Impressions of the Amsterdam Workshop
The workshop ‘Utopian City’, which took place on the 31st of May 2008 in Amsterdam, was a great success. Danube hosted this workshop as part of the MyCity Budapest-festival. Urban Strategist Kai van Hassselt delivered a keynote speech on Utopia and city planning. In his speech he spoke of the origins of this illustrious concept and reflected upon how Utopian thinking has fulfilled a central role in shaping the way we have built cities, and have lived in them ever since antiquity. From here on, the stage was given to the workshop’s participants. Divided over five groups, they participated in an animated discussion on their views of a Utopian city. Using photos, drawings and text, each group created a collage which they presented to the other groups and to the jury in the plenary session.
Carbon-Neutral Island is a carbon emission free island ruled by women. Analogous to Atlantis, this city is located on a mystical island, where society is self-sustaining, carbon-neutral and where there is no place for religion. Women and men live apart and can only meet in the middle, in a place called the Garden of Eden.
The city Plutopia consists of several worlds in which work, religion, entertainment and living are separated in different spheres, much like the idea of Le Corbusier in the twentieth century.
Brain City
The population of this Utopian city is bound together by ties sustained through a strong participation of its members in civil society. In Brain City, characterized by a culture of tolerance, a plethora of religious, ethnic and cultural differences exists. This is part and parcel of the vision of Utopia of its architects. Such differences are overcome through continuous debate, being at the root of a lively, yet ultimately harmonious society.
Anticipating global warming, the Wireless-Water-World Group envisioned a city floating on water, thriving on state-of-the-art technology, but still with a sense of old-worldly charm, combining living, working and entertainment in one compact city.
Sense City appealed to our senses. It’s a place of pleasure and relaxation and Buddha, in case its inhabitants crave for some Zen. Sensibility is a central characteristic of Sense City’s society. The creators of Sense City applaud creativity and diversity: it’s a lot better to have a city which favors homosexuality and crazy geniuses than mediocrity.
After long deliberation the jury chose Brain City as the winning concept, both for its comprehensiveness as well as for its attention to civil society and ecology. Members of the winning group received a copy of Thomas More`s Utopia.
Movie
During the workshop we showed a short movie featuring cityscapes made especially for the occasion by Matthijs Hoitsma. To download this wonderful movie click here. (download and open with quicktime)
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