Anti-utopian blueprints: populism and Müller’s uncertain city

Abstract

ABSTRACT It has been common for researchers of contemporary populism to compare the objects of their study to the revolutionary utopianism of the early twentieth century. This comparison is often wielded in a partisan manner to evoke the dystopian consequences of this utopianism. It is partial too in a different sense – while pluralist critiques of utopianism have been embraced by anti-populist thinkers, the image of the ideal city – often seen as representing ideal-type examples of utopianism – have played a much less prominent role. This article begins to expand on the comparison between populism and utopianism by centring the built environment by focusing on the work of Jan-Werner Müller, who places the built environment at the heart of his democratic theory. In suggesting how cities could be planned to better facilitate deliberative democracy, Müller’s work tentatively revives elements of the utopian tradition of planning the ideal city. This article analyses Müller’s blueprint for a democratic city, reading it in parallel with his work on populism and negative republicanism. By providing theory with a concrete reference-point, the image of the ideal city highlights the utopian elements of anti-utopian and anti-populist traditions, while simultaneously creating space for more hopeful, radical, and utopian scholarship.