Modernism and the Spirit of the City offers a new reading of the architectural modernism that emerged and flourished in Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. Rejecting the fashionable postmodernist arguments of the 1980s and '90s which damned modernist architecture as banal and monotonous, this collection of essays by eminent scholars investigates the complex cultural, social, and religious imperatives that lay below the smooth, white surfaces of new architecture.

This collection of essays offers a new reading of the architectural modernism that emerged and flourished in Europe in the first half of the 20th century. Rejecting the fashionable postmodernist arguments of the 1980s and '90s which damned modernist architecture as banal and monotous, the essays investigate the complex cultural, social and religious imperatives that lay below the smooth, white surfaces of new architecture.

This anthology of essays by a group of distinguished scholars investigates post-1945 city planning in Britain; not from a technical viewpoint, but as a polemical, visual and educational phenomenon, shifting the focus of scholarly interest towards the often-neglected emotional and aesthetic aspects of post-war planning.

Each essay is grounded in original archival research and sheds new light on this critical era in the development of modern town planning. This collection is a valuable resource for architectural, social and urban historians, as well as students and researchers...