Werner Hegemann and the Search for Universal Urbanism

Christiane Crasemann Collins

Praise for Werner Hegemann and the Search for Universal Urbanism:

“There is much to admire here, including content, impressive attention to detail, and the author’s capacity to maintain a consistently high level of scholarship throughout 400-plus pages….[T]his biography will certainly find acceptance as the standard work on its subject.”

 - Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology

“[A]n important contribution to the literature of twentieth century urbanism. . . . It will undoubtedly become the standard work on Hegemann and his many-faceted career. . . . [T]he interested reader will find great value in this careful and well-illustrated study of a forgotten but extremely important figure in the development of urbanism, modern and otherwise.”
—Planning Perspectives

“By providing this first true study of his career, Collins. has increased our understanding of the diversity of urban and architectural criticism in the early twentieth century.”
—Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review

“[A] key contribution. . . . [G]reat depth of research. . . . Collins has performed an admirable service in recalling Hegemann's vital role as a transatlantic mediator of twentieth-century modernist architectural culture.”
—American Historical Review

“[R]eads as a veritable 'who's who' of early twentieth-century urbanists and it is her effort to situate Hegemann's vision of the city and modern society among these individuals that makes Collins's contribution to architectural and planning history particularly valuable....[S]hould appeal to many with an interest in modernism and the modern city.” —H-Net Book Review

“[R]eads as a veritable 'who's who' of early twentieth-century urbanists and it is her effort to situate Hegemann's vision of the city and modern society among these individuals that makes Collins's contribution to architectural and planning history particularly valuable.” —H-Urban

“As Collins argues in this important addition to the history of urbanism in the first half of the twentieth century, Hegemann's efforts to implement social progress, reform, and artistry to the city continue to have great relevance today.” —Journal of the Society of Architectural Historian

Reviews:

"Thanks to decades of scholarship by Collins, we now have the first substantive, comprehensive, and coherent review of the Hegemann (1881-1936), a protean critic, editor, author, and educator, played in the small circle of people grappling seriously with the problems produced by the explosive and inchoate growth of the modern city.... [T]he well-made book includes a rich bibliography in the numerous footnotes and an extensive selective list of Hegemann's publications...Highly recommended."

—Choice

"Now, at last, a biography of Hegemann has been published… [T]his book is a step toward reclaiming a notable figure."

—New Urban News

"Collins has undoubtedly performed a great service in awarding her farsighted, brave and ultimately tragic hero the attention he has deserved." —Modern Painters

Overview

Addressing the life and work of a major figure of the Modern Movement in architecture and city planning, about whom very little is known, this first full study of Werner Hegemann (1881-1936) recounts his contribution to the emerging discipline of international city planning and his influential position within the movement. The foremost scholar on Hegemann, Collins examines the theoretical and ideological basis of his belief in an urban universality to benefit humanity and discusses the criticism he encountered to present a comprehensive analysis of a leader in a field just beginning to define itself.

About the Author

Christiane Crasemann Collins, a historian of modern architecture and city planning, lives in West Falmouth, Massachusetts.

ISBN: 0-393-73156-1
Winter 2005
Cloth; 384 pages