Utopian 19th Century City Planning

I've always been fascinated with the type of Utopian city planning models that were drafted in the
19th century, particularly because they often have some socialist slant or counter-force against
the dark, gritty nature of capitalist, industrial cities of the era.

Ebenezer Howard. Garden Cities of To-Morrow, London, 1902.

One of my favorite Utopian concept comes from Ebenezer Howard's "To-morrow: A Peaceful
Path to Real Reform" which I still think has a lot of viability now in 2015. It's not too far off from
modern techniques for controlling suburban sprawl, including urban growth boundaries, except
Howard's growth boundary would be a literal, physical boundary of trees and forest around the
city, rather than just a nominal fee for development taking place outside of the city's incorporated
area.

I'm obviously not naive enough to really believe that any utopia can really be materialized, but I
wonder if Ebenezer would be rolling around in his grave to know how far his idea had been
contorted with suburbanization and replacing his community gardens on the outskirts of the city
with large McMansions and fake lawn zen gardens owned by the bourgeoisie capitalists that he
saw
smoking
up
donwtown
London.
At least there was one city out there who I think pulled it off, and tried to stay true to the idea,
while also incorporated some interesting architecture in its buildings from Le Corbusier. The
unassuming city of Zlin in the middle of the Czech Republic seems like a strange place for his
ideas, and I wish I had known about it when I was a young freshly graduated student walking
around Prague. Perhaps I would have bused on up to Zlin and taken some notes, and maybe
brought some actual ideas to my current career as a regional planner, rather than typing the
same dull zoning codes over and over again.

Utopia is a term used to describe a perfect society, a human desire of a better place. It directly
translates from Greek to mean nowhere, as utopias are often only theories, as opposed to real places.
Attempts have been made worldwide to create these ideal societies through planning, but some of the
most appropriate examples of utopianism can be found in literature. Examples by Sir Thomas More,
New Zealander Samuel Butler, and Robert Owens help to define the meaning of utopianism, through
ideas such as creation of new worlds, introduction of socialism, exclusion of existing world entities,
and ultimately the happiness of people. These examples show how these are all important concepts in
planning.

Utopianism is a very broad and unfocused term. The fact that it is an idea, leads it to have various
different defining points, as all people think differently. Common features of utopian theories include
socialism, the creation of a new world, the exclusion of existing entities, as well as the obvious want
for human happiness. All of these features are very important concepts in planning. While a complete
social reform is not always the best solution for a society, introducing aspects of socialism, such as the
idea of citizens helping the community can be effective. The creation of a new world is imaginary, but
the reasons for these imaginations are important for planning, as planning can help to eliminate the
want for a whole new world, by improving the current one. This also ties in with the exclusion of
existing entities, solely types of people. People that cause others to dream of utopias are obviously
wanted to be excluded from them. It is believed that improving the happiness of a persons
surroundings will better them, and this is the most important concept of utopianism in planning, as
planning is done for people.