Description
Write an essay (about 2000 words) in which you compare a historical utopia (for 2000) and a contemporary utopia. Try to analyze and evaluate both on an ideological and functional-formal level.
please write in own words (own opinions/conclusions)
What I want in the essay: (and please use accessible sources !! because the teacher looks back at the works that has been cited)
20th century idealistic city’s
The idea behind it
How does it works with architecture
Rem Koolhaas project on Utopia
How it suits with me as a student in architecture
kas oosterhuis – sculpture city (parameters)
Preface
In the previous quarter it was about the development of the city, the urban practice and theory. Some theories were presented in the form of ideal cities and utopias. Ideas play an important role in the latter. utopias in general arise from dissatisfaction with the current situation and from an extrapolation of developments: scientific, technical, social, psychological, etc. Utopias are thus a blueprint of what an ideology wants to achieve. Because of the often rigid starting points, a specific concept of humanity and social construct, utopias often have affinity with their counterpart, the dystopias.
Dystopias or negative utopias are an extrapolation of developments, which lead to dissatisfaction and fear. These are often expressed in literary or cinematic form. They are no less ideological, just think of Brave New World, 1984, The Truman Show, Neuroromancer, The Net, the novels of Houellebecq. The evoked images have something absurd and / or creepy (uncanny, unheimlich), which underlines the psychological impact of the evolving developments.
With the rise of Neoliberalism with Postmodernism as philosophical-cultural movement in the footsteps, it seems to have been done with the utopian proposals. After Modernism with its belief in the socially-technically feasible world, the radical conceptual design trends from the 1950s to the early 1970s Situationism, Archigram, Superstudio, etc. are more provocative than real utopian. Then it seems to be done with the idea of the ??designer as a world improver.
In the 21st century, however, new utopian perspectives are emerging: On the one hand, new scientific insights and technological revolutions, and on the other global crises and threats, our ideas on economy, labor, social structures, possession, and the relation between human and nature change dramatically.
Concepts that inspire contemporary utopian social thinkers and designers are e.g. the circular economy, self-organization, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, 3D printing, and biodesign.