Re-searching Utopia : When Imagination Challenges Reality

History has consistently demonstrated that Utopias have always been developed against the most varied backgrounds: Utopias have appeared as a reaction to crisis situations, as visions for a new start or as carriers for innovation. The author sets out on a journey of discovery to find the contemporary role and possibilities offered by Utopias.

The great majority of architectural productions attempt to satisfy our everyday needs and to maintain the status quo of this basic requirement, an effort which is generally dubbed the state of the art. But architects of all times have simultaneously attempted to leave these limitations behind them and to propose entirely innovative paths, challenging the status quo of their environments and creating something entirely new. History has consistently demonstrated that Utopias have always been developed against the most varied backgrounds: Utopias have appeared as a reaction to crisis situations, as visions for a new start or as carriers for innovation. During the nineteen sixties and seventies in particular Utopias served as a source of inspiration for many architects. In the following decades Utopias continued to be a relevant issue in the humanities, but now tended to be pushed aside in architectural discourse.