(Re)Defining Utopia: The Changing Concept of an Ideal World

Utopia, seen not only as a creative and imaginative form, but as a critical and speculative method of devising worlds, spaces, and societal structures different than our own has existed long before receiving its name based on Thomas More’s 1516 book Utopia. Originating in the literary field, utopia has since been used in various creative disciplines, including architecture. Presented as a textual and/or visual narrative, often set in an unspecified future and a remote location, utopias describe worlds in which many or all ails of its author’s historical context have been solved through a thorough reconstitution of the built environment and its inhabitants.
And while what constitutes a utopian work has changed over centuries, it has for the better part of history remained a positively charged notion, signaling new hope and new ideas for the future. However, from an architectural perspective, the notion of utopia has taken on more negative and even pejorative connotations, often signifying a project or idea which is so far off from any concept of reality that it can automatically be dismissed as trivial or inconsequential.
Observing utopia from an architecture standpoint, focusing mostly on its development within the last century, this paper will address some of the changes which have occurred in the meaning, understanding, and connotation of utopia within the architectural field. Correlating these changes with the rich and multilayered understanding of utopia as a literary concept, deepened with its numerous sub-forms and genres (i.e. dystopias, anti-utopias, critical utopias, etc.), the paper will argue that utopia as a form, although often viewed as straightforward in its meaning, actually allows for and has demonstrated a capacity for change and variety, adapting itself within numerous historical periods and creative fields in order to critically and speculatively respond to everchanging political, societal, cultural, and economic challenges.