Indice dei fascicoli

Abstract: The paper considers the reconstruction of the cities in France after 1918, questions the way it has been studied and how to look at it in a new way. It has long been considered architecturally a failure, which arguably explains its limited historical investigation. The reflections on urban planning were intense in that period, several treaties were published, and for the first time in France development plans became compulsory for the cities in 1919. These plans, often drawn by members of the Société Française des Urbanistes, had only a limited effect, because they were too ambitious and financially unrealistic. They could be by-passed using the extant legislation, which many cities did or ended doing. This, and the antagonism of the Moderns from the 1920s, led to discredit the realizations, which the historian has to reassess.

Keywords: Reconstruction 1918; France; Town Planning; Reconstitution.