ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on complex and ambiguous relationship between an abstract organic metaphor and its interpretative use and influence on the corporeal urban structure. Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne’s (CIAM) last period of life coincided with the base for worldwide theoretical and urban design activity of the last sixty years. CIAM 8 embodied deep complexity of values and significance that can be hardly compressed within the mere issue of post-war reconstruction, – and erroneously – thought. The CIAM 8 discourse had direct and indirect influences in different urban contexts around the world. The flow of ideas starting from the meeting at Hoddesdon was particularly intense in Europe and in the US. The several actors have been selected because they best stress the continuity or legacy of CIAM 8, with all its contradictions, exposing an insightful balance between the theoretical apparatus and the design experimentations.
