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Abstract: Before the conquest of Ethiopia and the establishment of the fascist empire in Africa, urban building programmes played a marginal role. On the eve of the war, only four thousand Europeans lived in Eritrea. In early 1939, Asmara had a population of over 84.000 inhabitants, of which 48.000 were Italian and 36.000 were of African origin. The spectacular increase in the population was brought about by the economic growth generated by the war and later by valorisation programmes implemented by the new fascist empire. This made it necessary to design new town building schemes in order to plan larger residential areas (for both Europeans and Africans) and also some commercial and industrial zones. The building of new towns involved a remarkable financial effort on the part of the state, as well as great advantages for the building sector. Large investments were also made so that the empire would be able to produce the necessary building materials. Just as important were the plans for the construction of the «new» Addis Ababa, which should reflect the glowing image of fascist civilisation. This sparked a burning debate in Italy among the main architectural currents, all eager to take part in the urban planning of the imperial cities. Even Le corbusier, fascinated by the possibility of creating a new functional city «from scratch», elaborated a project for Addis Ababa. In the Empire, probably because of less «cultural and ideological» constraints (as compared to Italy), rationalist architecture played a pre-eminent role.