In Search of the Good Place: From Arcadia to Utopia

What is the purpose of design? All design aspires, at some level, to change the world in which we live, and with it, our experience of living. Design is, in many ways, utopian by nature. Framing its questions around the fundamental ambivalence of utopia, this course explores a variety of ways in which design not only engages with but actually defines the term’s ambivalently paired Greek roots: eutopia (good place) and utopia (no place). From the early modern period onwards, the topos of utopia—the concern with an imagined future—developed alongside edenic and arcadian ideals: models of a lost past that might yet be regained through both recovery of old knowledge and pursuit of new. Such ideals operated across cultural fields, engaging an array of practitioners from political theorists, religious nonconformists, social revolutionaries, agrarian reformers, and the architects, artists, writers, and designers who gave form to their societal aspirations. Class sessions will address European and North American material ranging from 1500 to today and will unfold thematically around edenic, arcadian, utopian, and dystopian topics. Students will be encouraged to pursue original research projects that problematize the relation of design and utopia with their own field of interest. 3 credits. Satisfies the chronological requirement.