Le Corbusier was horrified by such conditions.

‘All cities have

Tomorrow
sick.’ Given the scale of the crisis, drastic measures were in
order, and the architect was in no mood to feel sentimental
about their side effects. ‘The existing centres must come
down,’ he said. ‘To save itself every great city must rebuild
Alain de Botton describes how in 1925 French architect 50 its centre.’ In order to alleviate overcrowding, the ancient
Le Corbusier proposed a drastic plan to rebuild the low-rise buildings would have to be replaced by a new kind
of structure only recently made possible by advances in
historic centre of Paris.
reinforced concrete technology: the skyscraper. ‘2,700 people
I once spent a summer in a small hotel in the second will use one front door,’ marvelled Le Corbusier.
5 arrondissement of Paris, a stone’s throw away from the chilly 55 By building upwards, two problems would be resolved at a
seriousness of the old National Library, where I repaired
every morning in a vain attempt to research a book I hoped stroke: overcrowding and urban sprawl. With room enough
to write. It was a lively part of town, and I would often sit in a for everyone in towers, there would be no need to spread
café adjacent to my hotel named, as if out of a tourist guide, outwards and devour the countryside in the process. There
10 Chez Antoine.
would be ample green space as well, as up to 50 per cent of
60 urban land would be devoted to parks. The new city would
Everyone, it seemed, dropped by Chez Antoine at some point itself be a vast park, with large towers dotted among the trees.
in the day. Elegant women would have coffee and a cigarette On the roofs of the apartment blocks, there would be games
at the counter in the morning. Policemen lunched there, of tennis, and sunbathing on the shores of artificial beaches.
students whiled away the afternoons on the covered terrace,
Simultaneously, Le Corbusier planned to abolish the city
15 and by evening there’d be scholars, politicians, divorcees
65 street. He resented the fact that the legitimate demands
and tourists, flirting, arguing, having dinner, smoking and
of both cars and people were constantly and needlessly
playing pinball. As a result, although I was alone in Paris,
compromised, and he therefore recommended that the two
and went for days hardly speaking to anyone, I felt none of
be separated. In the new city, people would have footpaths
the alienation with which I was familiar in other cities. That
all to themselves, winding through woods and forests (no
20 summer I imagined no greater happiness than to be able to
70 pedestrian will ever meet an automobile, ever!), while cars
live in Paris for ever, pursuing a routine of going to the library,
would enjoy massive and dedicated motorways, with smooth,
ambling the streets and watching the world from a corner
curving interchanges, thus guaranteeing that no driver would
table at Chez Antoine.
ever have to slow down for the sake of a pedestrian.
I was therefore surprised to find out, some years later, that
25 the very area in which I had stayed had fallen within a zone The division of cars and people was but one element
which one of the most intelligent and influential architects of 75 in Le Corbusier’s plan for a
the twentieth century had wanted systematically to dynamite reorganization of life in the new
and replace with a great park punctuated at intervals with city. All functions would now
eighteen 60-storey cruciform towers stretching up to the be untangled. There would no
30 lower slopes of Montmartre. longer be factories, for example,
80 in the middle of residential areas.
Le Corbusier had drawn up his Parisian scheme at a moment
of unequalled urban crisis. Across the developing world, cities The new city would be an
were exploding in size. In 1800 the French capital was home arena of green space,
to 647,000 people. By 1910 three million were squeezed within clean air, ample
accommodation
35 its inadequate confines. In apartment buildings, several families
85 and flowers.
typically shared a single room. In 1900, in the poorer districts of
Paris, one toilet generally served 70 residents. A cold-water tap
was a luxury. Factories and workshops were sited in the middle
of residential areas, emitting smoke and deadly effluents.
40 Children played in courtyards covered with raw sewage.
Cholera and tuberculosis were a constant threat. Streets were
choked by traffic day and night. There was not much that was
picturesque about the early twentieth-century city.
EPAU CHIHI AMAL GHAZALA
ENGLISH ( 1st year FB) [email protected]

Read the precedent text and answer the following:

1- What image comes to your mind when you think of Paris?

2- Read the introductory sentence to the article and discuss the questions.
a. Why do you think Le Corbusier’s plan is described as ‘drastic’= extravagant?
b. Why might such a plan have been considered necessary?

3-Read the article again and choose the correct words to complete the sentences.
a) The writer says the Chez Antoine was very near the National Library/ owned by his
hotel/ being restored.
b) He did not feel lonely/ safe/ happy in Paris.
c) At the beginning of the twentieth-century Paris was one of the poorest European cities/
extremely overcrowded/ a mainly industrial city.
d) Le Corbusier was concerned about the negative consequences of his proposed changes/
political situation in France/ living conditions in cities.
e) He belived his plans would help stop further migration to the city/the uncontrolled
development of the city/ unfair property speculation.
f) Le Corbusier felt that cars should be banned/ drove too fast/ should not be hindered by
pedestrians.

5- Discuss the meaning of the highlighted words and expressions in the article.

6- Discuss the questions.

 How attractive and convenient for residents are the buildings and streets in your capital
city or the town in which you live? What changes, small or drastic, would you make?