Reimagining the city: views of the future from the past and present

Abstract

This chapter traces the origins of visions and defines them. Drawing on history, art, culture and academic thinking the development of city visions if traced from its earliest origins to the present day. Imaginary representations of cities are explored and described and critically reviewed. This chapter examines what is meant by the term ‘vision’ and how writers such as Plato and Thomas More have influenced our thinking about the future, through their utopian ideas. The chapter then compares and contrasts utopian and dystopian views of the future, drawing on literature and film (and related art) to examine questions such as what sort of ‘urban imaginaries’ emerge from literature and film, and do these imaginaries shape the way our cities look and feel today (and will do in the future), and vice versa? Finally, the way in which utopian thinking has influenced and shaped urban planning through the visionary thinking of early thinkers such as Geddes, Howard and others is examined.