Leon Krier and the organic revival within urban policy and practice

Abstract

Contemporary changes in strategies for dealing with the form and design of urban areas have origins which deserve excavation. The popularization of the notion of creating quality, compact towns and cities is a case in point. Using the work of Leon Krier as a case study, this paper outlines the background to a particular version of the organic metaphorical discourse which is winning some favour within current debate and policy making for urban areas. The argument developed in the paper is that the apparent innocence of any urbanization policy needs to be reconsidered by unravelling the intertwined connections between theorists' ideologies and explanatory practice, the consequent permeations into planning discourse, and the adaptations by city creators into normative strategies.