Background
When the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) came into power in 1922, not only were the political leaders faced with threats of internal and external attacks, they were also faced with the responsibility of re-planning and developing rural towns and urbanized areas which aligned with the socialist way of life. Due to the civil war period, prior to 1922, no practical planning and development could be completed. However, there was already an attitude to raise rural standards to meet the living standards of urban areas. On August 20th 1918, all land was decreed, which meant that all land from then on belonged to the state and local governments. During that time, all large houses were turned into apartments and rooms for the public, improving public living standards almost immediately. It is by no surprise, that the architects and planners who later help develop the new society, experimented with new concepts and techniques which would reflect the political, social and economic ideals of communism. One of the greatest influences on socialist planning prior to the revolution was Garden City movement driven by Ebenezer Howard, with many garden city plans created even prior to the revolution. His belief was that the garden city would unify the town and country, creating a new urbanized environment which would bring psychological and health benefits to the residents. Post revolution, efforts to build garden cities were noted in various places, including a city for 500 people in Moscow.
Competitions
Many competitions were created for different architectural buildings for communal living. The development of new technology greatly excited the planners and architects of the time, as they believed that it would release them from their constraints, this may have been one of the reasons why there were large amount of entries for the competitions. One of the notable buildings was the Central Trade Union Building, won by le Corbusier, as he had actually witnessed the construction of his design.
Urbanist vs Dis-urbanist
Despite having a common foundation of inspiration in planning, architects and planners had extremely different opinions on how the execute the actual development. During 1922-1923, there was a debate on how to execute the design of the “Green City” between the urbanists and the dis-urbanists. The dis-urbanist perspective could be described with the catchphrase “Not greenery in the town, but the town in green plantations” (French, 1995, p.37). They wanted to develop small towns, with less than 32 000 people, which embraced the natural beauty of its surroundings, rejecting orderly shapes patterns. Extremists of the dis-urbanist ideals, wanted to completely abolish the ideal of having towns, an example of this would be Okhitivich’s concept where the city would be designed in small triangles, with factories at the tips of the triangles, residential areas and parks along the side of the triangles and agricultural land in the center. On the other side of the debate, were the urbanists, who embraced the idea towns and developing communal housing, with all amenities such as, kindergartens, schools, age care centers all within the neighborhood. The Linear City Plan, had been seen as a midway between the urbanists and dis-urbanists. Milyutin, a Russian urban planner, had come up with the idea of creating parallel strips for residential areas and factories, which were separated by a green strip. The linear plan embraced the idea of the socialist city being a production line and the center of all production. It allowed workers to easily commute to work and other facilities, and houses were hoped to be built facing water or forests and on the up wind of factories to minimize exposure to pollution.
However…
Despite the linear plan being a good balance between the urbanists and dis-urbanists, by the time it was being designed, there had already been many rapid changes that had occurred in the socialist city. Various existing towns and factories had begun to experience population growth from rural migrants, and many small settlements began to populate by areas with new resources. Furthermore, Stalin concerned himself with other political matters, including building up the strength of his army and had little time to concern himself with matters such as architectural planning and development. Architects were criticized heavily as their plans did not take into consideration any “economic and social” (French, 1995, p.42) considerations. Finally on the 14th of July in 1923, a decree was passed for separate family apartments to be built, and the various architectural and planning groups were united as a controlled union of arts.
1920’s planning
Although not many actual buildings were constructed in the post-revolutionary period, it was a time were many great theories were discovered and created through the development of new technology and access to greater resources. Although city plans had not been fully implemented, there were some key areas that were taken into consideration, such as the idea of having a close space between work and residential areas, a cap on city sizes and having a central city or square. These were all ideas that were generated through the post-revolutionary period for a socialist city.
Urban System in Communist China
The communist revolution in China was pioneered in rural areas due to the increasing disparities between the rich and the poor in urban and rural areas respectively. Therefore, unlike the USSR who aimed to improve rural living standards to urban living standards, The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) focused more heavily on migrating the urban population into rural areas. The CCP aimed to industrialize the Western Regions of the country, which were away from the East Coast through the building of new railroad networks. In many ways, this was a great success, as many smaller provinces were able to develop as they became regional rail centers. In 1958 Mao introduced the “Household Registration System” Otherwise known as the Hu Kou system, which separated the rural and urban citizens by birth, this controlled the amount of migrants which were allowed to freely move around China, thus, stagnating the growth of urban populations. In order to create greater security, Mao introduced the idea of the “Third Front Project” in the mountainous areas of China. This project was aimed to relocate resources for the military away from the coastal areas. Many of the Chinese urban population was thus, relocated into these areas for military and industrial redevelopment. However, despite all the efforts to relocate large proportions of the population to the Western Regions in China in the 50’s and 60’s, economic growth was relatively uneven, with majority of growth centralized in urbanized areas. It is by no surprise that in the 1970’s after Mao’s death, more resources were placed on the urbanized cities of China to lead the rest of the country in economic development.
Closing Remarks
I personally found it very interesting comparing how the two communist countries approached urban planning and architecture in the 20th Century. From the readings themselves, it felt as if the Soviet Union had placed a greater emphasis on actually re-planning and reconstructing the towns than the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP, seemed to focus more on the relocation of the urban population into rural areas with little focus on actually planning and designing a socialist society.
References
French, R.A. (1995). The City of Socialist Man. Plans, Pragmatism and People: the Legacy of Soviet Planning for Today’s Cities. (pp.29-49). London, UCL Press.
Wu, W., & Gaubatz, P. (2013). The Urban System since 1949. The Chinese City. (pp.71-92). London, New York Routledge.
When the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) came into power in 1922, not only were the political leaders faced with threats of internal and external attacks, they were also faced with the responsibility of re-planning and developing rural towns and urbanized areas which aligned with the socialist way of life. Due to the civil war period, prior to 1922, no practical planning and development could be completed. However, there was already an attitude to raise rural standards to meet the living standards of urban areas. On August 20th 1918, all land was decreed, which meant that all land from then on belonged to the state and local governments. During that time, all large houses were turned into apartments and rooms for the public, improving public living standards almost immediately. It is by no surprise, that the architects and planners who later help develop the new society, experimented with new concepts and techniques which would reflect the political, social and economic ideals of communism. One of the greatest influences on socialist planning prior to the revolution was Garden City movement driven by Ebenezer Howard, with many garden city plans created even prior to the revolution. His belief was that the garden city would unify the town and country, creating a new urbanized environment which would bring psychological and health benefits to the residents. Post revolution, efforts to build garden cities were noted in various places, including a city for 500 people in Moscow.
Competitions
Many competitions were created for different architectural buildings for communal living. The development of new technology greatly excited the planners and architects of the time, as they believed that it would release them from their constraints, this may have been one of the reasons why there were large amount of entries for the competitions. One of the notable buildings was the Central Trade Union Building, won by le Corbusier, as he had actually witnessed the construction of his design.
Urbanist vs Dis-urbanist
Despite having a common foundation of inspiration in planning, architects and planners had extremely different opinions on how the execute the actual development. During 1922-1923, there was a debate on how to execute the design of the “Green City” between the urbanists and the dis-urbanists. The dis-urbanist perspective could be described with the catchphrase “Not greenery in the town, but the town in green plantations” (French, 1995, p.37). They wanted to develop small towns, with less than 32 000 people, which embraced the natural beauty of its surroundings, rejecting orderly shapes patterns. Extremists of the dis-urbanist ideals, wanted to completely abolish the ideal of having towns, an example of this would be Okhitivich’s concept where the city would be designed in small triangles, with factories at the tips of the triangles, residential areas and parks along the side of the triangles and agricultural land in the center. On the other side of the debate, were the urbanists, who embraced the idea towns and developing communal housing, with all amenities such as, kindergartens, schools, age care centers all within the neighborhood. The Linear City Plan, had been seen as a midway between the urbanists and dis-urbanists. Milyutin, a Russian urban planner, had come up with the idea of creating parallel strips for residential areas and factories, which were separated by a green strip. The linear plan embraced the idea of the socialist city being a production line and the center of all production. It allowed workers to easily commute to work and other facilities, and houses were hoped to be built facing water or forests and on the up wind of factories to minimize exposure to pollution.
However…
Despite the linear plan being a good balance between the urbanists and dis-urbanists, by the time it was being designed, there had already been many rapid changes that had occurred in the socialist city. Various existing towns and factories had begun to experience population growth from rural migrants, and many small settlements began to populate by areas with new resources. Furthermore, Stalin concerned himself with other political matters, including building up the strength of his army and had little time to concern himself with matters such as architectural planning and development. Architects were criticized heavily as their plans did not take into consideration any “economic and social” (French, 1995, p.42) considerations. Finally on the 14th of July in 1923, a decree was passed for separate family apartments to be built, and the various architectural and planning groups were united as a controlled union of arts.
1920’s planning
Although not many actual buildings were constructed in the post-revolutionary period, it was a time were many great theories were discovered and created through the development of new technology and access to greater resources. Although city plans had not been fully implemented, there were some key areas that were taken into consideration, such as the idea of having a close space between work and residential areas, a cap on city sizes and having a central city or square. These were all ideas that were generated through the post-revolutionary period for a socialist city.
Urban System in Communist China
The communist revolution in China was pioneered in rural areas due to the increasing disparities between the rich and the poor in urban and rural areas respectively. Therefore, unlike the USSR who aimed to improve rural living standards to urban living standards, The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) focused more heavily on migrating the urban population into rural areas. The CCP aimed to industrialize the Western Regions of the country, which were away from the East Coast through the building of new railroad networks. In many ways, this was a great success, as many smaller provinces were able to develop as they became regional rail centers. In 1958 Mao introduced the “Household Registration System” Otherwise known as the Hu Kou system, which separated the rural and urban citizens by birth, this controlled the amount of migrants which were allowed to freely move around China, thus, stagnating the growth of urban populations. In order to create greater security, Mao introduced the idea of the “Third Front Project” in the mountainous areas of China. This project was aimed to relocate resources for the military away from the coastal areas. Many of the Chinese urban population was thus, relocated into these areas for military and industrial redevelopment. However, despite all the efforts to relocate large proportions of the population to the Western Regions in China in the 50’s and 60’s, economic growth was relatively uneven, with majority of growth centralized in urbanized areas. It is by no surprise that in the 1970’s after Mao’s death, more resources were placed on the urbanized cities of China to lead the rest of the country in economic development.
Closing Remarks
I personally found it very interesting comparing how the two communist countries approached urban planning and architecture in the 20th Century. From the readings themselves, it felt as if the Soviet Union had placed a greater emphasis on actually re-planning and reconstructing the towns than the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP, seemed to focus more on the relocation of the urban population into rural areas with little focus on actually planning and designing a socialist society.
References
French, R.A. (1995). The City of Socialist Man. Plans, Pragmatism and People: the Legacy of Soviet Planning for Today’s Cities. (pp.29-49). London, UCL Press.
Wu, W., & Gaubatz, P. (2013). The Urban System since 1949. The Chinese City. (pp.71-92). London, New York Routledge.
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