The Business of Utopia
Estidama and the Road to the Sustainable City
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6011613 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Federico Cugurullo (0000-0002-0625-8868, Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 66-88 |
| Publication date | 2013-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Utopian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1045-991X • E-ISSN: 2154-9648 |
| Publisher | The Pennsylvania State University Press (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.5325/utopianstudies.24.1.0066 |
| OpenAlex | W164756920 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 8 |
Over the last couple of decades, global urban politics has experienced the increasing emergence of ambitious megaprojects aiming to create sustainable cities capable of facing severe ecological and economic crises. This essay argues that the genesis of eco-cities is grounded in a strong wave of utopianism that can have potential negative socioecological implications, and by looking at the current development strategies of Abu Dhabi, it aims to explore the interrelations among utopia, sustainability, and urban politics. Using empirical material, Abu Dhabi's development plans are examined to understand how visions of the good society and of the good city are theorized and integrated into the policy agenda. The focus is on Estidama, a program for social and urban change based on the sheik's dream of transforming Abu Dhabi into a sustainable global city, and on its main incarnation: Masdar City. In the analysis of convergences and divergences with western utopianism, this essay explains how images of the ideal city are used to boost the local economy and fulfill the political interests of the ruling class. Ultimately, the reasons behind the association eco-city/ideal city are elucidated, and the role of utopia in the quest for the sustainable society is questioned
Civil engineering · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sustainability · Sustainable development · Urban planning · Utopia · Vision · Engineering · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Urban and Rural Development Challenges · Urban Planning and Governance
Design culture for Sustainable urban artificial intelligence
Walking the superblocks
Eco-City dream
Defining “climatopia”
Urban eco-modernisation and the policy context of new eco-city projects
Beyond techno-utopia and its discontents
Ecotopian imaginations, urban densities and the dispersal of affect in new cities in Southeast Asia
Beyond dystopian smart cities? Unlocking a progressive utopian future in smart urbanism
Exposing smart cities and eco-cities
| Unique citing works | 9 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,9 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2026 (11) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 9 |