Jennifer Reut
“Tourism and Architecture in Post-War Europe”
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Abstract
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In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the physical, social, and economic fabric of Europe lay in ruins. Images of the devastated European architectural landscape appeared in American magazines, films, and newspapers, embodying the destruction of European culture. Historically, many of the symbols that had represented European culture to Americans were architectural, however, after World War II, these landmarks were no longer convincing statements of European culture. Yet, despite the vivid imagery and first-hand experience that many Americans had of the ravaged landscape, Europeans managed to attract thousands of new American tourists within a decade after war. In an environment of widespread poverty and displacement, how did the reconstruction of historic architecture and cities allow Europeans to reformulate their identity as well as their urban infrastructure, and how directly did American tourists influence that reconstruction?
The reconstruction of Europe after World War II was in large part shaped by the policies developed and implemented by the U.S. under the Marshall Plan. The architectural landscape, no less than the economic sphere, was affected by these same policies. Tourism, as a strategy for economic recovery, is an often-overlooked tenet of the Marshall Plan, and one that had an important influence on the reconstruction of the cities and monuments of Europe. The objective of this project is to investigate how the convergence of American tourism and American economic and foreign policy shaped the architectural landscape and urban infrastructure of historic Europe in the first decade after World War II.
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