Le corbusier’s Athens Charter: analysis of urban functionalism

Authors

  • ÁLVARO URIBARRI POVEDA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52195/pm.v23i2.1948

Keywords

Athens Charter; urbanism; functionalism; model; city; Le Corbusier; Brasília; Chandigarh; Bauhaus.

Abstract

This article presents a critique of The Athens Charter by Le Corbusier through the methodology and principles of the Austrian School of Economics. Within a praxeological framework, it examines the epistemological roots of rationalist or functionalist urbanism, its reliance on central planning and its attempt to replace the spontaneous order of the city with deliberate urban design. The paper analyzes the consequences of this constructivist vision in the configuration of urban models such as Brasília and Chandigarh, as well as in Le Corbusier’s own projects and those of other architects of the modernist move- ment.

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Le corbusier’s Athens Charter: analysis of urban functionalism. REVISTA PROCESOS DE MERCADO, [S. l.], v. 23, n. 2, p. 77–115, . DOI: 10.52195/pm.v23i2.1948. Available at: https://procesosdemercado.com/en/journal/2025/vol-23/num-2/la-carta-de-atenas-de-le-corbusier-analisis-del-funcionalismo-urbanistico. Accessed: 18 apr.. 2026.