1945 - The Aftermath
A post WWII era allowed many German cities to completely rebuild themselves and take a new shape and urban form. This discussion was had in Munich and there was even talk of abandoning the ruined city entirely and moving its location to Lake Starnberg. This however, was not what Munich intended to do. In August 1945, after much discussion, the Munich City Council determined a tradition- oriented reconstruction was the best route forward for the historic center of Munich (Lehmbruch & Haerendel 2012). Given the rich history and character of a royal residence city, that same shape was deemed most attractive and suitable for the city and the millions of people visiting yearly.
Even though Munich chose to rebuild the center city as in the same historic manner it was originally, the development just outside of the center took a different approach. Meitinger, a German Architect, was given the task of coming up with plans for the entirety of Munich including the periphery of the center. Meitinger came up with a plan that created a 50-to-70-meter-wide “park and traffic ring” around the old city, which he deemed as the most important urban-architectural issue (Lehmbruch & Haerendel 2012). This road was built mostly on the existing fortifications from the old second ring, but there were still some areas where residents were displaced due to the cutting through of residential areas. "Meitinger suggested that a commercial neighborhood with office buildings and department stores should be erected along Sonnenstrasse, i.e. immediately outside the old-city ring" (Lehmbruch & Haerendel 2012).
The impact from this road developed around the city center allowed development to spur outward as depicted in the recent image above Meitinger's original image.
The impact from this road developed around the city center allowed development to spur outward as depicted in the recent image above Meitinger's original image.