Resumen de La ville antique et l'embellissement urbain au XVIIIe siècle: visions prospectives
The reference to the antique city seems to have been unavoidable in 18th-century projects for urban embellishment. Assessments involving a profound archaeological knowledge (especially due to the fundamental rediscoveries of Paestum, Herculaneum, and Pompeii) acted as a mirror to a vast theoretical consideration of the city at a time of growing urbanization. Architects, theoreticians, and informed amateurs sought to transmit their ideas through this reference to the antique city, while at the same time affirming a position as “moderns,” in varied and sometimes paradoxical ways. The writer goes on to discuss several emblematic cases: the projects of Germain Boffrand for Place Louis XV in Paris, and those of George Dance Jr. for the reconstruction of the Port of London.
