ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 , titled “Housing and the Humane City,” examines McHarg’s adherence to the principles of mid-20th century modernist architecture as exemplified in his studies of housing. Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, Ebenezer Howard, Philip Johnson, Josep Lluís Sert, John Dewey, Lewis Mumford, and Kenneth Rexroth are the protagonists in this discussion. The chapter begins in Scotland with a discussion of the plan McHarg developed for a New Town located on a hillside site that overlooked the Firth of Clyde. The second part of the chapter examines three essays on housing that he composed following his acceptance of a teaching position at the University of Pennsylvania and return to the United States. This discussion details McHarg’s critique of normative urban planning and his attempt to define an alternative that was functional, expressive, and socially empowering.
