 The Congrès internationaux d'architecture moderne (CIAM), or

International Congresses of Modern Architecture, was an

organization founded in 1928 and disbanded in 1959, responsible
for a series of events and congresses arranged across Europe by
CIAM the most prominent architects of the time, with the objective of
spreading the principles of the Modern Movement focusing in all
the main domains of architecture (such as landscape, urbanism,
industrial design, and many others).
  The International Congresses of Modern Architecture (CIAM)
was founded in June 1928, at the Chateau de la Sarraz in
Switzerland, by a group of 28 European architects organized
by Le Corbusier, Hélène de Mandrot (owner of the castle),
and Sigfried Giedion.
 CIAM was one of many 20th century manifestos meant to
advance the cause of "architecture as a social art".
CIAM  The Declaration also asserted that as society became more
industrialised, it was vital that architects and the
construction industry rationalise their methods, embrace
new technologies and strive for greater efficiency.
  The organization was hugely influential. It was not only engaged
in formalizing the architectural principles of the Modern
Movement, but also saw architecture as an economic and political
tool that could be used to improve the world through the design of
INFLUENCE buildings and through urban planning.
 The fourth CIAM meeting in 1933 was to have been held in
Moscow. Instead it was held onboard ship, the SS Patris II, which
sailed from Marseille to Athens.
  Here the group discussed concentrated on principles of "The
Functional City",

which broadened CIAM's scope from architecture into urban

planning. Based on an analysis of thirty-three cities, CIAM proposed
that
1. the social problems faced by cities could be resolved by strict
functional segregation, and
INFLUENCE 2. the distribution of the population into tall apartment blocks at
widely spaced intervals. These proceedings went unpublished
from 1933 until 1943, when Le Corbusier, acting alone,
published them in heavily edited form as the "Athens Charter.“
3. The chaotic division of land resulting from the sales,
speculations, inheritances must be abolished by a collective and
methodical land policy.
  As CIAM members traveled worldwide after the war, many of its
ideas spread outside Europe, notably to the USA. The city
planning ideas were adopted in the rebuilding of Europe following 
World War II, although by then some CIAM members had their
INFLUENCE doubts. 
 The CIAM organisation disbanded in 1959 as the views of the
members diverged. Le Corbusier had left in 1955, objecting to the
increasing use of English during meetings.
   The conclusions were published as "The Athens Charter" (so-
called because the Congress was held on board the SS Patris en
route from Marseilles to Athens). This document remains one of
ATHENS the most controversial ever produced by CIAM. The charter
effectively committed CIAM to rigid functional cities, with citizens
CARTER to be housed in high, widely-spaced apartment blocks. Green belts
would separate each zone of the city. The Charter was not actually
published until 1943, and its influence would be profound on public
authorities in post-war Europe.