Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

Get access

Ideal city
(952 words)

1. Definition

An ideal city is a projection – in a text, an image, or a city plan – in which the formal aesthetic and socio-political ideals of an era are reflected (see Utopia). Designs for ideal cities are found in almost all cultures, from antiquity to the present. Most of the plans are committed to a rigorous geometry. The contours of the urban areas are based on the basic forms of the circle and the square; …

Cite this page
Winter, Sascha, “Ideal city”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 26 March 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_021232>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20180915



▲   Back to top   ▲