Utopias, Counter-Utopias, Heterotopias: An Architectural and Urban History

Graduate / Professional

The seminar engages the recent return of utopian thinking at a time defined by multiple catastrophes—from climate change to housing shortage to rising authoritarianism. The seminar begins with an introduction to canonized utopian narratives, including Plato, More, and Bacon. Throughout the seminar we engage with key authors who have interpreted utopian traditions in architecture (including Marx, Balibar, Benhabib, Bloch, Foucault, Hayden, Jameson, Marin, and Vidler, among others). Particular emphasis is given to changes in the conception of utopia across time together with the shifting representational techniques through which utopia was envisioned. The readings are structured around a series of architectural projects for utopian cities or buildings that have emerged since the early nineteenth century. Topics may include Charles Fourier’s Phalansteries, the Shaker Village of Hancock, Robert Owen’s Plans for the town of New Harmony, late nineteenth century cooperative housing schemes, expressionist utopias of the early twentieth century; the Situationist New Babylon project, communes of the 1960s, Afro-futurism, and the counter-utopias of the Italian Radical movement, among others. Sessions utilizing material from Yale’s collections are emphasized to the greatest extent possible. T 9:25am-11:20am