Underground Urbanism. A comparative analysis Leonardo Da Vinci and Eugène Hénard

Abstract

Eugène Hénard published Études between 1902 and 1909. Their pages were numbered as the chapters of a book explaining the problems of the city of Paris and other metropolis of Europe as well as offering futuristic solutions to allow proper functions. Later, he presented documents in conferences and journals filling out the data of previous publications. From his papers –mainly La rue souterraine, included in the conference Les villes de l’avenir-, the town planner Françoise Choay called him the “theorist of the underground urbanism”. It was an innovating and unique proposal that had lot of similarities with the città ideale of Leonardo da Vinci. Such a proposal was introduced by this town planner on his Manuscript B, written in Milan between 1487 and 1489, which is considered as an architectural model for organization of a city that breaks away from the traditional urban conceptions. Both authors were studying the underground urbanism, differing 422 years in time. Their only link was the city of Paris.