abstract: This paper explores the history and force of ideal city planning and the related
literary and visual genres of Utopian -- and Dystopian -- speculation. The Ideal City
represents a highly significant aspect of human thought and endeavour, usually conceived
in response to actual problems as well as intended to effect substantive improvement in
the daily social lives of individual citizens. Linked to a thematic knowledge resource
intended to establish an interactive website, this paper reviews the main constituents
of the Ideal City tradition, examines its impact on the design of urban settlement,
including across Canada and in Vancouver, and indicates how such conceptual approaches
to the building of a better civic environment and society can contribute to the creation
of more sustainable, habitable and civilized cities in the 21st century.
