Abstract

In the nineteenth century Europe underwent intensive social and economic transformations. Rapidly progressing industrialization as well as violent demographic growth caused by rural population migrating to cities, contributed to numerous pathologies in the development of urban space, such as overpopulation, homelessness, decline in hygiene standards and epidemic risk. Suburbs began to grow uncontrollably, the quality of living conditions deteriorated, routes and water supplies were less and less efficient. The administrative and education structures needed to be improved. The standard of living in the cities was decreasing even though many inhabitants were getting wealthier. In the ensuing situation, there was a necessity to create space that would provide all the citizens with a good job, apartment and urban comfort allowing them to rest and get closer to nature. The pioneer of a new way of thinking about a city was Ebenezer Howard, the creator of the garden city idea based on the theory of the three magnets. Howard wanted to combine the advantages of living in the city with those in the countryside, eliminating at the same time their disadvantages. A good example of the implementation of his idea is Hellerau near Dresden. Presently, thanks to its interesting history and unusual spatial composition Hellerau has become an international destination for cultural tourism. Unfortunately, the lack of adequate legal tools protecting the existing facilities and no possibility to interfere in the designs of newly created facilities can be a danger to the harmonious landscape of Hellerau. The quintessence of the modernist approach to the so called "urban planning with a human face" was the Athens Charter established in 1933 at the International Congress of the Modern Architecture.(original abstract)