Communalism and Architectural Anarchism: Insurgent Built Utopias of the Past and Present

When we think of architecture in utopian communities, we typically think of harmonious and attractive buildings and other structures, as well as communal campuses that are meant to last for a long time. We like to dwell on Auroville, the Shaker villages, the Harmonist villages, New Lanark, William Morris’s Kelmscott Manor, Damanhur, and so forth. However, some built architectural visions are much more radical than those–insurgent projects that challenge our standard thinking. In 2021 a new book examined 61 such innovative experiments. It is entitled Architecture and Anarchy, and was written and largely illustrated by Paul Dobraszczyk. It presents a new take on built utopianism and intentional communities, and I plan to explore the often-challenging themes that this provocative book has provided. The book has expanded my thinking on utopianism and intentional communities, and I will explore new directions in this illustrated paper.