Utopia

Utopia

Liwen Zhang

The word utopia is very interestingly intertwined with visions and discussions concerning the city and lives of its inhabitants. The ancient mythological city of Atlantis, as Mumford’s article mentions, is what Plato refers to as utopia, divine perfection, or “a visible heaven on earth”. Such strong convictions around the idea of a utopia and its strong ties to the city suggest how man has privileged the notion of progress from the very start, since ancient times, when we constantly strive toward a better future. Thus Mumford makes it clear that there is an inherent human need to control technology and live within reach of the divine, whether it be religion, kingship or through the need for technological advancement.

In Sadler’s article comparing and contrasting Constant’s New Babylon and Cook’s Plug-in City, both schemes could been seen as visions of what Plato would have called utopia, plans that placed control, progress and the need for technological advancement on to a entirely new level. Although both schemes were in response to the same problems that cities were encountering in the mid twentieth century, over population being the main challenge, they are both very different in terms of conceptual and formal approach. However despite their differences, what is important to note is that in both schemes, the increased need and thus response toward collective living and leisure is heavily emphasized. This increased need for community and leisure is facilitated by heavy mechanization and explicit spatial organization, where the city can again reinvent itself to become a solution and thus a utopia where its citizens can thrive.

The vision of utopia and the need for progress forward illustrates a sense of both believing and longing for the future which will be better then the past. As our relationship with technology becomes increasingly dependant and taken for granted, new problems and new responses will arise, along with the need for advancement, our visions of what utopia constitutes will continually be rewritten. It now seems apparent that such visions are not only dependant on human aspirations, but also our inherent need for direction and perception.