Le Corbusier the Fascist

It could be argued that famous historical figures remain in memory not only for their contributions to the world but also for the notoriety stemming from controversial aspects of their work. This is especially true of artists. Le Corbusier, the French/Swiss architect and painter, was one of those artists whose mysterious aura has led to prolonged inquiry into the significance of his legacy.

In most architecture schools, Le Corbusier is regarded as the most important architect of the 20th Century. Based on the vast number of books and articles written about the influential man, this may very well be true. But to claim that his influence was ultimately positive for architecture and urbanism remains a point of contention throughout architecture and planning circles.

Aware of this ongoing debate, the autumn issue of the Manhattan Institute’s quarterly publication, City Journal, takes Le Corbusier to task in an article titled ‘The Architect as Totalitarian’. The author, Theodore Dalrymple, compares Le Corbusier to Pol Pot, the former dictator of Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia). Now, to make this comparison is a bit on the extreme side as Le Corbusier was merely an architect, not a military leader responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths. Upon further investigation, it becomes clear that the comparison is meant to take aim at Le Corbusier’s urban planning proposals, which in a sense, were designed to commit ‘genocide’ on the historic fabric of cities and start over anew.

Le Corbusier’s famous urban planning concept, misleadingly called the ‘Radiant City’, aimed to rebuild cities from nothing. Even though the Radiant City is most often associated with Corbusier’s plan to rebuild Paris (Plan Voisin), it was his intention that this model of regimented ‘towers in the park’ could be applied internationally to any city, devoid of reference to local context.


There is no doubt that this 'tabula rasa’ approach to urban development reeks of fascism. Corbusier was not subtle about his desire to wipe the slate clean of history and start all over again (Cultural Revolution anyone?). His rationale stemmed from his disgust with the dirty and messy urbanism that plagued cities during the Industrial Revolution. Yet, like the 20th Century authoritarian dictators, he was intellectually lazy and naive in his solutions to the problems posed by industrial development.

Stringent ideology predicated on radical and swift transformation will almost always inevitably lead to chaos. Le Corbusier’s planning ideas have influenced everything from the hideous communist housing blocks of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to the abject failure known as the housing projects of inner-city America. Even though he might not have been involved in any bloody revolutions, Le Corbusier’s dangerous legacy has left a permanent scar on the history of urbanism.