For many centuries architectural theory and practice have regarded the contextual compromise of architecture with its urban, regional, and sociocultural setting as a basic demand. Alberti’s definition of the logical and necessary connection between urban and Encyclopedia of 20th-century architecture 580 architectural design was long a guideline for integral city planning. Nevertheless, extreme urban growth and concentration of rural masses in late 19th-century cities challenged traditional models of urban contextuality, producing vast standardized speculative housing units and industrial facilities. Defining new architectural and urban concepts to guarantee identification of the city’s inhabitants became a central topic of 20th-century architectural debates. Against the strict geometric patterns of new urban agglomerations, Camillo Sitte in 1889 proposed a structural revitalization of traditional, picturesque cityscapes. His proposal influenced the planning of new urban quarters in the...