Eco-topia

Abstract

Through the presentation of a design research project inspired by the narrative “Edilia, or ‘Make of it what you will’” in Spaces of Hope by the cultural geographer David Harvey, this article shows a contemporary resurgence of interest in visionary utopian design. Springing from Harvey's Neo-Marxist position, the design studio and ecotopia design presented explore an alternative relationship between nature and urbanization. That association is based not on exploitation of energy resources, but on the potential to create a sustainable ecology and community at the Jökulsárlón, a lagoon located at the base of the melting glacier, Vatnajökull in southeastern Iceland.

Notes

1. Robert E. Park, On Social Control and Collective Behavior (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1967), 3.

2. David Harvey, “The Freedom of the City,” in The Politics of Making, eds. Mark Swenarton, Igea Troiani and Helena Webster (London: Routledge, 2007), 15.

3. David Harvey, Spaces of Hope (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000), 133-181.

4. Ibid., Back cover.

5. Ibid., 257-281.

6. Ibid., Back cover.

7. Oliver Cooper, “City of Interwoven Power Structures” [unpublished prose], written 5 October 2010.

8. David Halpin, “Utopianism and Education: The Legacy of Thomas More,” British Journal of Educational Studies 49, no. 3 (September 2001): 300-301. Halpin argues that “utopianism as a distinctive literary genre” was the achievement of lawyer and social philosopher, Sir Thomas More. Thomas More, Utopia (London, New York: Everyman's Library, 1974, First published in 1516).

While More was not the first to write utopian literature his work greatly influenced later writers who engaged with socialist critiques of capitalism and urbanism often imagining the future. Some include: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Communist Manifesto (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, First published in 1848); Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of To-morrow (London: Faber and Faber, 1946, First published in 1898); William Morris, News from Nowhere or an Epoch of Rest (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1970, First published in 1890).

9. David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas (London: Sceptre, 2004).

10. Use of creative fiction writing is a technique Dawson and I have continued to explore in our studio teaching and which I explore in my own research. The possibilities of this method of critical project framing used in studio teaching as a creative research practice are still in the early stages of comprehension although the shift from writing to drawing offers students alternative media through which to visualise their designs.

11. Brian David Johnson, Science Fiction Prototyping: Designing the Future with Science Fiction (Morgan & Claypool Publishers, 2011), 12.

12. James Cameron and Jay Cocks, Strange Days, DVD. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Lightstorm Entertainment, 1996).

13. Robert Adams, Edward Burtynsky, Thomas Struth, Jem Southam, Giovanni Castell, Paul Graham, Per Bak Jensen, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Mette Tronvoll, Walter Niedermayr, John Berger, Vanishing Landscapes (London: Frances Lincoln, 2008).

14. Oliver Cooper, Exhibition label text for his “City of Interwoven Power Structures” design exhibited in the “Sci-fi Eco-Architecture” exhibition. The exhibition was hosted by Chetwoods Architects and held in the ‘Green Room’, 12-13 Clerkenwell Green, London from 4th January to 28th January 2011.

15. Martin Heidegger, “The Question Concerning Technology,” in ed. David Farrell Krell, Martin Heidegger: Basic Writings from “Being and Time” (1927) to “The Task of Thinking” (1964) (San Francisco: Harper); William McDonough and Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (New York: North Point Press, 2002); Lewis Hyde, The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World (Edinburgh: Canongate, 2007); and Carolyn Steel, Hungry City (London: Chatto & Windus, 2005).

16. Neil Spiller, “Towards Animated Architecture against Architectural Animation,” Architectural Design 71, no. 2 (2001): 82-85; Nic Clear, “Concept Planning Process Realisation: The Methodologies of Architecture and Film,” Architectural Design 75, no. 4 (2005): 104-109

17. John Hejduk, The Lancaster/Hanover Masque (London: Architectural Association, 1992).

On my recommendation Cooper looked at Hejduk's work. He took from Hejduks' methodology that which he wanted, choosing instead to embed himself more in Heideggerian philosophy.

18. James Baldwin (1997) Buckyworks: Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today (London: John Wiley and Sons), 190.

19. Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose (London: Secker & Warburg, 1983, First published in Italian in 1980); Alain Godard, Andrew Birkin, Gérard Brach, Howard FranklinUmberto Eco, The Name of the Rose, DVD. Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud (Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation [US], 2004/1986).

20. David Harvey, Spaces of Hope (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000), Back cover.

21. Renata Tyszczuk, Joe Smith, Nigel Clark and Melissa Butcher, Atlas: Geography, Architecture and Change in an Independent World (London: Black Dog Publishing, 2012), 132-139.