Urban Footprint: Bata Cities

Theme

In 2010/2011, the Bauhaus Kolleg will focus on an early instance of international modernity in urban development and architecture – the satellite towns of the transnational company Bata. The shoe manufacturer Tomáš Baťa is considered to be the Central European equivalent of Henry Ford: the organisation of the factory, the corporate structure, the architecture of the town, the spatial planning and the mechanisms of social control adhere to the same principles, which informed the processes involved in the efficient production of footwear. As a “good capitalist”, Bata pursued the interaction of economic rationalisation, technological progress and a new and visionary architectonic and social order. Zlín, where the company had its headquarters, is one of the few examples of a functional city still in existence. Bata was also a global entrepreneur: in his endeavours to lead the global market in shoe production, the company built satellites towns for shoe manufacture, where the town planning and architecture followed the example set by the Zlín model. With the export of the “ideal industrial town”, Bata established a worldwide network of satellite towns, which extended from Europe to North and South America, India and Indonesia. This town planning export lasted until WWII interrupted the process of social reform, which was to be accomplished at the same time.

Building on the outcomes of an international conference held in Zlín in 2009, the Bauhaus Kolleg will take two Bata satellite towns, Batanagar in India and East Tilbury in Great Britain, as resources for research and conceptual development.

These urban footprints offer a number of fascinating starting points for the reception and updating of modernity in town planning and architecture:

1) Globalisation and local expressions of modernity

In the early 20th century, the recent global transport and communication technologies interlocked with the new territorial claims of the western world. Particularly from the global perspective, the Bata satellite towns therefore lend themselves to a European/non-European comparison. The entrepreneur Tomáš Baťa was an important figure in an increasingly competitive and expanding global trade. The international impact of the Bata empire offers insights into diverse aspects of the relationships and links between the different parts (and continents) of the world at the time. The technologies of global commerce were essential for this global trade; these not only include transport routes and communication channels and processes of standardisation, which guaranteed worldwide connections, but also means of representation, such as cards and pictures, which made the world more manageable.

Thanks to these new technologies and standards, the Bata company was not only able to transfer production sites abroad, but to export the entire “Bata system”, from the Bata brand and product innovations to town planning and business management standards. From the organisation of work in the factory to housing, consumption and leisure, the company shaped everyday life in each of the Bata towns. The export of technology was thus associated with the export of a way of life and living. In this respect, the Bata company played the part of a moderniser on its own account, selling not only footwear, but also a promise of consumption and prosperity, around the world. What tensions and conflicts were brought about by the encounter between European models of modernisation and local cultures? What political, economic and social contexts shaped the prerequisites for the settlement of the international Bata company? What kinds of multiple modernities found their expression here? What are the similarities and differences between the local politics, management concepts and social and educational strategies of modern globally active companies and producers of consumer goods, such as, e.g, Nike, and the Bata company of the 1930s?

2) On the relationship between city and space

Bata’s transnational engagement offers insights into the formation and structuring of space along the principles of Fordian (shoe) production. Decisions relating to the choice of location adhered to the premises of efficiency and profit maximisation; here, the existing resources, infrastructures, human resources and the existing knowledge bases and institutions were the decisive factors. Bata satellite towns acted as catalysts for the industrialisation of space; as transnational islands, their rules, standards and rhythms differed from those of their respective local environments. In this respect, they are an early example of the reformation of the city through spatial relationships that are alien, and which likewise lead to new fragmentations and exclusions, which are comparable with the selective locational strategies of present-day global enterprises.
As such, the transformation of these newly formed factory towns from the 1930s up to the present day may also offer important insights into the mechanisms of the globalisation of city and architecture.

3) (Post-) colonialism and consumer culture

The company’s engagement may also be classified as an instance of colonialism, especially with regard to its locations outside Europe: ways of life, values, technologies, knowledge and culture were transferred to other locations, masking the respective cultural contexts. In their local presence as consumer goods, Bata shoes moreover played a symbolic role, which was linked with the expectation and promise of a better life – after all, the process of shoe production was associated with significant advertising and media expenditure. The extent to which the Bata company’s link with the film industry in Zlín was exploited in the satellite towns is also worth exploring. The “work of the imagination” (Arjun Appadurai) ascribed to today’s global media and communication circuit was already a concomitant phenomenon of the product aesthetic and popular culture of the opening decades of the 20th century. The international consumption of consumer goods could not subsist without the advertising subtext, which augured prosperity and beauty. The different origins of the two satellite towns also tells us something about the diverse dynamics of cultural production associated with the global market. In this respect, the international Bata company emerges as an interesting case study, which sheds light on the interrelationship between global consumption, popular culture and post-colonialism.