Le Corbusier’s modernist vision: creating a universal city plan

Abstract

This study compares Le Corbusier’s urban plans for Chandigarh with Paris, highlighting the mod-ernist principles he applied and the design concept’s universality. This study aims to investigate the degree to which the architect’s concept of universal urban planning may be implemented in various metropolitan settings, while examining the ways in which his designs were impacted by the specifics of Chandigarh and Paris. In this thesis, the first part of the research consists of finding Le Corbusier’s early key principles on a city. Le Corbusier’s own publications, including ‘L’Urbanisme’, ‘The Plan Voisin’ and ‘The City of Tomorrow and Its Planning,’ were studied to find these. In order to determine if Le Corbusier’s theory of urban planning was generally applicable, a com-parative analysis takes place to illustrate the distinctions between his universal concepts and the particular components of both city plans. This analysis can be found in the second part of the thesis. Where has he moderated his general approach, and where do the disparities lie? Le Cor-busier’s literature and sketches on these city plans have been examined to find these answers. For a more comprehensive knowledge of his work, secondary sources have also been explored. The thesis shows that the differences in results between the Chandigarh project and Plan Voisin underscore the difficulties involved in attempting to execute a single, comprehensive plan across a range of urban environments. Le Corbusier’s utopian vision came to pass in Chandigarh, but its realization also highlighted the challenges associated with bringing such ideals to fruition. Le Corbusier’s method of thinking evolved over time, demonstrating the necessity of adapting ab-stract concepts to the unique conditions of each city. Keywords: Ville Contemporaine, Plan Voisin, Chandigarh, urban planning.