1 INTRODUCTION: TECHNOLOGY, URBANISM, MODERNITY Exceptionally high speed of building and rebuilding cities in 19th and 20th century was fol- lowed by major changes in redefinitions of professional disciplines that shape the city (Pendle- bury et al. 2015). Techno-human dichotomy has been one of the key issues in this conceptual and methodological debate. Mies van der Rohe’s speech at MIT in 1950 clearly described abs o- lute faith in technology of modern times to solve many environmental problems: “Technology is far more than a method; it is a world in itself. As a method it is superior in almost every re- spect. But only where it is left to itself, as in gigantic structures of engineering, there technolo- gy reveals its true nature. There it is evident that it is not only a useful means, but that it is something, something in itself, something that has meaning and powerful form – so powerful in fact, that it is not easy to name it. Is that still technology or is it architecture (Mies van der Rohe 1971, 154)?” From the mid-nineteenth century to the World War II, radical ideas about urban space were made with an attempt to turn the clutter and insanitary conditions of modern industrial city into a spatial and social order. Since its establishment in 1928, Congrès Internationaux d'Architec- ture Moderne (CIAM) has become one of the key frameworks for the development and spread of new urban ideas in the 20th century. Principles of industrial production and technological concepts were part of the urban imagination and spatial concepts of modernism. Sometimes the architectural and urban forms literally resembled the picture of complex technological systems, such as a ship or plane. At the same time, technological improvement in the process of building, including increasing its speed, have brought into the urban discourse concepts such as efficien- cy, standardization and rationality. In that context Mies van der Rohe continues: “Architecture depends on its time. It is the crystallization of its inner structure, the slow unfolding of its form. That is the reason why technology and architecture are so closely related. Our real hope is that they will grow together, that some day the one will be expression of the other. Only then will Dialectics of human and techno centric approaches in urban design Nevena Novakovic University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina nnovakovic@agfbl.org Anita Milakovic University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina azrnic@agfbl.org ABSTRACT: Techno-human dichotomy has been one of the key issues in city design since the middle of the 20th century. This paper presents a short overview of critical debate about techno centric approaches grounded in modern urban planning and design. The paper also describes the emergence of more human oriented approach in designing cities in the 60s and questions di- alectics of human and techno centric approaches in urban design today. The main goal of new urban planning and design approach was to promote architecture and urbanism sensitive for the needs of urban space users. This human approach considers a city as spatial frame that provides multiple choices in everyday life with focus on people, patterns of space use and their relations with spatial configuration. Within the contemporary context of data-rich environments human approach is still fundamental for urban design, but technology is an integral part of it.