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ARCHITECTURE AND UTOPIA

Architecture and utopia are two closely-related concepts. Architecture serves as a bridge between humankind and utopias. Aiming for a better social order, utopias are built upon ideal cities. To elaborate on this statement, we can say that abstract utopic ideas become concrete in the forms of avenues, streets, and buildings when architecture is involved in the process of realization.

Utopia and architecture complement each other, as utopias benefit from the designs of the architects and engineers of the age. These designs are planned in compliance with the ideal future. Considering the problems of the given time period, people try to establish a better societal system. Hence, the imaginary cities of these stated designs and creations are governed by an ideal social order.

These two concepts mentioned throughout this text have a common goal, which is to readjust the current situation in order to achieve better conditions. This concept of being “better” differs in each era. In the past, with the influence of the Industrial Revolution, people dreamed of highly-automatized, mechanical “machine cities” full of skyscrapers and metal constructions. Nowadays, there is a sense of nostalgia, a longing for the older times. As a result, the utopias of our time are built upon places where there is an abundance of green spaces and an organic life. Utopias, which always orient themselves in accordance with the future, lay the foundations of our new world. In a sense, they guide us to new and better conditions while questioning our ways of living.