Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 4
Volkshalle and Nazi headquarters. (Rimpl,“Die Kunst in Dritten Reich,”April 1939)
to the body. A tradition that goes back as far as Plato's Republic and that
found ideological reinforcement in contemporary German cell theory, the
“body politic” concept was intended to justify social arrangements by
declaring them “natural.” 53 As an organic entity, Salzgitter was to be a
“green city”—a city at one with its natural surroundings, in the tradition
of Howard's Garden City.
Both to separate it from and to connect it to major urban and industrial
centers, Rimpl nestled the technology town in the heart of an existing net-
work of rail and autobahn routes, to which was added a canal for industrial
access. In the choice of physical location, environmental considerations—
the amount of clean air and sun, the visual landscape, soil, water, and health
factors—figured prominently. The town was located in a valley that was
north of the foothills of the Harz Mountains (where the ore deposits lay)
but west of the foundry areas (so prevailing winds would carry pollutants
away from the town). 54
Salzgitter was to serve as a hub for existing towns of the district as well
as for the new settlements that were to be built to accommodate workers.
The town proper was projected to have a population of about 130,000,
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