The exchange of ideas between the Western and Eastern European city : an exploratory analysis based on the research on Stuttgart and Plovdiv

Abstract

When studying the current research on the development of the Western and Eastern European city, we can observe a notion of a meandering relationship between the two urban models ranging from common beginnings, through different political and ideological metamorphoses towards a likely repeated approximation since 1989. The conflict between the inclusivity of this ideological premise and the perceived existing economic, political, cultural and psychological gap between the East and West motivates the research questions of the present doctoral thesis. It proposes a modified research approach to the study of the idea exchange and its influence on the built environment by performing a comparative analysis of the historical development of both contexts likened to the general European tendencies, exemplified through the observation of the case study cities Stuttgart and Plovdiv. The methodology of the project combines analytical methods from architectural history and theory, as well as semiotics, enabling the comprehensive analysis of the interaction between idea exchange and the urban transformation of European cities. Architectural history and theory methods are used in the longitudinal historical analysis of the urban transformation of Eastern and Western European cities. Simultaneously, the methodological principles of semiotics are implemented, when interpreting the built environment as a complex sign system, a physical message and product of the idea exchange between different cultural contexts. The material structure of the city is recognized as a testimony for the examined phenomena and systematically studied in the four aspects of urban morphology, the treatment of architectural monuments, the represented architectural styles and the resulting quality of urban space. The study of both urban contexts in relation to the general European tendencies and the role of idea exchange along the East – West axis conducted in the three parts of the thesis allows us to formulate an analytical frame regarding the operating principles of cultural dialogue and its influence on urban transformation. This approach classifies the operating principles in boundary factors, main actors, channels and forms of exchange, while creating guidelines for the further study. Subsequently, the initial analytical frame is refined and expanded to a hypothesis regarding the future development of European cities. The research objective shifts from the focus on the relationship between cultural dialogue and the built environment in the research on the historical period 1750 - 1989 to the study of the interaction between ongoing idea exchange, the developing civil society and the resulting transformation of the cityscape in the analysis of the period since 1989. It further expands to the interdependency between cultural dialogue, civil society, the professional guild and the built environment following the study of current phenomena, reflecting the central role and responsibility of architects and urban planners in ensuring the sustainable transformation of European cities.