Lucius Burckhardt

Markus Ritter

Martin Schmitz

The Science of Strollology

Why Is Landscape Beautiful?

With Design is Invisible, Lucius Burckhardt was one of the first to point out that factors that are invisible can be integrated – they determine the use of objects and should be part of the design. What is the use of the most attractive tramway if it does not operate at night? Burckhardt expands on the meaning of design, in this case by including the timetable, which can also be optimized. The relevance of these articles dating from between 1965 and 1999 can be appreciated today in the current debate on architecture. Problems arising from social polarization, rural depopulation, and migration can only be resolved on an interdisciplinary basis. The articles, for the first time available in English, finally allow access to key source texts for the purpose of international debate.

Planning, Education, and Society

Design Is Invisible

From the 1950s, Lucius Burckhardt (1925–2003) focused on planning, design, and construction in a democracy. His astute observations and critical analysis have had a fundamental effect on the design of our environment, on teaching in the architectural/planning professions, and on our understanding of what "city" means. His research, which – between mighty commercial interests and conflicting political aspirations focuses on the benefit for the entire population – is indispensable when and wherever buildings are planned, designed, built, and inhabited. With a new selection of texts, this book ploughs a furrow through Lucius Burckhardt’s theory of planning.

Architecture, Politics, and Mankind

Who Plans the Planning?

Georg Skalecki

Johann Peter Lüth

The 19th century German industrial plant that was made into a cultural monument.

Alte Volkïnger Hütte

Architektur, Politik und Mensch

Wer plant die Planung?

Lucius Burckhardt (1925-2003) taught architectural theory at Kassel University and, in the 1980s, coined the term "Promenadology"or the science of Strollology and developed this into a complex and far-sighted planning and design discipline. Given that "the landscape" as an idea only exists in our heads, Burckhardt's writings (and drawings) are not so much concerned with beautiful vistas, but focus instead on the multi-faceted interaction a simple walk-taker has with his environment. To those who observe the environment with their eyes wide open, interesting questions will arise again and again; for example, why "city" and "country" can no longer be separated so easily in the face of progressive urbanization. Or why we consider a viaduct to be beautiful, but a nuclear power station an intrusion. And also, why gardens are works of art and should therefore be appraised as such. This book contains 28 texts by the design and planning critic, for the first time in English, with the focus on landscapes, gardens as an art form and the science of strollology.

Lucius Burckhardt

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