Road to Utopia: Imaging Better Communities
Outline
The Utopian Process
The Journey: Imagine starting out to find a new place to live. Who are we? Where are we coming from? What are we looking for, and why? Individuals write their histories and draw their visions of a perfect place to build a home.
The Natural Environment: What landscapes do we prefer? What does the natural environment have to do with where and how we make a new place to live? Each individual will make a topographical sketch of a settlement.
Culture: How do we describe our group? What is there about us that decides what our community will look like? What do we believe? How do we keep our culture alive?
Community: What is it? What is the purpose of living together instead of alone? What do we gain and what do we lose? How do we organize? A checklist of community traits.
Looking at Cities
New Communities: Ideal cities, company towns, garden suburbs, new towns, communes — what do they have in common, and how are they different? Individual students choose a utopian community to research and discuss.
The Built Environment: What landscapes do we prefer? What does the natural environment have to do with where and how we make a new place to live? Each individual will make a topographical sketch of a settlement.
Old Town/New Town: Historic towns and neighborhoods are protected under preservation acts — why? What good are they?
Mud, Brick and Dreams: Two neighborhoods side by side tell the story of changes caused by the railroad coming to town. What do they represent?
Public Places, Open Spaces: Parks, piazzas, plazas, commons, village greens; how have planners balanced concrete structures with nature? The garden suburbs, suburbia and clusters: how did these develop from manorial estates?
Landmarks, Monuments and Mistakes: How planners and civic leaders influence thinking about the past and present community. The story of statues, parade routes, palaces and public art.
Planning Real Communities
City Systems
Planners and the Public
Planning Strategies
Designs for Living (Planned Communities)
Mapwork and Symbols
The Problem Box: Problems are taken from real life, using newspaper stories as prompts for discussion and debate.
Living in a City
Immigration
Us Guys and You Guys
Tourism
Boosterism/Separatism
One Community
What About Me? (The search for acceptance, purpose and place in society)
- Rights and Responsibilities
- At Home in the City (How can I be fulfilled as an individual in a city of many?)
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