The subject of this book is twofold - a concept and its meaning, an architectural culture and its preoccupation. The architectural culture is that of Vienna during the last twenty-five years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where the themes discussed represented the paradoxical nature of architecture and cities in response to modern industrial society. The concept in question is, or appears at first sight to be, our own Twenty-First century concept in its infancy: the concept of space (Raum), which was first explicitly formulated as an architectural term during the 1890s. This book examines...

The book explores the transformation of the city fabric and public spaces since the time of Industrial Revolution. Using the time frame from the late 18th century as a ground for investigation, this inquiry focuses on the visible and non-visible manifestations, i.e. upon the practical, functional, material, as well as representational and symbolic aspects of the city fabric. It inquires into the various ways we understand and relate to the spatial structure of the city, the relationship between the nature of the city fabric and public life in the city, the pretexts and criteria for the...