ABSTRACT
In an address to the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1982, Leon Krier railed against modernism. If he were the head of RIBA, Krier vowed, he would plaster over the memorials the Institute had given to modernist architects whom he accused of destroying European cities and culture (Krier 1984a). Two decades later, RIBA elected a president who promoted new urban approaches, and the British government had committed itself whole heartedly to an ‘urban renaissance’. How do we explain the transformation of dogma not only in the United Kingdom but in the United States, Canada, and several other countries as well? How did modernism find itself supplanted by a new urbanism that seeks inspiration in our urban past? Where did the traditional urban revival come from, what does it advocate, and why has it become so popular? These questions permeate this book.
