Modernism to Postmodernism: A Transformative Journey in Urban Planning and Architectural Design

Abstract

Modernism to Postmodernism presents a significant shift in the aspects of urban planning and architectural designing that mirrors the other domains of society and philosophy in general. The modem style of architecture developed at the beginning of the 20th century and was based on the doctrines of functionalism, minimalism, and the lack of any decorative elements due to the belief in society’s progression and the rationality of man. Existing studies often focus on isolated aspects or specific regional impacts, neglecting a holistic view of how Modernist principles evolved into Postmodernist approaches. This research focuses on the evolution of modernism to postmodernism in the development of urban planning and architectural design with the help of a questionnaire survey based on quantitative analysis. This research took a sample data size of n=300 to analyze the demographic profile of the survey respondents with the help of quantitative analysis. It finds that as postmodernism promoted the incorporation of social interaction, local context, and human scale in city design, urban planning underwent additional changes. The 12 percent of participants are unsure about changes related to this aspect, which shows that there is still much to learn about how the postmodernist paradigm works in terms of opportunities and threats for enhancing the sustainability of cities. This evolution from Modernism to postmodernism is an excellent depiction of the development of architectural theory and practice in responding to the shift in society and the development of new technologies.