ABSTRACT
Utopia can be understood as an ‘imagined perfect place’. The word was coined by Thomas More (1478-1535) in Utopia (1516) and was derived from two Greek words: ‘u’ (no) and ‘topos’ (place), which literally translates to ‘no place’; however More suggests that the word eutopia, which means ‘good place’ “(…) is a better descriptor.” (Sargent, 2005); which means that utopia can either be a place, which has no real existence or can be an imaginary ‘good’ place. This duality clarifies two contradictory conditions that are innate to the concept: that it is both an impossibility (no place) and simultaneously an optimal ‘real’ condition (good place). The word became part of common language even prior to the various translations of the book. However, multiple ‘utopian societies’ had been imagined prior to his literary work; all civilizations have had a certain form of utopia fuel their existence: for example, the utopian society of Magnesia, imagined by Plato in Ancient Greece described in Laws, one of Plato’s last dialogues, whose aim was “(…) to produce citizens who possess complete virtue.” (Bobonich and Meadows, 2013). Contemporary uses of the word and concept always encompass
tion of impossibilities. Like a dream, it allows for the triggering of the imagination, opening spaces for new possibilities to emerge. This type of imagining a new world, a new vision, a new way of life or even a new type of dream, has always been part of what art and architecture has aimed to do. More so, it defines art and architecture’s essence.
