The Shape of Utopia

Reviews / Votes

"Irene Cheng's discovery of geometric utopias uncovers a little-known yet fascinating dimension of nineteenth-century America. Combining architectural and social analysis, she offers a deeply informed interpretation of the complex interactions between political ideals and geometric form. This exciting book should generate a new interest in the utopian impulse."-Margaret Crawford, University of California, Berkeley



"Offering a highly original account of nineteenth-century American reform movements and ideals, The Shape of Utopia analyzes ideal community and architectural plans as forms of politics set within vivid cultural, social, and economic contexts. Irene Cheng points the way toward advanced approaches to nineteenth-century American architecture, away from the canon and toward new modes of thinking about representation, culture, society, politics, aesthetics, and the built environment. The Shape of Utopia is a timely, important, and much welcome contribution to nineteenth-century American architectural historiography, joining work by Michael Osman, Joanna Merwood-Salisbury, and Charles Davis."-Daniel M. Abramson, Boston University


"Cheng's exploration of less well-known attempted utopias from the 19th century is not intended as the final word on such visions, but it is a valuable new account of the role of architectural drawing in the reformer's mind and work."-Architectural Record



"Cheng's writings are a masterfully comprehensive account of intertwining the personal and landscape biographies of 19th-century American reformists, their social visions of communitarianism and social coexistence, and their mixed attempts at prototyping them. Like an investigative journalist, the author draws from primary and secondary, archival, and material culture sources to extract from the past critical lessons for today's planners."-Journal of the American Planning Association



"To open Irene Cheng's The Shape of Utopia is to be inducted into a Wunderkammer archiving the dreams of pre-Civil War Americans (exclusively White, mostly male), all expressed as congeries of geometry and desire."-Places Journal



"Offering an extensive and uniquely focused view of mid-nineteenth-century America's rapidly changing cultural landscape, this book examines these utopian plans within the context of significant economic and technological transformation, encompassing movements such as phrenology, anarchism, and spiritualism. Engaging equally with architectural history, visual culture studies, and U.S. history, The Shape of Utopia documents a pivotal moment in American history when ordinary people ardently believed in the potential to reshape society."-Progressive Geographies



An Architect's Newspaper best architecture-related book published in 2023