Housing in the 20th And 21st Centuries (English and German Edition) - Hardcover

Wolfgang Förster

This wide-ranging book examines the world’s most significant large-scale housing complexes, which point the way for the future of housing design.

The seventy residential complexes featured here are recognized as architectural milestones, embodying forward-thinking attitudes towards urban planning. This book chronicles the evolution of these structures, revealing how each best represented its era’s goals: housing a new society in the 1920s and 30s; the 40s and 50s’ leap toward functionality and the future; the high-density urban projects of the 60s and 70s; and diversity and environmental awareness in the 80s and 90s. It also looks at this century’s most progressive developments: Beijing’s Looped Hybrid, a city within a city; India’s Aranya township, which provides housing for impoverished residents; and the environmentally friendly Solaire Apartments in Manhattan, among others. As today’s cities face myriad global challenges, this book provides ample food for thought for anyone concerned with socially responsible architecture.

Wolfgang Förster oversees several European Union projects in the field of residential construction and has published widely in the field of housing and urban renewal.