IN-PERSON Barcelona. Section B

Abstract

Altough cities serve as triggers for futuristic utopian moments, in certain historical periods, it is observed that this moment shifts towards the rural areas. Architectural theorists Frank Lloyd Wright and Rem Koolhaas have argued, that cities have exhausted their capacity to achieve a radical transformation for the future and that a new future will sprout in rural areas. When we closely examine this attitude and scrutinize the future visions of two theorists, it becomes evident that their pronouncements on the exhaustion of the city are simultaneously related to the urban crises of their periods. The main aim of this study is to question why the radical societal change indicated by Wright and Koolhaas is sought in rural areas. Alongside this fundamental question, the reflection of urban crises on societal issues in both centuries will be questioned, and the potential of the rural to address these issues will be discussed. In this study, that compares two prominent theorists and two centuries, similarities and differences in problematics and solutions on urban-rural duality also be addressed. The question of whether this comparison on the matter leads to a paradigm shift will be explored. In this study, a research method, the historical interpretative method, will be used. Accordingly, books, exhibitions, and interviews, featuring Wright and Koolhaas will serve as main sources for the study. Key writings of significant figures, to whom the authors refer to enhance their ideas, will be employed as secondary sources.