Richard Neutra (1892-1970) is the name of an Usonian architect, born in Austria, who develop a passion for utopian urbanism as other important modernist architects do. His vision about future cities is very similar to Le Corbusier's work, and can be seen in "Rush City Reformed" (1928).
It is a typical modernist utopia: a dispersed city, very organized and perpendicular, monotonous and made for car. These concepts are shocking nowadays, but in the twenties Neutra and his apprentices are naturally excited by mobility technologies, and particularly focused on standard houses that vary depending on family and job types.
It is not so enthusiastic as other urban utopias, but it is interesting to note the accurate forecast about the role of means of transport in our lives. Neutra refused to named train stations, bus stations and airports as "terminals", understanding that we must to learn how to use different means in the same trip. This preoccupation with transport networks results from the mobility disaster inherent to urban sprawl. Neutra wanted accessibility to everywhere, for everyone...
It is not so enthusiastic as other urban utopias, but it is interesting to note the accurate forecast about the role of means of transport in our lives. Neutra refused to named train stations, bus stations and airports as "terminals", understanding that we must to learn how to use different means in the same trip. This preoccupation with transport networks results from the mobility disaster inherent to urban sprawl. Neutra wanted accessibility to everywhere, for everyone...
"In Neutra's "Rush City Reformed" (1928) we see all the familiar marks of the moderns: straight lines, huge concrete slabs holding thousands of resentful working class tenants, and spaces that were as open as they were pointless. But Neutra did Le Corbusier one better by ensuring that no one had any view except that of the flat opposite."
(citation taken form here)
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