Ideal Cities: Utopianism and the (Un)Built Environment - Tapa blanda

Ideal cities, or utopias, have been imagined in dazzling detail by philosophers, poets, architects, social reformers, religious zealots, and artists for more than two millennia, an abiding and ever-evolving vision Eaton cogently surveys in this unique, thought-provoking, and resplendently illustrated history. Utopias, Eaton explains, are most often conceived as panaceas during times of profound social unrest; aim for the greatest collective happiness and harmony; and tend toward geometrically precise and orderly designs as though mathematical balance can control nature's wildness and humanity's perversity. After presenting her working definition of paradisiacal cities, Eaton ventures forth to conduct elaborate guided tours of various utopias, many inspired by myths or religious texts. She explicates Plato's ideal city; Sforzinda, the first Renaissance utopian proposal; the urban dream of early-sixteenth-century Englishman Thomas More, who coined the term utopia; and so-called new-world utopian playgrounds. As Eaton moves into the machine age, plans for ideal cities (Le Corbusier presides) grow more and more ambitious, extreme, and morbidly entrancing.

"A historical timeline of past and present envisionings of the perfect city, from detailed Renaissance plans to new millennium metropolises...gorgeous full-color plates."--"Dwell"
This vast panorama spans more than 2,000 years of Western attempts to invent the perfect city. Embracing not only architecture and town planning but also art, literature, philosophy, and politics, Ruth Eaton takes the reader through the imaginary environments of a wide variety of fascinating and often controversial movements and figures: Plato, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas More, Thomas Jefferson, William Morris, Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Archigram, Superstudio, and many more.
Eaton explores the ability of ideal cities to stimulate reflection and change. She also suggests under what conditions they might continue to exercise their vital function in relation to the urban environment of the future, heeding the great historian of cities Lewis Mumford's words that "a map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at." 300 illustrations and photographs, 250 in color.