Brasilia was built from nothing to serve as what?

A university city for the interior

Ebenezer Howard proposed the garden city as what?

A self-contained town of limited size ringed by countryside

Rooftop farming on city apartment blocks

Towers set in continuous open parkland

A public garden attached to every factory

In town planning, what does zoning do?

Sets which land uses are permitted in each part of a city

Fixes the price of building land

Decides which streets run one way

Ranks buildings for heritage protection

A green belt around a city is intended to do what?

Restrict building on a ring of open land to limit sprawl

Provide a route for the ring road

Mark the edge of the local tax district

Reserve land for future airports

What is a superblock, as used in Barcelona?

A group of blocks with through traffic removed from the inner streets

A single building covering an entire block

A block reserved for government offices

A raised deck carrying roads above the shops

In Le Corbusier's vision of the modern city, what replaced the traditional street lined with buildings?

Tall towers spaced widely apart in open green space

Underground arcades lined with shops

Circular plazas linked by tramways

What is a cul-de-sac?

A street closed at one end with no through route

A square where several roads meet

A narrow lane between two buildings

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Architecture & Design Medium ⚡ 10 Questions ⏱️ ~7 Mins +100 XP

Cities Drawn on Purpose

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Most cities accumulated. A surprising number were drawn first and built afterwards, and the drawing still shows.

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About this topic

Cities mostly grow the way water finds a route, but every so often somebody draws one first. Manhattan above Houston Street was ruled into numbered streets in 1811, decades before the city reached them. Paris was cut open in the 1850s and 1860s to make boulevards. Brasilia was laid out on empty plateau and inaugurated in 1960. In each case the plan is still legible to anyone walking around. Planning also works through rules rather than drawings. Zoning decides what may be built where, a green belt decides where building stops, and both shape a city as firmly as any avenue. This quiz covers the plans, the planners and the instruments — including a few whose long-term effects turned out to be the opposite of what was intended.

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Cities Drawn on Purpose: all 10 questions and answers

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1Which official rebuilt Paris in the nineteenth century with wide boulevards cut through the medieval street pattern?
- A Andre Le Notre
- B Georges-Eugene Haussmann Correct
- C Le Corbusier
- D Gustave Eiffel
Answer: B. Georges-Eugene Haussmann

Why: Napoleon III appointed him in 1853 and the works ran for nearly two decades. The matching cream stone frontages along the new boulevards were imposed by regulation, not chosen by the builders.
2Brasilia was built from nothing to serve as what?
- A The capital of Brazil Correct
- B A port for the Amazon basin
- C A planned mining settlement
- D A university city for the interior
Answer: A. The capital of Brazil

Why: It was inaugurated in 1960, moving the capital inland from Rio de Janeiro. Lucio Costa laid out the plan and Oscar Niemeyer designed the major buildings.
3Ebenezer Howard proposed the garden city as what?
- A Rooftop farming on city apartment blocks
- B Towers set in continuous open parkland
- C A public garden attached to every factory
- D A self-contained town of limited size ringed by countryside Correct
Answer: D. A self-contained town of limited size ringed by countryside

Why: He set the idea out in 1898, and Letchworth in Hertfordshire was the first one built. The green belt policy around modern London descends from the same thinking.
4In town planning, what does zoning do?
- A Decides which streets run one way
- B Ranks buildings for heritage protection
- C Sets which land uses are permitted in each part of a city Correct
- D Fixes the price of building land
Answer: C. Sets which land uses are permitted in each part of a city

Why: New York adopted the first comprehensive ordinance in 1916, partly to stop towers blocking daylight from the street. Separating homes from workplaces is its most-argued consequence.
5The street grid of Manhattan above Houston Street was set out by which plan?
- A The Hudson Charter
- B The Commissioners Plan of 1811 Correct
- C The Burnham Plan
- D The Olmsted Survey
Answer: B. The Commissioners Plan of 1811

Why: It projected numbered streets and avenues across open farmland long before the city arrived. Central Park was cut back out of that grid in the 1850s.
6A green belt around a city is intended to do what?
- A Restrict building on a ring of open land to limit sprawl Correct
- B Provide a route for the ring road
- C Mark the edge of the local tax district
- D Reserve land for future airports
Answer: A. Restrict building on a ring of open land to limit sprawl

Why: Britain formalised the policy after the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947. Critics argue it pushes development beyond the ring rather than preventing it.
7What is a superblock, as used in Barcelona?
- A A single building covering an entire block
- B A block reserved for government offices
- C A raised deck carrying roads above the shops
- D A group of blocks with through traffic removed from the inner streets Correct
Answer: D. A group of blocks with through traffic removed from the inner streets

Why: The Barcelona version groups several blocks of the nineteenth-century Eixample. The reclaimed street space is given over to walking, planting and play.
8Which landscape architect designed New York's Central Park?
- A Louis Sullivan
- B Cass Gilbert
- C Frederick Law Olmsted Correct
- D Daniel Burnham
Answer: C. Frederick Law Olmsted

Why: He worked with Calvert Vaux on the winning Greensward plan of 1858. He went on to lay out parks in Boston, Buffalo and Montreal.
9In Le Corbusier's vision of the modern city, what replaced the traditional street lined with buildings?
- A Circular plazas linked by tramways
- B Tall towers spaced widely apart in open green space Correct
- C Underground arcades lined with shops
- D Low terraces along canals
Answer: B. Tall towers spaced widely apart in open green space

Why: He worked the idea out through the 1920s and 1930s. Post-war housing estates across Europe borrowed the form, usually without the parkland that was supposed to surround it.
10What is a cul-de-sac?
- A A street closed at one end with no through route Correct
- B A footbridge over a road
- C A square where several roads meet
- D A narrow lane between two buildings
Answer: A. A street closed at one end with no through route

Why: Suburban layouts use them to keep passing traffic out of residential streets. They also lengthen every walking journey, which is the standard objection to them.

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