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In 1949, in the newly founded state of Israel, South African architects Norman Hanson and Roy Kantorowich planned the city of Ashkelon and, within it, the exclusive neighbourhood unit Afridar. Managed by the South African Jewish Appeal, which initiated and funded the project, Afridar presented a radical exception to Israel's centralized planning approach during that period. An early example of a semi-private settlement initiative for an ethnic and classbased enclave reserved for 'Anglo-Saxon' Jewish immigrants, it functioned as a 'model town' for the immigrant population from the Middle East and North Africa, which was housed by the government in the rest of the city of Ashkelon. Afridar's enclave reproduced planning practices from South Africa, which had been coloured by race since the 1920s. Despite its exclusive image, it was modelled after progressive experiments in the design of Native Townships. Their main objective of such experiments was to improve the standards of housing of racially discriminated populations yet, in practice, they served as a tool to implement apartheid policies. This paper interrogates this ambivalence of social aspirations and complicity with state segregation practices through examining the translation of apartheid's planning practices to the Israeli context, and the negotiations and conflicts this translation entailed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Egon Hartmann (1919-2009) was a prominent East German planner and a rising star of the architectural scene in the early years of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). A graduate from the College for Architecture and Fine Arts, he became Chief Architect of Thuringia in 1951 and built such remarkable architectures like the government high-rise in Erfurt. Nevertheless, he left the GDR in 1954, settled in West Germany where he first worked in Mainz and then moved to Munich and thereby became a 'crosser', one of the few planners who successfully worked on both sides of the Iron Curtain. This paper traces Egon Hartmann's private--professional ties based on the letters sent to/ from him across the inner-German border that have been archived in his estate. It aims to show that integrating a personal dimension and very specific patterns of communication into the analysis of transnational connections, transfers, exchanges, and cooperation of planners reveals rather informal ties that created unexpected relations across the Iron Curtain. Nevertheless, those were a crucial resource for the planners' career and private life, when formal bonds were destabilized due to large-scale political tensions and the division of the two worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the 2014 Australasian Urban History/Planning History conference held at the Faculty of Architecture and Design of Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, from February 2 to February 5, 2014. Topics mentioned include the lectures organized about ecology and urban planning, the speakers who participated, including Kevin Prime, Bill Gammage, and Jackie Bowring, and the future conferences.

This article identifies and discusses some of the ideas of Michel Foucault and applies them to the history of Brazilian city planning. It is argued and shown that the theoretical framework developed in his work provides a useful insight for the understanding of the discourse on city planning in Brazil. I discuss concepts created by Foucault such as discipline and bio-power applying them to the planning history of mainly Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, but also providing insights on Recife, analysing episodes of interventions in Brazilian cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estonian 1940s-1950s town planning practices show that Stalinist principles were in line with those of Estonian architects during the 1930s pre-war, independence period. However, between 1944 and 1955, within the context of the Soviet regime’s occupation, urban planning was faced with rigid ideological constraints. After the Second World War, Estonian architects were forced to abandon projects in historical city centres, which focused on maintaining local natural conditions and cultural heritage, as well as using local materials. Some existing town centres, such as in Tallinn, Narva, and Pärnu, were reconstructed after suffering damage in the war, as well as for ideological reasons. Yet, during this time period, most efforts were directed towards building new industrial towns in East Estonia that exemplified a Stalinist utopia; this also presented the Soviet regime with an opportunity to exploit local mineral resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vällingby - one of the first post-war suburbs in Stockholm - became a well-known and much visited development, a prominent place in the geographical imaginations of many planners and architects during the 1950s and 1960s. This article will consider the ways in which Vällingby was ‘showcased’ to planners and architects outside of Sweden during this period. It will demonstrate how this was achieved through three practices in particular: (1) the hosting of visitors to Vällingby; (2) the promotion of Vällingby by those governing and marketing the development; and (3) the reporting of the development in English language planning and architect journals. In so doing, the article will speak to the academic literature on policy mobilities and two important concepts within it: informational infrastructures and the extrospective city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Celebrated architect and city planner Daniel Hudson Burnham enjoyed a rise to fame in the aftermath of his widely acclaimed achievement as Director of Works for the World's Columbian Exposition, held in his adopted Chicago in 1893. Roughly in parallel with Burnham's rise, town planning movements were coalescing in Australia, and it would not be long until the Chicagoan's name was circulating in Australian professional circles. This is a pilot study broadly aimed at chronicling and interpreting Australian awareness of Daniel Burnham at the turn of the twentieth century. More specifically, it is concerned with the reception of Burnham's civic design ideals and why some believed them to be of antipodean relevance. Their Australian impact, however, is beyond the present study's scope. Reciprocally, this essay also surveys Burnham's knowledge of Australia. Special emphasis is given to Burnham within the context of the Australia's Federal Capital competition (1912), arguing that although the Chicagoan did not compete, he profoundly, albeit vicariously, impacted the capital's design. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]