ATHENS LETTER.
CIAM - International Congress of Modern Architecture 1933
A. GENERAL
1. The city is only a part of a social economic and political constitutes the region.
2. Juxtaposed to the economy, to political and social values, psychological and physiological, related to the human person preocupciones introduced into the discussion of individual and collective order.
3. These constants will suffer psychological and biological environmental influences (geographic location and topography, economic and political situation).
4. Geographical location and topographical nature of the elements water and earth, the nature of soil, climate.
5. Economic conditions: the resources of the region, as well as natural or artificial contacts abroad.
6. The situation political, administrative system.
7. Circumstances through history have given the character of the city, military defense, scientific discoveries, successive administrations, the progressive development of communications and means of transport (land routes). Maritime waterways and railways and airways.
8. The reasons which govern the development of cities are thus subject to constant change.
9. The advent of machine age has caused huge disruptions in the behavior of men in their distribution on earth and in their companies. Unrestrained movement of concentration cities in favor of the mechanical speed, brutal development unprecedented in history, and is universal. The chaos has come into the cities.
B. CRITICAL CURRENT STATE OF THE CITIES
I. ROOM
10. The population is too dense in the interior of the historic city center (counts up to a thousand and even 1500 people per hectare) as well as in parts of nineteenth-century industrial expansion
11. In these urban areas tablets habitción conditions are dire: be attributed to lack of space in the room, lack of space, green available, so lacking in maintenance of buildings (explotción based on speculation).
situation made worse by the presence of a population of very low standard of living, unable to take defensive action itself (mortality reaches 20%).
12. The growth of the City. gradually devouring neighboring green areas on which they took their waists successive view. This distance is always greater than the natural elements further enhances the disorder in hygiene.
13. The buildings for the room are spread over the surface of the city in contradiction the needs of hygiene.
14. Denser neighborhoods are less favorable areas (slopes misguided, haze sectors invaded industrial gases, flooding etc.
15. The airy structures (superior standard rooms) occupy the A bright spot, sheltered from harsh winds and view secured perspectives on landscape, lakes, seas, mountains and so on. And a plentiful sunshine.
16. This part of the room sharing is sanctioned for use and the provisions edilicias considered justified: zoning.
17. The buildings that rise along the roads and around knots of movement are detrimental to the room noise, dust and noxious gases.
18. The traditional alignment, rooms on the edge of the streets does not guarantee the sunshine but a small part of the house.
19. The distribution of buildings for collective use depending on the room is arbitrary.
20. Most particularly the schools are often located on roads and too far from the rooms.
21. Suburban neighborhoods have formed no plan, and non-union normal with the city.
22. We have tried to incorporate them into the administrative domain. They are often only a cluster of shacks and indispensable road is hardly profitable.
must demand
24. The districts occupied room below the best sites in the urban space, taking advantage of the topography, taking into account the weather and having the most favorable sunlight and appropriate landscaping.
25. That the determination of living areas is dictated by reasons of hygiene.
26. Reasonable densities that are imposed in the manner proposed room by the very nature of the terrain
27. Setting a minimum number of hours of sunshine for each home.
28. The alignment of rooms along CIASA communication is prohibited
29. Taking into account the technical resources to build modern high rooms.
That placed a great distance from one another to release the land for green areas.
II. LEISURE
31. The free areas are generally inadequate
32. When areas are of sufficient size are generally poorly mapped, and this fact is little usable the mass of the population.
33. The eccentric position of free surfaces does not lend itself to improving the conditions of the room in congested areas of the city.
34. The few sports facilities to be located in the vicinity of those who are generally used provisionally appointed on land for future neighborhoods room or industry. Poverty and transfers incessant
35. The land could be used for weekend amusements are often poorly linked to the city.
must demand
36. That every neighborhood has room onwards green surface necessary for the rational development of sports and games for children of adolescents and adults.
37. That the islets are demolished replaced unhealthy green Áras adjacent neighborhoods will be well sanitized
38. That these new green areas, serving clearly defined purposes: to contain kindergartens, schools, youth centers and all buildings in common use. Finally tied the room.
39. That free weekly hours spend more favorably prepared in parks, forests, sports fields, stadiums, beaches etc.
40. Taking into account existing features: rivers, forests, hills, hills, valleys, lakes, seas. etc.
III. WORK
41. The workstations are no longer willing rationally in the urban complex: industry, craft, business, management, commerce
42. The link between the bedroom and the workplace is no longer normal, imposes disproportionate tours.
43. The hours for transport flow reveal a critical condition
44. In the absence of any program: uncontrolled growth of cities, lack of anticipation, speculation on land. Etc. The industry installed at random, obeying no rule whatsoever.
45. In the cities, offices are concentrated in business districts, business districts, installed in prime locations in the city, provided the most complete circulation, are rapidly prey to speculation. In the case of private business: the organization useful for its natural development is weak.
must demand
46. That the distances between work sites and living areas are minimized.
47. The Manufacturing sector is independent of the room, separated from each other with areas of greenery: That the industrial areas are adjacent to rail, road and canal
48. The craft closely linked to urban life, which comes directly to occupy the places allocated clearly within the city.
49. That the civic district, dedicated to the public or private management is ensured easy access to the room as well as neighborhoods with industry or crafts deployed in the city or nearby.
IV.CIRCULACIÓN
51. The existing network of urban roads is the set of branches developed around the roads. The latter go back in time in Europe, far beyond the
Middle Ages and even, at times of antiquity.
52. Designed to receive or carriages and pedestrians do not respond today to the mechanical transport means.
53. The design of the streets, of course inappropriate, opposes the use of new speed and regular progress of the city.
54. The distances between the intersections are very small.
55. The street width is inadequate. Trying to expand these operations is often a costly and also ineffective
56. Faced with mechanical speed network appears irrcional streets, lack of accuracy, flexibility, of diversity and conformity.
57. Order paths luxury reprsentativas pursuing goals have been or may be awkward for running smoothly.
58. In many cases, the railway network has become, outside the area of \u200b\u200bthe city, a major obstacle for development. Circle Room neighborhoods, depriving them of useful contacts with the vital elements of the City.
must demand
59. That useful analysis to be made on accurate statistics of all traffic in the city and its region. Disclosed work flows flow and quality of their performance
60. Roads that are classified by type and constructed according to the vehicles and their speed.
61. Crossings, high demand will be converted to continuous flow level changes.
62. That the pedestrian may follow paths other than the car.
63. The streets are differentiated according to their destinations: Room streets, walking, transit, major roads.
64. Isolated areas of vegetation that, in principle, the flow of heavy traffic.
V. HERITAGE HISTORICAL CITIES OF
65. Architectural values \u200b\u200bshould be kept (single or joint municipal buildings).
66. Be preserved if they are the expression of an old culture and responds to a general interest.
67. If conservation does not involve the sacrifice of populations kept in unhealthy conditions.
68. If possible, remedy harmful presence with radical measures, such as the diversion of vital elements of movement further displacement centers hitherto regarded as immovable.
69. The destruction of unsanitary rooms around the Historic monuments given the opportunity to create green areas.
70. The use of past styles, under the pretext of aesthetics, new buildings erected in the historic areas brings dire consequences. The maintenance of such facilities or the introduction of such initiatives will not be tolerated in any form. ;
B. points of doctrine.
71. Most cities surveyed currently offer the image of chaos, these cities do not respond at any time at its destination, which would meet the primary biological and psychological needs of its inhabitants.
72. This situation reveals, from the beginning of the machine age, the sum of private interests.
73. The violence of private interests leads to a disastrous loss of equilibrium between the pressure economic forces on the one hand, the weakness of administrative control and the other powerless social solidarity.
74. Although cities are in a state of permanent transformation, development is conducted without precision or control, and without taking into account the principles of modern urbanism, specified by the relevant technical fields.
75. The city should in the spiritual and material, individual freedom and the benefit of collective action.
76. The sizing of all households in urban device can not be governed but by the human scale.
77. The basics of planning are the four functions: dwelling, Work, play (Free hour), Circular.
78. Plans will determine the structure of each of the sectors for the four basic functions, and fix their respective location in the whole
79. The cycle of daily functions: living, working, recreating (recovering), is regulated by the urban planning in the strict economy of time, considered the room as the heart of urban concerns and point of conjunction of all
measures 80. The new mechanical speeds have revolutionized the urban environment, establishing the permanent danger, causing paralysis bottleneck communications, compromising hygiene.
81. The principle of urban traffic and suburban should be revised. A classification of the available speeds should be done. Zoning reform in harmony putting the Funcines base of the city, created between the natural bond which will be provided for building a rational network of large arteries.
82. Urbanism is a science of three dimensions rather than two dimensions. Is by involving the element height and will offer a solution to the modern circulation and spreading on the use of open space so created.
83. The city should be studied in all its region of influence. A Regional Plan will replace the simple municipal plan. The limit on the crowding will depend on your economic range.
84. The city then defined as a functional unit must grow harmoniously in each of their parts ordering and bond spaces where they can enroll in the balance, stages of development
85. It is the most urgent need for each city set its program, enacting laws that allow its implementation.
86. The program will be outlined on rigorous analysis made by experts, and provide the steps in time and space. Meet in an agreement fruitful natural sources of the land, the topography of the whole, economic resources, social needs, spiritual values.
87. For the architect, busy here in town planning work, the measurement tool is the human scale
88. The starting point of the planning cell is a room (a home) and their inclusion in a group forming a dwelling unit of effective dimension
89. It is from this unit how to set up housing in the urban space relations between the rooms, workplaces and facilities devoted to free time.
90. To resolve this great task is essential to use the resources of modern technology. This, by the use of specialists, will protect the art of building with all the assurances of science. And countless inventions
enriched 91. The march of events will be particularly affected by political, social and economic.
92. It is here that ultimately intervene
architect 93. The scale of emergency work to be undertaken for the design of cities, and on the other hand, the state divided infinitely private property, are two antagonistic realities
94. The proven dangerous contradiction here accusing one of the most dangerous issues of the day: the urgent need to regulate, by legal means, the distribution of all flooring helpful to balance the needs of the individual life in harmony with the collective needs.
private interest will be subordinated to the collective interest.