Reinhard Schmidt

While other planned cities were mostly build with readymade "Plattenbau"-segments, Eisenhüttenstadt's city structure is more crafted and differentiated. It appears almost like a condensation in fixed-matter of the GDR's vision for the life in idealism of the new socialistic man, as the GDR used to nurture it in the 50's. The citizens often used to identify themselves with this, until the fall of the berlin wall in 1989. After crucial political and economical changes, Eisenhüttenstadt is nowadays confronted with completely other circumstances, way of lifes and ideologies. - The publication and exhibition "Planstadt Eisenhuettenstadt" is meant as an possibility for an recognizing and understandable approach to this field of tension. Therefore, we questioned what's to be found aside of stereotypic choices, because everyday life is of course going on in UNO's worlds biggest surface monument. As authors we wanted to document the present status quo of Eisenhüttenstadt, cross the axes of the planned city, walk on it's borders, and collect experiences of the citizens for an deeper, self reflected discourse on the relation of man and architecture on this special place.

I thought the front cover of Dialogues could contain an image of Leeds along with the title of the book.