How Europe Rediscovered its History and Met Resistance

Reurbanisation and the pursuit of more compact settlement structures are only just starting to become mainstream vocabulary in the USA and Australia, and have probably been driven by market mechanisms rather than a rigorously promoted planning paradigm. In Europe, the situation is starkly different. Similar to their New World counterparts, many European cities experienced rapid suburban expansion at the expense of the functional integrity of their established urbanised areas during the 1950s to 1970s, assisted by the need to overcome severe housing shortages following wartime destruction and/or disinvestment. However, perspectives changed profoundly when the post-war economic boom faded during the 1970s and many metropolitan areas experienced stagnation, if not decline in population, and a simultaneous reinvigoration of interest in urban centres resulted from the transition to a postindustrial economy and the emergence of social groups more attracted to urban amenities. Planners responded early to these trends and by the 1980s, cities across the continent were full of advocates for 'growth within' and the 'critical reconstruction' of traditional, compact and multifunctional urban fabric that once again became seen as Europe's most genuine contribution to the global history of city-building. Later, numerous analysts described this urban form as an ideal response to sustainability challenges. In this context, the compact city is associated to: