Utopia 2.0: "Nature-Thinking" in the Nordic New Towns of the Past, Present, and Future

Utopia 2.0 historicizes, questions, and updates approaches to ecological community planning through close historical and ethnographic studies of three utopian planning models with origins in the Nordic countries.

All three espouse variations of what we label “nature-thinking," including: 1. technocratic nature-thinking in welfare suburbs (mid-20th c.), using modular green spaces to promote social equality, 2. conservationist nature-thinking in ecovillages (late 20th c. to the present) that emphasized human and environmental well-being, and 3. extractive nature-thinking in industrial Arctic towns (21st c.), advancing neoliberal visions of "greening." The team develops case studies from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and beyond, arguing that the long history of utopian, nature-oriented Nordic planning makes the region a key site for study and comparison.Analyzing the histories and transformations of three utopian planning models where nature and communities were intended to develop together, we understand them both critically and as radically inventive for their times.

Innovative interdisciplinary methods link ethnography and history to compare, critique, and analyze planners, plans, plants, ore, and more.

How did past designers understand their own nature-thinking, and what can their contemporary counterparts glean from such approaches?

How has nature “talked back” to past utopian plans, and what lessons do those dialogues between humans and nonhuman species provide?