Practicing Utopia. An Intellectual History of the New Town Movement

Abstract

A sweeping view of the new town movement as a global phenomenon. From Tapiola in Finland to Islamabad in Pakistan, Cergy-Pontoise in France to Irvine in California, Wakeman unspools a masterly account of the golden age of new towns, exploring their utopian qualities and investigating what these towns can tell us about contemporary modernization and urban planning. She presents the new town movement as something truly global, defying a Cold War East-West dichotomy or the north-south polarization of rich and poor countries. Wherever these new towns were located, whatever their size, whether famous or forgotten, they shared a utopian lineage and conception that, in each case, reveals how residents and planners imagined their ideal urban future.

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Chapter 1. The Origins of the New Town Movement
• Chapter 2. The Futurology of the Ordinary
• Chapter 3. Exporting Utopia
• Chapter 4. Cybernetic Cities