Plan capital
A planned city is a planned city that was planned and built as the capital .
Reasons for a planned capital and results
There are many reasons for creating a planned capital, for example to better distribute the population . The city will then be built in the central part of the country. These goals usually failed; the planned capital only rarely became the largest city in the country, so there was hardly any better distribution of the population.
In other countries there were disputes between two or more cities about which capital should become, or in states they wanted to put the capital in a neutral area. In these cases, the goal is often not to make the planned capital the largest city. As a rule, the cities are on neutral ground (for example District of Columbia or Australian Capital Territory ).
Real plan capitals
The following cities have been planned and rebuilt as capitals by decree.
Abuja (Nigeria)
The ancient capital of Nigeria was Lagos . The planning of the city began in 1976 under the direction of the Japanese Kenzō Tange . The new capital should not be on the coast, but rather in the center of the country for the purpose of better population distribution. There were financial problems and it was not until December 12, 1991 that Abuja became the capital of Nigeria. The city is located in the Federal Capital Territory .
Belmopan (Belize)
The coastal city of Belize City was the capital of Belize until 1970 , when the seat of government was relocated to the newly built capital Belmopan inland. The main reason for this was Hurricane Hattie , which destroyed Belize City in 1961.
Brasília
Brasília was supposed to distribute the population better and was thus created in the central area of the country. In 1956 construction began with the architect Lúcio Costa , who worked with Oscar Niemeyer . Brasília was completed in 1960 and replaced Rio de Janeiro as the capital. It is located in the Federal District . Its name was supposed to be reminiscent of the state name; the city had the shape of a cross.
Canberra (Australia)
In Australia , the first capital was Melbourne , but in order to avoid disputes with other cities (e.g. Sydney ), a planned capital was built. The city of Canberra was completed in a triangular shape in 1913 according to plans by the American architect Walter Burley Griffin . It is located in the Australian Capital Territory (far from the sea). The name comes from an Aboriginal language and means "meeting place".
Islamabad (Pakistan)
The capital of Pakistan should be further inland. In the 1960s, construction of Islamabad began under the Greek architect Konstantinos A. Doxiadis . In 1967 the city finally became the capital and replaced Karachi (until 1959 capital) and Rawalpindi (until 1967 transitional capital) . Islamabad is located in the 1970 built Islamabad Capital Territory (Islamabad Capital Territory) .
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe was founded as the capital of the margraviate of Baden-Durlach in 1715 , when Margrave Karl-Wilhelm decided to exchange the medieval narrowness of his former residence Durlach for the construction of a new city that was open in layout and spirit. The urban layout is star-shaped or fan-shaped, the streets run towards the castle in the city center.
Japan
The capitals of ancient Japan were systematically laid out based on the model of the Chinese Tang capital Chang'an . These were Fujiwara-kyō (694-710), Heijō-kyō (710-741, 745-784), Kuni-kyō (741-744), Nagaoka-kyō (784-794) and Heian-kyō (794-1180, 1180-1868).
Naypyidaw (Myanmar)
Naypyidaw , which was built a few kilometers west of the central Burmese provincial town of Pyinmana , has been the official seat of Myanmar's government since 2005 . The move was justified with the more central location of the city compared to the old capital Rangoon . In January 2011 the new parliament was also opened.
New Delhi (India)
Delhi is the capital of India . In 1911 the British King announced on the Delhi Durbar the relocation of the capital of British India from Calcutta to the old Mogul capital Delhi, or the New Delhi city quarter that was to be built or under construction especially for this purpose . The British-style planned city of New Delhi was completed in 1929 and inaugurated on February 10, 1931 as the new capital of British India. The builder was the British architect Edwin Lutyens . New Delhi is now one of eleven districts of the Delhi Union Territory .
Saint Petersburg (Russia)
Saint Petersburg was the capital from 1712 to 1918 and also the largest city towards the end of the Russian Empire . The city, which goes back to an idea of Peter the Great , was supposed to open Russia across the Baltic Sea to Europe and also symbolically break the power of the boyars who dominated Moscow and the Russian Orthodox Church . Today Moscow is again the capital and largest city of Russia, but Saint Petersburg is at least the second largest city in the country and fourth largest in Europe.
Valletta (Malta)
Valletta was planned and built as a fortress city by the Catholic Order of Malta , who had both spiritual and secular rule over the island of Malta , after the siege of Malta (1565) by the Ottomans . In 1571, the seat of the order was moved to Valletta, making the city the capital of Malta.
Washington, DC (United States)
The original capitals of the United States were New York and Philadelphia . In the 1790s, the US President George Washington (namesake) began to choose an area which, regardless of topography, had the strict shape of an inverted square ten miles on a side and for which both Maryland and Virginia had to give up parts (the Virginia part was later returned to Virginia). The builder was Pierre Charles L'Enfant ; Washington D. C. in the District of Columbia has been the US capital since 1800 .
Cities promoted
These cities already existed as rather insignificant cities before they became capital by decree.
Ankara
Before the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the geographical location of Istanbul , the capital of the Ottoman Empire, was too decentralized. Istanbul also reminded of the dissolved sultanate. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk , who wanted a fresh start for his modernization plans, was therefore looking for a city in the middle of Anatolia . For this reason, the then small town of Ankara became the capital of the new Republic of Turkey on October 13th.
Ankara had already achieved importance as the control center of Ataturk's liberation army and was also the seat of the new Turkish parliament. But it has always remained the political capital and Istanbul has never been able to dispute its role as the economic and cultural capital.
Bonn
After Bonn had been the provisional seat of government of the Federal Republic of Germany since 1949 and at the latest since the recognition of the GDR as the second German state under the government of Willy Brandt, the Federal District began to be completely redesigned in the early 1980s. The first major construction work began in 1986 with the demolition of the former provisional plenary hall. However, the implementation of all plans has been overtaken by history. In 1991 it was decided to move the government and parliament to the reunified Berlin.
Dodoma
Dodoma , Tanzania , was founded in 1907 under German colonial rule. On October 5, 1974, it replaced Dar es Salaam as the official capital. Since then some ministries and in 1996 the National Assembly moved from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma, but many government agencies have so far failed to do so.
Helsinki
After the founding of the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809, Helsinki was expanded to become its capital, as Turku , previously the most important city in this region, was too far to the west. The location opposite the Suomenlinna Fortress was decisive for the choice of location .
Ngerulmud
The traditional capital of Palau , Koror , was widely viewed as too large and too centralized for the island nation. Therefore it was decided to build a new city, Ngerulmud , in the northeast of the island of Babelthuap , the largest island of Palau, and to designate it as the capital. On October 7, 2006, Ngerulmud was declared the new capital. The construction work is far from over for financial and logistical reasons, apart from a few representative government buildings in the style of the US government buildings, there are only a few poor huts for the employees and only one paved road. Ngerulmud has less than 278 inhabitants.
Nur-Sultan
Nur-Sultan , until 2019 Astana (Kazakh Астана; literally translated "capital" ), has been the seat of government since December 10, 1997 and the capital of Kazakhstan since June 10, 1998 . Until 1997, the city in the heart of Kazakhstan, previously also called Akmola (until May 6, 1998), Akmolinsk (1830–1961) or Zelinograd (1961–1991), was not very important until it was declared the capital by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev . The economic and cultural heart is still the old capital Almaty (formerly: Alma-Ata).
Ottawa
When looking for a capital for the province of Canada , Ottawa was chosen , as both Toronto and Québec were too close to the border with the then warring USA . In addition, a balance could be created between the language groups in the province, since the city, at that time the center of the timber trade, lies exactly on the language border.
Economically, however, Ottawa continues to play a subordinate role for the country.
Yamoussoukro
Yamoussoukro (German also Jamussukro ) has been the capital of Ivory Coast since March 21, 1983 . Yamoussoukro is located in the center of the country, about 230 kilometers north of the former capital Abidjan , and is the birthplace of Félix Houphouët-Boigny , the first president of the Ivory Coast. He had one of the largest Catholic churches in the world , the Notre-Dame de la Paix basilica , and a number of other magnificent buildings built there, based on the model of St.
Planning for plan capitals
Egypt
In 2015 plans were revealed to build a new capital 60 km east of Cairo within the next few years . The main reason is that the city is no longer able to cope with the immense population (over ten million inhabitants) and the resulting chaos is not worthy of a capital city. The cost estimate for The Capital Cairo project is around $ 45 billion.
Equatorial Guinea
The planned capital Ciudad de la Paz has been built in the jungle of Equatorial Guinea since the mid-2000s .
Argentina
Under the Alfonsin government there were plans to relocate the capital of Argentina to the twin cities of Viedma / Carmen de Patagones , but this failed due to funding and was no longer pursued by the subsequent Peronist governments.
Haiti
The dictator of Haiti, François Duvalier ("Papa Doc") planned, inspired by the construction of the city of Brasília, to erect an urban monument for himself. However, the project silted up after a cinema, some concrete bungalows and a cockfight arena had been built at the designated location.
Indonesia
Indonesia has been concretizing its plans to move the capital from Jakarta to the island of Borneo since August 2019 . Up to 10 years are estimated for the construction of the city. The reason for the planned relocation is that Jakarta has been sinking for years and is already largely below sea level.
Montserrat
A new capital, Little Bay , has been under construction on Montserrat since 2012 .
Zimbabwe
In Zimbabwe , the first planning began in 2014 and the first construction work on the planned capital, Mount Hampden, began in 2017 .
South Korea
On August 11, 2004, the President of South Korea , Roh Moo-hyun , announced that the country's capital would be relocated to Chungcheongnam-do Province . The planned city of Sejong is about 150 kilometers south of the current capital, Seoul . The reasons given were the overpopulation of Seoul and the concentration of economic power there. Around 20 million of the 48 million South Koreans live in Seoul and its satellite cities. But the proximity to the border with North Korea , Seoul is within the range of the North Korean artillery , was given as a reason. However, on October 21, the Constitutional Court declared the move law unconstitutional. The relocation of the capital is an important national decision that cannot be made without asking the population.
President Roh only planned to relocate the seat of government with numerous ministries and state organizations. The Blue House (seat of the president), the parliament , the constitutional court, as well as the ministries for reunification, defense, equality, justice and the foreign ministry are to remain in Seoul, which will continue to be the capital of the country. Lee Myung-bak , Roh's successor as president, wanted to stop the project and simply expand Sejong into a center for science, education and business. The then Prime Minister Chung Un-chan resigned from office after his proposal to stop moving ministries was rejected. In the first phase of the move at the end of 2012, seven ministries and the Prime Minister's office had moved. After the third relocation phase in October 2014, 16 ministries and authorities as well as 20 state organizations are to be located in the new administrative city.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Military parade as a demonstration of power - journalists admitted to orf.at for the first time
- ↑ The General's White Elephants , taz.de, February 11, 2012
- ^ The Capital Cairo ( Memento of March 22, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 17, 2015
- ↑ Walther L. Bernecker: Small history of Haiti. edition suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1996, p. 159
- ↑ Indonesia wants to relocate the capital. Tagesschau.de, August 8, 2019.
- ↑ ZEIT ONLINE: Jakarta: Indonesian government wants to move the capital to the island of Borneo . In: The time . August 26, 2019, ISSN 0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed on August 26, 2019]).
- ↑ Ulrike Putz: Indonesia's capital Jakarta: A metropolis sinks into the sea . In: Spiegel Online . October 20, 2018 ( spiegel.de [accessed August 26, 2019]).
- ^ Corruption allegation: President of South Korea loses head of government. In: time online . August 29, 2010, accessed March 23, 2014 .
- ^ Another six ministries begin moving to Sejong City . KBS World of December 13, 2013.