Le Corbusier’s Athens Charter: Analysis of Urban Functionalism

Álvaro Uribarri Poveda

doi:10.52195/pm.v23i2.1948

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Le Corbusier’s Athens Charter: Analysis of Urban Functionalism

Procesos de Mercado

Volume 22 (2025): Issue 2 (December 2025)

By: Álvaro Uribarri Poveda

Open Access

|May 2026

Abstract

This article presents a critique of The Athens Charter by Le Corbusier through the methodology and principles of the Austrian School of Economics. Within a praxeological framework, it examines the epistemological roots of rationalist or functionalist urbanism, its reliance on central planning and its attempt to replace the spontaneous order of the city with deliberate urban design. The paper analyzes the consequences of this constructivist vision in the configuration of urban models such as Brasília and Chandigarh, as well as in Le Corbusier’s own projects and those of other architects of the modern-ist movement.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.52195/pm.v23i2.1948 | Journal eISSN: 1697-6797

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Language: Spanish, English

Page range: 1 - 37

Submitted on: Oct 27, 2025

Accepted on: Nov 28, 2025

Published on: May 29, 2026

Published by: Unión Editorial S.A. in collaboration with the Faculty of Economics and Entrepreneurial Sciences of Universidad Rey Juan Carlos of Madrid

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

“Athens Charter,” “urbanism,” “functionalism,” “model,” “city,” “Le Corbusier,” “Brasília,” “Chandigarh,” “Bauhaus.”

Related subjects:

Business and economics,

Political economics,

Economic theory, systems and structures,

Economic policy,

History of economics,

Political economics, other

© 2026 Álvaro Uribarri Poveda, published by Unión Editorial S.A. in collaboration with the Faculty of Economics and Entrepreneurial Sciences of Universidad Rey Juan Carlos of Madrid
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

Volume 22 (2025): Issue 2 (December 2025)