Le Corbusier was a committed and sometimes provocative advocate of his ideas and visions, which he circulated in over 50 books and countless, publications newspaper articles and speeches. Although on one hand confrontational, on the other, his views on art, architecture, town planing, technology and the combined effect of these elements of cultural creativity were poetic and visionary. Of particular concern to him was always the socio-political backdrop of town planners' and architects' work.

His first publication appeared in 1912 and by 1923 he had already earned worldwide respect and recognition for his architectural manifesto, "Vers une Architecture" (Towards a New Architecture), which remains even today probably the most widely read architectural manifest. As a result, he received invitations to lecture at universities and architectural schools all over the world. Out of this lecture, publictions followed such as "Urbanisme" (The city of tomorrow) and "Maniere de penser l'urbanisme" (Looking at city planning) and in particular "Le Modulor" which found a wide readership similar to that of "Vers une Architecture". A pinnacle in Le Corbusier's poetic work can be seen in his "Poeme de l'Angle Droit" (Poem of the right angle) which was published in Paris, 1955 and which comprises a bibliophile's collection of 20 lithographs and 20 hand written poems by Le Corbusier.

At the 1999 Frankfurt bookfair, "Towards a New Architecture" was declared as one of the 100 most influential books of the 20th century.