John Mamainlo / EPA
Donald Trump
With Trump’s cuts, US architects and urban planners can turn to Europe-in an inversion of what happened in World War II, when Hitler chased European architects to America.
With the tariff ride and with those of the United States due to the fear of ending in an arrest in El Salvador, Europe seems to be receiving another “gift” from Donald Trump – “brain escape ” mass, particularly in architecture and urbanism.
The first measures of the Trump administration are already alarming American architects and urban planners, many of whom fear a mood of cooling for innovation, sustainability and academic freedom. Experts warn that the United States may soon face a Talent Exodus Similar to that they benefited during World War II – only this time in the opposite direction.
During the Nazi era, Adolf Hitler’s repression against “degenerate” architecture forced the escape of many European urban planners renowned, especially from the Bauhaus School. The US welcomed these emigrants, who shaped American cities through functionalist and modernist projects that defined the urban postwar landscape. Now, in an ironic turnaround of destination, Europe can become the refuge of current US-based visionaries.
Trump’s pressure to replay a classic architectural style In federal buildings, combined with extreme cuts in the financing of public urban development, he stirred the design and planning community. At the same time, actions against international students involved in pro-Palestinian protests, including their detention and deportation threats, have increased the fears that US institutions are becoming more inhospitable to global talent.
Cruz García, professor at Columbia University, expressed his concern with the Cancellation of 400 projects funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, many of which supported marginalized communities. Academics that depended on federal subsidies are already receiving termination notices, leading many to consider going abroad.
Trump’s department of government efficiency, led by Elon Musk, reduced the budgets of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, eliminating a $ billion plan For accessible climate resistant housing. Similarly, the Department of Transport has revised projects designed to reduce emissions and improve needy communities, with possible cuts in bike lanes.
Billy Fleming of the University of Temple warned that Trump’s policies threaten destabilize architectural schoolsespecially those that depend on international students. “Attacks on student visas holders can undermine their financial models,” he said, raising the possibility of closing programs or entire institutions.
European leaders are already preparing to attract disillusioned American professionals. Ruth Schagemann, president of the European Architects Council, stressed the continent’s strong support for innovation, sustainability and academic freedom. “The base of Europe in these domains allows it to attract talent,” he said.
Historian Barbara Steiner of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation has set parallels between Trump’s stylistic mandates and Hitler’s efforts to suppress progressive design. In the 1930s, the architects of Bauhaus were forced to exile, having many of them gone to the US, where left a lasting brand in urban development.
Among the most influential emigrants are Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, who joined the Harvard Graduate of Design, and Mies van der Rohe, who turned Chicago and New York with his steel skyscrapers. Austrian emigrant Victor Gruen, disillusioned with car suburbs centered on the car, invented the shopping center As a public space friendly with the pedestrians, although it later mourned its commercialization.
With US policy to move away from these values, the question is whether the next generation of urban planners will feel more comfortable abroad. “When is this work continuing elsewhere becomes the most viable or ethical choice?” Asks García.
While the US is in danger of isolating themselves from global intellectual currents, Europe seems to be ready to spoon the fruits of a new vacancy of visionary architects – as America has done in a while.
