ABSTRACT
Besides their many architectural and aesthetic aspects, city planning and the construction of public buildings also have a political dimension. The traditional layout of Chinese capital cities, for instance, later adopted for the construction of Japanese capital cities in the sixth and seventh century, corresponds to cosmological principles and is therefore a symbol of social and political stability (Wheatley and See 1978). Haussmann’s well-known city planning projects, like the creation of big boulevards and many representative public buildings in Paris in the nineteenth century, are usually associated with the modernisation of the city, especially since these projects have equipped the city with modern drinking water provisions and a working sewage system. On the other hand the new layout of the city was also a demonstration of the power of Napoleon III. Wide boulevards and marching grounds for soldiers could also be used for parades and other demonstrations of military power (Jordan 1996). An infamous example for the use of city planning and the design of public buildings as a display of power are the projects of Albert Speer, who planned and, in 1939, finished the New Reich Chancellery (Neue Reichskanzlei) for Adolf Hitler in Berlin and who would have redesigned the centre of Berlin into the ultimate demonstration of Nazi power if he had had the time to implement his plans for the new capital Germania (Schönberger 1981, Reichardt and Schäche 2005).
