Architecture and Modernity : A Critique

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vre is referring not so much to a definite physical city context, but rather to the pres-

ence of an urban atmosphere that has to do with freedom, complexity, and limitless

possibilities.^32 With New Babylon, Constant is placing himself in a real tradition of ur-

banity, as is evident from his close collaboration with the Amsterdam Provos in the

1960s, one of whose demands was to reclaim the street from the automobile. At one

point the Provos even proclaimed Amsterdam as the first sector of New Babylon.^33

Constant, however, did not see New Babylon as a plan that was technically vi-

able or capable of immediate implementation. He repeatedly stated that the con-

ception of New Babylon is based on two assumptions that are far from being

realized: the collective property of the land and the total automatization of produc-

tion. Fundamental revolutionary social changes would have to take place before the

project could be realized. For this reason, New Babylon should rather be seen as a vi-

sualization of a possible future world, as an illustration of the living conditions of

homo ludensafter finally taking over the baton from homo faber.

160

71

Constant, New Babylon over

Amsterdam, 1963.

(Collection Gemeentemuseum,

The Hague.)