ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that comparative studies could provide guidance for historians of rebuilding in cities not yet studied. It focuses on the ways in which the relationship between urban planning and urban reconstruction can be explored through comparative research. During the Second World War, some 500 cities or towns were totally or partly destroyed, and reconstruction planning began under central direction. In the case of Leningrad, a new general plan, based on a pioneering plan for Moscow, had been created by the Leningrad's official city architect Nikolai Baranov. A similar example can be found in a paper presented at the meeting of the European Association for Urban History: Carola Hein, 'Werner Hebebrand and Edmund Bacon: A comparative analysis of post-war urban renewal in Hamburg and Philadelphia'. Faced with rebuilding their bombed-out cities, planners, both centrally and locally, sought to control urban sprawl, build trunk roads and create new parks and green belts.
