ABSTRACT
Karl Heinrich Brunner von Lehenstein (1887-1960) was an Austrian urban planner who was influenced by the central European planning concepts of the beginning of the twentieth century. Brunner’s early years in Vienna were marked by the Grossstadt model of Otto Wagner, the Garden-City in its Austro-German form, and the well-known social housing movement of Red Vienna, which began in 1922. As a result, Brunner’s move to Latin America and his planning experiences from 1929 to 1948 in Chile, Colombia, and Panama established a significant link between the above-mentioned planning schools and urgent urban development demands on the American soil. Brunner’s concepts and work in Latin America combined functional requirements with local demands. In order to do this, he carried out economic feasibility studies as well as detailed planning analyses. In his strategies regarding the Latin American city he focused on urban expansion, inner-city interventions, and local reorganization without making substantial changes to the already existing urban structure. He was particularly concerned with housing themes and public urban space. In contrast to many other European planners, Brunner largely avoided simply transferring European planning concepts to Latin America.1
