Otto Koenigsberger was trained as an architect in Berlin, and migrated in the early 1930’s to Egypt, where he worked as an archeologist. In 1939 he proceeded his career in India, first as chief architect in Mysore State (today: Karnataka State), after the independence of India in 1948 as federal director of housing in Delhi. In India, Koenigsberger was confronted with the needs of partition refugees in the northern provinces of India. He advised on the construction of the New Towns of Faridabad, Rajpura, Gandhidham, and Sindri. Koenigsberger proposed pre-fabricated housing, but as this plan did not succeed, Koenigsberger resigned and moved to London in 1951. In London, Koenigsberger co-founded the Department of Tropical Architecture at the Architectural Association in 1954, of which he became the head in 1957. In 1970 he established the Development Planning Unit at University College London. From the 1950’s onwards, Koenigsberger served as UN consultant on housing missions in several developing countries, where he worked closely with Charlas Abrams (main sources: Baweja 2008; and DPU-website).
Koenigsberger introduced the paradigm of ‘Action Planning’ in Architectural Association Journal in 1963. This was after he abandoned the idea of top-down planning, after his experiences in India.
Koenigsberger sought for a division of tasks in the provision of mass housing in third world countries. He defined the responsibilities of public sector agencies, such as local governments as: ‘the provision of housing plots, physical infrastructure, housing finance and, where necessary, subsidies. Their role will be to help, but not to control.’ (Koenigsberger 1986: 27). In the 1940’s and 50’s, there was a great demand for housing in the third world. Initially, the method of mass-produced, pre-fabricated housing units was proposed. This could reduce labor costs and consutrction time, and has proven successful in many western countries after the Second World War. However, as labor costs were already low in third world countries, this approach found little success. As a response to mass housing projects, USAID initiated ‘aided self-help’; future residents were responsible for the construction of houses, whereas the public sector provided for land, public services and provided for those parts of the job that required special skills of knowledge. This method was not widely applied, however, its success laid in the fact that it ‘established the principles of the division of labor and collaboration between private and public sectors’ (Koenigsberger 1986: 30), thereby paving the road for ‘sites-and-services’. Sites-and-services differed from aided self-help in a sense that allottees were provided with plots, roads, water, sewege, etc., and were free to construct their own houses. Hence, the investment of public institutions remained low. As the policy was embraced by the World Bank, sites-and-services turned into a successful instrument in the provision of housing in the third world. Koenigsberger, however, criticized sites-and-services, as the many of the projects did not reach the poor, but fell in the hands of middle-class residents, leaving the poor no other option than squatting. Koenigsberger favored slum upgrading, which he described, despite its limited application, as a ‘resounding success’, in particular in reforming our thinking about urbanism for the poor (koenigsberger 1986: 31). Slum upgrading was based on the squatter’s ‘goodwill and managerial gifts’, which it rewarded with security of tenure and basic infrastructure and facilities.
The process of building is a public affair, undertaken by the residents of the squatter settlements, while providers of public services, such as water and sewage, are poorly coordinated, and do not communicate their projects with each other or with planners. In the process of slum upgrading, Koenigsberger sees the need to redefine the role of planners. Koenigsberger advocates that ‘planners must learn to think of themselves not as controllers, but as initiators, and leaders of development’ (Koenigsberger 1983: 52); planners should start by laying out a public sector initiative, providing for plots and facilities, followed by attracting both rich and poor private investors to invest. This requires a role for the planner as an entrepreneur, as a ‘public sector developer’, or ‘development administrator’. He abandons the idea that planning should determine the exact outcome; planning does no longer mean the creation of blue-prints, but rather the initiation and coordination of processes, in which private and public sector initiatives should be brought together. This is brought forward in his most influential article ‘Action Planning’ in the Architectural Association Journal in 1963.
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Baweja, Vandana, ‘A Pre-history of Green Architecture: Otto Koenigsberger and Tropical Architecture, from Princely Mysore to Post-colonial London’, PhD Dissertation, University of Michigan, 2008.
Otto Koenigsberger, ‘Third World Housing Policies since the 1950s’, in: HABITATINTL., Vol. 10. No. 3, pp. 27-32. 1986.
Otto Koenigsberger, ‘The Role of the Planner in a Poor (and in a Not Quite so Poor) Country’, in: HABITATINTL.Vol. 7. No.112, pp. 49-55, 1983.
Koenigsberger introduced the paradigm of ‘Action Planning’ in Architectural Association Journal in 1963. This was after he abandoned the idea of top-down planning, after his experiences in India.
Koenigsberger sought for a division of tasks in the provision of mass housing in third world countries. He defined the responsibilities of public sector agencies, such as local governments as: ‘the provision of housing plots, physical infrastructure, housing finance and, where necessary, subsidies. Their role will be to help, but not to control.’ (Koenigsberger 1986: 27). In the 1940’s and 50’s, there was a great demand for housing in the third world. Initially, the method of mass-produced, pre-fabricated housing units was proposed. This could reduce labor costs and consutrction time, and has proven successful in many western countries after the Second World War. However, as labor costs were already low in third world countries, this approach found little success. As a response to mass housing projects, USAID initiated ‘aided self-help’; future residents were responsible for the construction of houses, whereas the public sector provided for land, public services and provided for those parts of the job that required special skills of knowledge. This method was not widely applied, however, its success laid in the fact that it ‘established the principles of the division of labor and collaboration between private and public sectors’ (Koenigsberger 1986: 30), thereby paving the road for ‘sites-and-services’. Sites-and-services differed from aided self-help in a sense that allottees were provided with plots, roads, water, sewege, etc., and were free to construct their own houses. Hence, the investment of public institutions remained low. As the policy was embraced by the World Bank, sites-and-services turned into a successful instrument in the provision of housing in the third world. Koenigsberger, however, criticized sites-and-services, as the many of the projects did not reach the poor, but fell in the hands of middle-class residents, leaving the poor no other option than squatting. Koenigsberger favored slum upgrading, which he described, despite its limited application, as a ‘resounding success’, in particular in reforming our thinking about urbanism for the poor (koenigsberger 1986: 31). Slum upgrading was based on the squatter’s ‘goodwill and managerial gifts’, which it rewarded with security of tenure and basic infrastructure and facilities.
The process of building is a public affair, undertaken by the residents of the squatter settlements, while providers of public services, such as water and sewage, are poorly coordinated, and do not communicate their projects with each other or with planners. In the process of slum upgrading, Koenigsberger sees the need to redefine the role of planners. Koenigsberger advocates that ‘planners must learn to think of themselves not as controllers, but as initiators, and leaders of development’ (Koenigsberger 1983: 52); planners should start by laying out a public sector initiative, providing for plots and facilities, followed by attracting both rich and poor private investors to invest. This requires a role for the planner as an entrepreneur, as a ‘public sector developer’, or ‘development administrator’. He abandons the idea that planning should determine the exact outcome; planning does no longer mean the creation of blue-prints, but rather the initiation and coordination of processes, in which private and public sector initiatives should be brought together. This is brought forward in his most influential article ‘Action Planning’ in the Architectural Association Journal in 1963.
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Baweja, Vandana, ‘A Pre-history of Green Architecture: Otto Koenigsberger and Tropical Architecture, from Princely Mysore to Post-colonial London’, PhD Dissertation, University of Michigan, 2008.
Otto Koenigsberger, ‘Third World Housing Policies since the 1950s’, in: HABITATINTL., Vol. 10. No. 3, pp. 27-32. 1986.
Otto Koenigsberger, ‘The Role of the Planner in a Poor (and in a Not Quite so Poor) Country’, in: HABITATINTL.Vol. 7. No.112, pp. 49-55, 1983.
