ABSTRACT
Architectural determinism involves the belief that there is a direct cause/ effect relationship between architecture and human behavior. In its most extreme form it has been called social engineering. Architectural determinism is one of the most significant miscalculations of the modern movement. Deterministic design was not confined to architecture. The modern city was seen as deliverance from the ills of the medieval city by changing the behavior of its inhabitants. Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright’s sanitized and suburbanized high-rise visionary megaschemes were hoped to be the answer. Sprawling American cities, modeled on Corbusier’s vision, have occasional downtown high-rises, but with virtually no one living in them (Figure 12).
