, Matěj Spurný explores the historical city of Most from the nineteenth century into the years following World War II, investigating the decision to destroy it as well as the negotiations concerning the spirit of the proposed new city. Situating postwar Most in the context of cultural and social shifts in Czechoslovakia and Europe as a whole, Spurný traces the path a medieval city took to become a showcase of brutalist architecture and the regime’s technicist inhumanity. But the book, like the city of Most itself, does not end in tragedy. Fusing architectural and political history with urban and environmental studies, Spurný’s tale shows the progress that can be made when Czechs confront the crimes of the past – including the expulsion of local Germans and the treatment of the Romani minority – and engage with rational, contemporary European concepts of urban renewal.
Making the most of tomorrow : a laboratory of socialist modernity in Czechoslovakia
Most do budoucnosti
Spurný, Matěj (author) / Paton, Derek (translator) / Paton, Marzia (translator)
First English edition
2019
456 Seiten
Quellen- und Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 424-445
Enthält ein Register
Originally published in Czech as "Most do budoucnosti. Laboratoř socialistické modernity na severu Čech", Prague: Karolinum Press, 2016.
The making of the English version of the book war supported by the European Regional Development Fund project "Creativity and Adaptability as Conditions of the Success of Europe in an Interrelated World" (No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019-0000734).
Book
English , Czech
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