Hasta La Ideas

Dezeen and publishers Gestalten have teamed up to offer readers the chance to win one of five copies of Utopia Forever.

The book explores a range of concepts for the future from the fields of architecture, city planning and urbanism with features written by architects and theorists.

To enter this competition email your name, age, gender, occupation, and delivery address and telephone number to competitions@dezeen.com with “Utopia Forever” in the subject line. We won’t pass your information on to anyone else; we just want to know a little about our readers.

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Competition closes 10 May 2011. Five winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeenmail newsletter and at the bottom of this page. Dezeen competitions are international and entries are accepted from readers in any country.

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The information that follows is from Gestalten:

A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. —Oscar Wilde

The cities in which we live today are unfortunately not the cities that we need for a humane and sustainable tomorrow. Societies and politicians are desperately looking for solutions and ideas for the urban areas of the future. That is why the development and discussion of utopias are–next to sustainability–the most current topics in contemporary architecture.

We have learned from the 1960s and 1970s that utopian visions are one of the most important catalysts for fundamental change. Modern wind farms for generating energy, for example, were initially contemplated at that time and are now permanent fixtures in our landscapes.

Utopia Forever is a collection of current projects and concepts from architecture, city planning, urbanism, and art that point beyond the restrictions of the factual to unleash the potential of creative visions. In contrast to the largely ideal-theoretic approaches of the past, today’s utopias take the necessity for societal changes into account.

The projects in this book explore how current challenges for architecture, mobility, and energy as well as the logistics of food consumption and waste removal can be met. Text features by both architects and theorists give added insight.

Whether created by established architects and artists or new talents, the examples in Utopia Forever are important catalysts for fundamental change and are radically shaping our notions of life in the future.

Utopia Forever: Visions of Architecture and Urbanism
Edited by: R. Klanten, L. Feireiss

BOOK DETAILS

Title: Utopia Forever
Subtitle: Visions of Architecture and Urbanism
Editors: R. Klanten, L. Feireiss
Features: 256 pages, fullcolor, flexicover
Format: 24 x 28 cm
ISBN: 978-3-89955-335-2

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