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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 September 2021
The efficiency demanded by the modern world affects most areas of life, including the organisation of space. Industrial production is an emblematic field for this phenomenon, having deeply affected architecture and the urban environment. Before industrial production began inspiring modern architecture, the modernisation of expanding European urban fabric in the nineteenth century was mostly driven by the implementation of new transportation infrastructure ensuring the effective functioning of metropolitan areas. The reorganisation of space at all scales and according to a rationale relating to economic drive, industrial production, mass consumption, or scientific management has been the defining characteristic of the modern era, coupled with and in relation to the unprecedented concentration of population, goods, and services. This rationale has since infiltrated, arguably, all spheres of life and has been so internalised by many that it is usually hard to discern.