ABSTRACT
Around 1900, the term ‘urbanism’ was invented to describe a scientific method to control and shape, analyse and study the growth of cities. This method became necessary because the growth of cities had reached a point where they could not be planned any more. They were out of control. The Industrial Revolution generated cities of a size above all prognoses and expectations. Poverty, misery, illness and dirt exploded. Urbanists wanted to find a way to give cities a human face again by planning. The classical conception of a city from which these urbanists started was as a place of production. In the wake of the Industrial Revolution, the city was conceived as a sequence of phases conditioned by industrial labour: you start with an assembly line. Around the assembly line you build a factory. Around the factory you build the homes of the workers. Around the homes you build shops, restaurants and other services.
