Otto Neurath: The Language of the Global Polis

The Austrian sociologist Otto Neurath was a seminal figure of twentieth-century modernist thought. Member of the Vienna Circle, founder of the Museum of Society and Economy, inventor of the famous Isotype pictorial system and champion of the Unity of Science movement, Neurath espoused a vision of a "global polis" that put him in contact with the leading intellectuals, architects and artists of his time, from Adolf Loos to Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, from Sigfried Giedion to Le Corbusier, from graphic designer Gerd Arntz to architect and urban designer Cornelis van Eesteren. From 1931onwards he collaborated with the International Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM) and its chief exponents-Cornelis van Eesteren,Sigfried Giedion, Le Corbusier and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy-to construct an international language of urban planning and design. His close relationship with bibliographer Paul Otlet and the "cit