Anatomization of

UTOPIA-case of Barcelona city

-by Esa Shaikh First year of MastersK.R.V.I.A.

Chapter 1

What is Utopia?

Utopia, disambiguation, is individual's or collective imagination toward the best of what he can get or make in the future. It's the ultimate dream where instead of survival, the adrenaline rush to live is the main subject to highlight. Each will have their own perspective towards Utopia. Its not defined with any parameters, not judge by any critics, not anaylysed by any subject. Its one own imagination filled with best dreams without any Loopholes or tasks.Its a dream to create ideal society.

A utopia is a community or society possessing highly desirable or near perfect qualities. The word was coined by Sir Thomas More in Greek for his 1516 book Utopia. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt to create an ideal society, and imagined societies portrayed in fiction.

Image of Utopian city shown in Movie Metropolis, 1927

Modern visualization of Utopian city

The imaginary city where there is no issue of more related Urban growth. There is well synchronization to the growth of the city. People don't have any problem relating to the society or to the Urban designing satisfying all the need of the society of individuals. Its transcends the limitation and gets extended to the stage where no modification is needed, neither with designing nor with the administration.

It's well noted from centuries that when cities grow , due to whereas reasons, it has always face the issue of Urban gentrification. Some or other issue relating to lifestyle, transport, communication, population, pollution, etc. is administered. Its too very impractical to imagine city as perfect. There is no doubt, the solving of issue is great upto certain extent. But its not moving towards Utopia.

Utopian city

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Italo Calvino has romantically sympathized Utopia city as city would be set

around a meandering river, with many beautiful bridges linking areas of different

character, with elegant squares and public spaces of different shapes and sizes, enclosed

by interesting buildings of varying ages and appearance, linked by lively streets bustling

with people. Landmark buildings of special interest would define key locations and

glorious vistas would lead the eye on from one space to the next. Vehicular traffic would

be unobtrusive and confined to defined zones, with innovative new transport systems

offering clean and speedy means of travelling from place to place. The air would be fresh

but tinged with the tantalizing fragrance of the country, interspersed with appetizing

smells of aromatic herbs and spices from a local market stall. So with my senses suitably

assuaged my emotions would be lifted by an overall feeling of comfort and wellbeing in

harmony with my fellow people .

But our perspective of Utopian City created is totally different. It can be said

that it's the generation art work inspired us. The view of Gloomy city with high tech

technology, with approximate site is oceans or sky is scratched on our mind by Movies

and Art works. s. The city is marked by strong contrasts. Huge structures rise from

crowded streets filled with outcast market traders dealing in cloned animals. These

images are even more frightening because we all know places a bit like this. Our cities

often have fringe areas where decaying backstreets are overshadowed by towering new

developments with strongly enforced security systems. We have homeless people living

on the streets and the lucky people with wealth and security are plagued with fear of

crime and violence. On bad days our cities seem congested with traffic, suffocated by

pollution and run down by crime and social problems .

Image of Utopian city shown in Movie Equilibrium and Blade runner.

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Various Architects and Artist have their own way of Recording details and

Expressing Utopia with reference of that recording detail. This detail is also the notice

done with the problem going in that time period or era. Sometime it's totally imaginary

and some time its due to early molding of society with related issue.

Newton's cenotaph, Boullee, 1784

Minuscule clusters of visitors

ascend a monumental stairway at the

base of a spherical monument rising

higher than the Great Pyramid of Giza. An

arc of waning sunlight catches a small

portion of the sphere, leaving the

excavated entry portal and much of the

mass in deep shadow. Bringing together

the emotional affects of romanticism, the

severe rationality of neoclassicism and

grandeur of antiquity, Etienne-Louis

Boullée's sublime vision for a cenotaph

honoring Sir is both Isaac Newton

emblematic of the particular historical

precipice and an artistic feat that

foreshadowed the modern conception of

architectural design. Newton's cenotaph, Boullee,

The need for the hour in U.K. where

the cities and lifestyles were rotting with

the Miliue of Urban form, Sir Ebenezer

Howard introduced the he Garden city

movement as a method of urban planning

in 1898. Garden cities were intended to be

planned, self-contained communities

surrounded by "greenbelts", containing

proportionate areas of residences, industry

and agriculture.

Garden City concept

Garden City concept,

Core with garden surrounded

by residential and green spacing over

layered by industrial blocks.

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Archigram

Archigram was an architectural group formed in the 1960s - based avant-garde

at the , - that was anti-heroic and pro-Architectural Association London neofuturis�c,

consumerist, drawing inspiration from technology in order to create a new reality that

was solely expressed through hypothetical projects. The main members of the group

were Peter Cook,Warren Chalk, Ron Herron, Dennis Crompton.

Concept of walking City Concept of City in Sky by Archigram

Frank Lloyd Wright with his concept and Model of Broad acre city

Broad acre city

Broad acre city was the antithesis of a city and the apotheosis of the

newly born suburbia, shaped through Wright's particular vision. It was both a planning

1) statement and 2) socio-political scheme by which each U.S. family would be given a

one acre (4,000 m²) plot of land from the federal lands reserves, and a Wright-

conceived community would be built anew from this.This concept came under heavy

criticisms in the late 1950 by many critics such as Jane Jacobs in her book The Death

and Life of Great American Cities.

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TheMetabolism movement was developed during the period of

reconstruction in which war-torn Japan worked to move toward its period of rapid

economic growth. Gathered around the iconic figure of Kenzo Tange the group of

young architects including Masato Otaka, Fumihiko Maki, Kiyonori Kikutake, Arata

Isozaki and Kisho Kurokawa engaged in heated debates over the ideal city, and

planned agreat deal of experimental architecture and cities based on ideas of lifestyles

and communities for a new era.

As their name suggests, the Metabolists responded to urgent

problems like the sudden increase in population and expansion of cities by proposing

large-scale architecture and urban planning that would continue to change in form

organically as opposed to static urban conditions illustrated in Le Corbusier schemes.

Metabolist Movement

Kenzo Tange's classic (and unrealized) Metabolist planning scheme for Tokyo Bay. 1960.

Kiyonoiri Kikutake, Marine City (1958-63).

Funnel city 'Intrapolis' (Walter Jonas 1960)

Space city (Yona Friedman 1959-63)

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Dystopia

While moving towards Utopia , city has taken total about turn and turned

towards the degradation of themselves. The various Utopian scheme has failed with

changing times or growing demands of society. Society has either defuncted or not

critiacally and sensitively evaluated. This has led to drastic effect on societies and cities.

A dystopias is a community or society that is in some important way

undesirable or frightening. Such societies appear in many artistic works, particularly in

stories in a future. Dystopias are often characterized by dehumanization, set totalitarian

governments, . Dystopian societies appear in many sub-genres of environmental disaster

fiction and are often used to draw attention to real-world issues regarding society,

environment politics economics,religion, psychology, ethics, science,, , etc. which if

unaddressed could potentially lead to such a dystopia-like condition.

Dystopia by A. van Eyck, 1967.

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Every city tends to make progress. It tends to move towards utopia in its

own way. Becoming more complex and hence developed. Its very important to

highlight that the Utopia stage is reached in 2 different way that is 1) Scratch and start

way 2) Incremental step way.

Chapter 2

There is urgent and emergent

necessity of space that is needed to meet the

demand of population explosion and new

governmental administrations in the world.

This is solved by the development of totally

new conceptually designed habitat. This is

further more taken as scratch and the start city.

Its totally developed on no use land or ground

. Some of this city is made to show the aura and

power of the Country or the administration its

ruled by. This design method and process stand

for specific number of population. And if

proper scope of future expansion is not made,

this methods fall into the unusual aspect of

society known as dystopia. Its also noticed the

expansion for future in number of years.

Secondly if scale is small it

completely forms different sect of community

as seen in 'Neighbouring Unit Model' of

american Architect Clearance Perry. This leads

to exploitation of builders and

neighbourhood.etc. Originally surrounded by a

British-style green belt, Chandigarh has long

been bursting its bounds. Designed for a

population of up to 500,000, it is now home to

double that or more. People are attracted by

the city's standard of living: incomes are high,

child mortality low. As well as the green spaces,

there are museums and colleges in abundance,

and new jobs in the IT sector.

1) Scratch and start way : Planned city of Brasilia and Auroviile.

Planned ‘Neighbourhood Units’ by Clerance Perry.

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Chandigarh, India which Le Corbusier himself contributed to was initially

perceived as a failed city. Kalia claims that the problems experienced by Chandigarh

were from “the absence of local authority, a lack of understanding of the local culture

and values on the part of the planners, and the history of the region. Authority relations,

lines of accountability, and decision-making structures never became clear” .

Chandigarh experienced a sudden confrontation with modernism in what was a

“tradition-bound, rural, and financially conservative” location. Thus, his design was

considered sterile and “profoundly alienating because of the absence of street life”

such as bazaars. Also, in line with the segregation of uses principle, Le Corbusier placed

the capitol complex away from the city, which also had an alienating effect on the

citizens – “this act rendered the monumental dimension of Le Corbusier's vision remote

and distant from the citizens” .

In one sense, this could be interpreted as a failure of Le Corbusier's

ideological belief that design should be ahistorical, but the fact that managerial issues

and explosive population growth were also involved shows that political contexts also

contributed to Chandigarh's problems.

Plan of Chandigarh by Le corbusier

Plan of Chandigarh showing extended city and growing slums

Slums in Chandigarh at colony no.5

Increase in Crime Rate after 8 p.m. because of deserted streetArtificially created lake

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2) Incremental Steps way towards Utopia

From the centuries long, habitation prevailed in the livelihood of people.

As man is a social animal , Societies are formed within his neighborhood. The space is

sooner converted into Milieu. As soon as the society grows, the clusters of

neighbourhood comes together to form a unit called as town or city. Initially it was very

essential to form cities for securitical, social and economical reasons. This cities are

interconnected for trades , economics and various other reasons giving enormous

velocity for their development. Fast forwarding to 17 centuries, this cities or colonies

have outgrown marvelous architecture and planning sense. Science and technology

have given cities a better place to stay.

As there is transformation, evaluation and modification of small town to

cities with passing time, its essential to understand that the space has responded to

people needs and modified into betterment. Various city has responded to this condition

such as ever growing and transforming Vetican city, initial 7 Island of Bombay forming

Mumbai City, timely planned and designed Beautiful city of Barcelona.etc

Centuries old City of Vatican, underwent many changes to suit the need of planning .

City of Paris take big planning steps with introduction of Hauzzmanization and later providing concept by Le corb of ‘Radiant city’ for residentials .

Athens city took steps to conserve the Fabric so its not lostwith the passing of time, it can be view in the steps of city planned .

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Chapter 3 : Anatomization of Barcelona

Barcelona: geography and development

Barcelona is located on Spain's northern Mediterranean Coast. For

centuries, the ancient rivers Besos and Llobregat formed the western and eastern

boundaries of Barcelona: they also determined the position of access routes into the

city. The sea and the coastal strip are to the south of the city, while to the north is the

Sierra of Collserola, a natural mountain barrier to urban development; the plain on

which the city has been built is confined within these natural barriers of the sea, rivers

and mountains: it is punctuated by the foothills of the Collserola and the two hills

near the sea, Montjuic and Mons Taber, a crest overbuilt by earlier settlements. The

piercing of the Sierra Collserola and the building of other major highwaysin Valles,

Llobregat and the littoral has stimulated new urban growth beyond the historical

confines ofthe Barcelona plain.45 Barcelona's distinct urban form originated some

2,000 years ago as a compact Roman oppidum. The

walled medieval centre expanded from that core, supported by an economy linked

closely to maritime activities.

By the nineteenth century, growth stimulated by industrialization

necessitated the demolition of the city walls to permit its expansion. This expansion

was based upon a grid plan by the engineer urbanist Ildefons Cerda. The Eixample,

which is Catalan for expansion, is composed of 550 square blocks set out on an 113

metre module.

The plan by Cerda covered the alluvial plane between sea and mountain

incorporating outlying independent towns, increasing the city footprint to ten times

its original size. The most central part of the Eixample straddling the Passeig de Gracia

became the context in which modernist architects such as Lluis Dominech i Montaner

and Antoni Gaudi built ostentatious homes for the turn-of-the-century nouveaux

riches. It was here too in Eixample that Guadi started the building of his still unfinished

masterpiece, Sagrada Familia.

Old fortified vity of Barcelona where deliberately large space is left behind for defensives purpose .

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Urban Renewal

The major catalyst of the modern transformation of Barcelona in the

eighties to the present was the 1992 Olympics. With the end of a long dictatorship

known as Franquismo, the city took advantage of its new found democracy as the

Urban Social Movement began. Faced with serious problems of urban decay in both

inner and peripheral

districts, planners used the Games to gain enough funding to complete an amount of

reconstruction that would take any city decades to accomplish.

Olympic facilities were built on neglected urban areas, with the Olympic

Village, developed on brownfields close to the coast. The rail lines that cut and divided

the city from

the sea were opened and for the first time in its history, Barcelona has been able to

turn and face the sea with pride. Six artificial beaches were created to handle the

capacity of tourists that would be in the city for the upcoming Games.

This change was championed by one planner in particular, Oriol Bohigas,

who used the Games as a springboard to built more than two hundred parks, plazas,

schools, and

other public facilities in Barcelona. Most of these amenities were inserted into derelict

areas where crime was high. In one area in particular, El Rival, buildings were retrofitted

to house a modern museum, police station, and other amenities.

Slums that came up because of population explosion . City of Public Spaces .

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Barcelona is now widely known as one leader in innovative planning in the

world. Internationally, it is celebrated for its accessible open space and walkability. It has

survived the economic, environmental and social changes of the last decades through

focusing upon the provision of great urban spaces that centralize activity on a variety of

scales: city, neighborhood, and within each block. In short, Barcelona has been

transformed into a city that provides an example of how to facilitate increasing density

while maintaining a livable and relatively compact city.

Octahegonal blocks of Planning .

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Essential Planning Timeline:

1860- Walls surrounding Barcelona demolished to make way for Ildefons Cerdá's

Plan for Urban Renewal

1975- End of Fraquismo and beginning of democracy

1976 - General Metropolitan Plan Implemented

1979 - First democratic municipal elections were celebrated

1980's - City is transformed in preparation for the 1992 Olympics

1980 - Architect Oriol Bohigas arrived in the city council

1983 - The inauguration of public spaces started

1982-92 - More than 490 acres of park had been gained (while 40 years of Franco

produced only 172 acres)

Modal - split method of Transportation is selected encouraging public transport.

Policy to restore and conserve very Narrow lanes and policy to respect Familia sagridia by heights obstruction are passed .

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Some of the guiding principles of Barcelona's urban planning include:

Focusing the creation of public amenities in dilapidated neighborhoods first.

Orienting the city back to the Mediterranean Sea by creating access and usable beaches.

Provide adequate public facilities to every neighborhood.

Reuse of brownfields sustainable planning.

Restricting urban sprawl by focusing on redevelopment rather than new development.

Reclaiming famous inner courtyards that act as open space within each block.

Context of the city:

The foundation for Barcelona's transformation has been the city's Example

district, a series of 520 street blocks planned on a grid with major boulevards cutting

through the pattern at 45 degree angles. The visionary urban planner Ildefons Cerdá

worked on the design for twenty years and has been an example to planners. Ever since

the 1860 plan was implemented. Its high quality architecture, attention to community

green space on large and small scales, and ease of access have stood the test of time and

still provide a city that people from around the world love to visit.

Making walking and cycling exciting making La ramble streets .

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Urban Forms - The Death and Life of Urban Block (Architecture Art Ebook)

Urban Design - Street and Square, Third Edi�on

h�p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia

file:///C:/Users/Esa%20Shaikh/Downloads/a-utopian-city-chris-wilkinson.pdf

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boullee/

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h�p://orange�cker.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/le-corbusier-how-a-utopic-vision-

became-pathological-in-prac�c/

h�p://www.plane�zen.com/node/42309

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104531270831

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