Ebook: Une Vie de cité : Paris de sa naissance a nos jours. I, La jeunesse : des origines aux temps modernes

Marcel Poëte (Doubs 1866–Paris 1950) is not an unknown figure. He is often considered one of the major personalities of early 20th century European planning thought, though his works are better known through brief citations or by certain keywords than in their entirety (Fig. 1). His most quoted writings are the four monumental volumes written on Paris in the years 1924–1931 "Une vie de cite: Paris de sa naissance a nos jours" and the book on town planning as a science of observation: "Introduction a l’urbanisme. L’evolution des villes." His volumes on Paris earned him an important literary award in 1937 for authentic imaginative poetic prose. The latter, published in 1929, is his only work to be reprinted in France and, after a few years, to be translated into Italian. Few people may have read his other numerous and often repetitive texts, the synthesis of lectures held at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Urbaines (EHEU) and his handwritten notes. Less known are Poëte's youthful activities as librarian, archivist, curator and historian. However, they are fundamental to understanding the originality of the man himself.