Nortopia

How can 'Nordic modernism' be defined? Did German city planners look to the North for inspiration after the Second World War? In what way did the social model affect architecture and city planning in the Nordic Countries? What specific features characterise architecture and town planning in the Nordic countries compared with postwar Germany? The fiftieth anniversary of Interbau 1957 presented a timely opportunity to reappraise the Hansaviertel in Berlin and the New Building movement. In this context, Nordic conceptions of architecture and town planning seemed particularly worthy of critical reflection. The well-known Swedish 'people's home' (folkhem), as well as various national strands of modernisation, architectural preferences, and even geopolitical considerations play a role in the formation of the Nordic model. The contributors to this volume have taken the example of the Hansaviertel as an opportunity to investigate Nordic-German transfer in modernism - aesthetically, socioculturally, and programmatically.