Have you ever noticed how cities around the world often look alike? The reason is straightforward. Although Germany lost both World Wars, it quietly won the Cultural War, with unexpected help from England and America.
The ideas behind modern urban design were seen as the most logical way to build cities. This European ideal started with good intentions, but for some people, the glass, steel, and concrete of cities felt like prisons, plantations, or even concentration camps. Some people may react strongly to this criticism, but it often stems from ignorance of cultural hegemony.
By 1932, many followers of New Objectivity had fled Russia and Germany, changing the movement’s social ideological base. As the spread, Exodus Minimalism found interested audiences around the world, including Japan, England, and the United States. Taut moved to Japan.
In the United States, business leaders and the government were hostile to the labor movement and did not plan to provide government-supported housing.
In America, Modernism lost its social roots as it became more popular. At the Harvard Graduate School of Design, minimalist functionalism turned into a sign of wealth.
