Josep Llu ís Sert with GATCPAC (Grup d’Arquitectes i Tècnics Catalans per al Progrés de l’Arquitectura Contemporània). Panels from the the CIAM exhibition The Functional City, Amsterdam. 1935
Perhaps the most telling, and quantifiable, indicator of an unhealthy city is high infant mortality among the urban poor, as suggested by Sert’s visualization of Barcelona in 1933. His team’s analytical study, part of a larger international survey conducted under the auspices of CIAM (the French acronym for an international association of modernist architects), drew attention to the city’s slum children, many of whom suffered ill health and malnutrition in congested streets where disease was endemic. With support from the Catalan authorities, Sert’s group proposed a master plan–not implemented due to the onset of the Spanish Civil War–that would transform the lives of such children, including a rapid transit link to a new popular coastal resort for rest and relaxation.
Learn more at MoMA.org/centuryofthechild
