Imagination as a method for generating knowledge about possible urban futures

Utopian ideals have not always been relegated to the sidelines in planning and architectural practice. In fact, imagining dramatically different alternative futures for cities was once a standard element of planning theory and practice. From Plato and Aristotle’s ideal republics to the more recent utopian visions associated with leading voices in western architecture and planning (e.g., Robert Owen, Charles Fourier, Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright, Lewis Mumford, Le Corbusier and Paul Goodman), the imaginative search for novel physical or discursive renderings of a desired state of affairs has persisted throughout the ages. The creative visions emerging from these practices have infl uenced the form and character of contemporary cities, mainly because of their potential for improving the welfare of individuals and communities. The garden city by Ebenezer Howard and Ville radieuse by Le Corbusier are key theoretical examples of the apparently utopian projects 1 that infl uenced twentieth-century architecture and urbanism before falling into disrepute from the late 1950s onward. 2 Despite their defi ning infl uence in the fi eld, charges of authoritarian excess and tensions between advocates of “planning from above” and “planning from below” derailed the creative search for utopia, bringing alternative strategies to the table (Davidoff, 1965