Latin American Reverberations from the Universal City Planning Exhibitions of 1910

This chapter explores Latin American urban planning developments and ideas that can be traced to the Universal City Planning Exhibition of 1910 in Berlin, and its sequel, the International City Planning Exhibition in Düsseldorf the same year. The content of the exhibitions is illustrated, documented, and elucidated by Werner Hegemann in two landmark volumes (Hegemann 1911, 1913). He is credited with expanding the focus of the exhibitions beyond the entries to the design competition for a ‘Greater Berlin’ towards an international survey of city planning. The Berlin 1910 exhibition, on display for two months and enhanced by lectures and tours for special interest groups, generated attention beyond central Europe. Visitor observations (Collins 2005) and the exhibition’s layout (Figure 4.1) provide overviews that show the location of the Berlin design competition and sections devoted to garden cities, parks, and transportation systems. Examples were grouped by topic rather than chronologically or by country, facilitating comparison of possibilities. This type of display demonstrates Hegemann’s interest in the design, staging, and potential of exhibitions, spawned during a 1909 visit to America and continued during his entire professional life (Collins 2005).