From Reality to Utopia - A Story of the Transformation of Social Space

Abstract

The formation of social space through architecture is becoming increasingly important in today's society. In order to design social space as effectively and sustainably as possible, however, it is first important to know the current society and its problems and grievances. Furthermore, social scientists, architects and spatial planners can learn from the development of social spaces in the past decades. The development of social space will be the main component of this work.

Utopias aim at the ideal human being and the perfect society. They achieve this goal both by designing physical space and by designing social space. Utopias have therefore accompanied the cultural history of mankind since time immemorial and often reflect the current zeitgeist or represent a counter-design to the prevailing social conditions. Utopias are therefore holistic wishful architectures.

A prominent example of such wishful architecture from the time of the Third Reich is the design of the World Capital Germania. An urban design created by the architect Albert Speer for the German capital Berlin. This utopia designs social space in the sense of the ruling Nazis' thinking about representation and power. The architecture is supposed to give people the feeling that an individual person alone is powerless in the face of the community. Therefore, structures of gigantism can be found repeatedly in the architecture of the World Capital Germania. Speer wanted to use the design of the physical space to ensure that the population would develop into a cohesive community.
A clear counter-design after the WWII is the concept of New Babylon by the architect Constant Nieuwenhuys. Unlike Albert Speer, Constant Nieuwenhuys places the individual in the center and predicts an architecture of individual possibilities. Through the elimination of all work and the automation of all processes, people have the freedom to build and design their own environment. All people are thus placed on the same social level.
In today's society, climate change and the depletion of the planet in particular play a significant role. NEOM is a design of a futuristic city that aims to sensitize people and to pay more attention to the environment with its 100% sustainable architecture. Furthermore, NEOM's design also puts people back in the foreground, whereby the innovative progress of this project is based on the community.

The development of social space and the goal of architecture can be seen not only in the overall architectural structure, but also on a smaller scale, many insights can be gained. These will be discussed in more detail in the essay.

The comparison of the various influences of physical architecture on social space and the analysis of the historical reasons for the emergence of the different utopias bring great added value to modern architectural, as well as urban planning projects. This large-scale analysis can substantiate the concept of social space and broaden the view on this topic.