Urban Utopias of the Present Past: New Lanark, a resilient experience of two centuries

• Grant number: 24/05342-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2024
• End date: January 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Fundamentals of Architecture and Urbanism
• Principal Investigator: Renato Cymbalista
• Grantee: Letícia Maria Martins Fleury
• Supervisor: Pallas Athene Reiss
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Oxford Brookes University, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/10812-4 - Urban Utopias of the Present Past: New Lanark, a two centuries resilient experience, BP.IC

Abstract

Utopian experiences typically play a secondary role in the history of urbanism, as they are dutifully credited in historiography as forerunners, enablers of a lexicon of experiences, and amplifiers of utopian horizons. However, they ultimately play a small structuring role in these narratives. The greatest highlight is usually given to experiences in which urbanism incorporates the system of government devices, methods, and responsibilities for territorial development. This research project integrates a broader investigation into experiences of past urban utopias that continue to exist as functioning spaces alternative to real estate markets. These experiences are analyzed beyond the original magic and uniqueness of their birth and their role as precursors of modern and contemporary urbanism. The focus is on the dynamics and internal devices, decision-making instances, and individuals who have held administrative and political positions, allowing these utopian experiences to survive over time. In their various configurations, these "Urban Utopias" exist within associative and community-based institutional spaces, and while they remain distinct from state-owned entities, they also transcend market-driven private ownership. This project aims to investigate an experience of utopian territory that was built in the past and remains active, having spanned decades and centuries as an alternative space to the market-oriented and capitalist dynamic of land ownership and residence. The study of New Lanark holds the potential to interrogate the significance of this enduring proposition of urbanism in contemporary contexts, enabling us to engage with theories and methodologies that offer fresh insights into the analysis of contemporary phenomena, as well as stimulate advancements in the respective academic domain in which the project is situated.