ABSTRACT
Public planning implies distrust of people's autonomy—a sort of negation of human life. In the past, inertia was accepted as the necessary precondition of autonomy. Houses were what they always had been: a limitation of possible forms of behavior but also, at the same time, a source of stability in life, providing security. The part of people's behavior that is based on routine and habit—the presence of which is a precondition for what is known as attention—has its stronghold in buildings and towns. The manner in which buildings were constructed acquired a new social importance: The provision of housing became a production factor. Once all buildings were defined as having social importance as well as being architecture, it became possible to find a common denominator: The buildings were adapted to the demands of society when designed according to the new functionalist doctrines.
