Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City movement, initiated at the turn of the twentieth century, sought to address urban congestion by dispersing populations into self-contained communities combining residential, industrial, and agricultural zones, surrounded by greenbelts. Howard envisioned low-density, low-rise developments where humans lived in close harmony with nature. Conversely, Le Corbusier’s Radiant City, conceived in the 1930s, responded to the same urban crises by embracing high-density, vertical development. Rather than spreading outwards, Le Corbusier proposed building upwards with massive skyscrapers, freeing up 95 percent of the ground level for shared parkland and pedestrian paths. While Howard sought to decentralize the city, Le Corbusier aimed to reform the centralized city from within through architectural verticality.
According to the passage, which of the following statements best describes the primary difference in how the urban design approaches of Ebenezer Howard and Le Corbusier address the problem of urban congestion?
- AHoward suggests establishing high-density towers surrounded by greenbelts, while Le Corbusier argues for low-density agricultural zones.
- BHoward seeks to ban industrial activities from municipal boundaries, whereas Le Corbusier seeks to merge all residential and industrial facilities into single skyscrapers.
- Howard advocates for decentralizing populations into low-density, low-rise communities, while Le Corbusier proposes managing density through vertical architecture within the centralized city.Answer
- DHoward believes that urban planning should prioritize agricultural growth over housing, whereas Le Corbusier advocates for replacing all public parks with pedestrian highways.