Which architect is associated with the idea that a city undergoes growth, delay, and rebuilding?

Which architect is associated with the idea that a city undergoes growth, delay, and rebuilding?

• A. Kenzo Tange
• B. Le Corbusier
• C. Lucio Costa
• D. Francisco Manosa

Answer: (A)

This question hinges on the idea of cities as living systems that can grow, pause, and be rebuilt over time. Kenzo Tange was a leading figure of the Metabolist movement in 1960s Japan, which envisioned urban futures built from modular, expandable units that could be added to or replaced as needs changed. His projects and plans, like the Tokyo Bay Plan, embody this thinking: a city isn’t a fixed layout but a framework designed to evolve, renew parts of itself, and adapt through time. That mindset—growth through adaptable components and renewal rather than a single, static blueprint—is what links Tange most directly to the concept. Le Corbusier’s modernist visions emphasize fixed, highly rationalized densities and towers-in-the-garden, not a living, regenerating city system. Lucio Costa’s Brasília represents a one-off master plan for a new capital, more about ideal organization than ongoing metabolic renewal. Francisco Manosa is associated with late modernist and vernacular-influenced work in the Philippines, not this metabolist idea. So, the architect connected with the notion of a city evolving through growth, delay, and rebuilding is Kenzo Tange.

This question hinges on the idea of cities as living systems that can grow, pause, and be rebuilt over time. Kenzo Tange was a leading figure of the Metabolist movement in 1960s Japan, which envisioned urban futures built from modular, expandable units that could be added to or replaced as needs changed. His projects and plans, like the Tokyo Bay Plan, embody this thinking: a city isn’t a fixed layout but a framework designed to evolve, renew parts of itself, and adapt through time. That mindset—growth through adaptable components and renewal rather than a single, static blueprint—is what links Tange most directly to the concept.

Le Corbusier’s modernist visions emphasize fixed, highly rationalized densities and towers-in-the-garden, not a living, regenerating city system. Lucio Costa’s Brasília represents a one-off master plan for a new capital, more about ideal organization than ongoing metabolic renewal. Francisco Manosa is associated with late modernist and vernacular-influenced work in the Philippines, not this metabolist idea.

So, the architect connected with the notion of a city evolving through growth, delay, and rebuilding is Kenzo Tange.