Utopiansim and the (Un)Built Environment
240115: this is a fascinating history of- mostly european- cultures, in conceiving the ideal city. this city is utopian in intent, and in the eras depicted it is clear what was considered the ideal human. this covers over two millennia, not in actual projects but in 'virtual' mode, and there was little humility, great faith in static perfection, and a kind of touching, quaint, belief in how architecture could perfect human society and thus humans. great images, insightful text, this might be only a five to architecture geeks. there are books to recount actual projects and failures of utopian city ideals, but this book is all on the dream, not the disappointments, not the failures, and maybe through knowledge of history, offers a way to avoid future utopian ideals falling to totalitarian sorts of results...