Planning and Urban Growth in the Nordic Countries by Thomas Hall

Author:Thomas Hall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2011-09-27T16:00:00+00:00

The town was rebuilt over a period of a few years, just when the Art Nouveau style was fashionable with Norwegian architects. The lively and varied façades, the often oblique, steep and disconnected streets with frequent glimpses down to the harbour and the sea, all serve to make Ålesund an unusual and exciting urban experience.

When Norway decided in 1905 to terminate the union with Sweden, certain national trends had begun to appear in Norwegian architecture and gradually also in town planning. The prescript that all Norwegian towns should be planned according to standardized grid systems became the target of growing criticism. The main objections were on aesthetic grounds or based on landscape considerations, but there were also strong technical and economic arguments.

The change in ideas was clearly attributable to new European trends around the turn of the century. The many negative aspects of industrial and urban development had become obvious: overcrowded cities, continuous expansion, schematic town plans lacking any character, and a universal absence of social and environmental qualities in the urban scene.

The Viennese architect Camillo Sitte, the pioneer of the garden city Ebenezer Howard, and the town-planner ecologist Patrick Geddes, each in their way came to influence urban development in the new century. Howard’s and Sitte’s ideas were reflected in the town plans of Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker for Letchworth and Hampstead Garden Suburb. In Germany, too, interesting new models appeared in the works of architects such as Karl Henrici. Norwegian architects, civil engineers and medical practitioners returned from study tours abroad, inspired by the new ideas they had found there, particularly in Britain. Over these years a town-planning profession was gradually evolving in Norway, recruited from the growing numbers of architects and civil engineers.

Figure 4.15. Bergen.

Military map from 1864. Notice the characteristic fire-breaks or almenninger.

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