The urban theoretician, architect and pedagogue Camillo Sitte is one of the founding fathers of the Modern
discipline of city planning. His main publication, City Planning According to It`s Artistic Principles (1889), was a
unexpected success at its times and finds a renewed interest today, both of historians and practitioners of city
planning. After euphoric reception throughout the first decades of the 20th century, and after emphatic rejection by
the Modern Avant-Garde, this renewed interest is seen as a renaissance of Sittes agenda by many. Today, in times
of globalization and rapid transformations of the economy, of forms of work, leisure and living, the questions of
city planning seem to be more difficult to tackle than ever. Camillo Sittes "artistic principles" are being brought
into the ongoing debates by prominent participants, be it directly derived from Sitte or mediated through later
members of the discipline. This circumstance justifies a renewed interdisciplinary view on Sitte`s main book. One
focus lies in highlighting Sitte`s complexity of thought in his City Planning, which derives from his multi-
perspectival knowledge in almost all intellectual disciplines of his time, which renders any easy and clear
appropriation questionable.
The volume collects, besides an introduction by Kari Jormakka, twelve essays dealing with theoretical and
discursive analysis, historical contextualization, with the history of reception and the question of today`s relevance
of Sittes book from 1889. The essays by Michael Mönninger, kos Moravnszky, Wolfgang Sonne and Bernhard
Langer approach Sittes urban theory from a historical-theoretical perspective, focusing esp. on the fundamental
concept of the picturesque, on its place and relevance in Sitte`s theory, and on its often negative connotations in the
reception of this work. The following three essays by Stanford Anderson, Christiane Crasemann Collins und Riitta
Nikula trace the history of its reception, with a focus on the first half of the 20th century. Whereas Mario Schwarz
illuminates Sittes ideological position by looking at his architectural work, the essays of Sonja Hnilica, Ruth
Hanisch, Heleni Porfyriou and Gabriele Reiterer scrutinize the argumentative and discursive structure of Sitte`s
City Planning. Hnilica focuses on its rhetorics, Hanisch on its pedagogical method, Porfyriou and Reiterer on its
theoretical premise to see the city primarily as a visually perceived object. The final essay by Anthony Vidler poses
the (socio)psychological question of the status of fear in Modern city planning.
The volume is edited by Univ.Prof.Arch.Dipl.-Ing.Dr.techn. Klaus Semsroth, O.Univ.Prof.Dipl.-Ing.Dr.phil. Kari
Jormakka und Dipl.-Ing.Mag. Bernhard Langer. It is conceived as a supplement of the ongoing edition of the
collected works and writings of Camillo Sitte (with project manager being Klaus Semsroth), which is supported by
the FWF.