Giancarlo De Carlo’s Realistic Utopia

Abstract

To seek a possible means to navigate the apparent divergence between participation and criticality in architecture, this paper returns to the notion of the “realistic utopia,” developed by one of the leading early exponents of participation, the Italian architect, urbanist, writer and educator, Giancarlo De Carlo. Through a close reading of De Carlo’s principal theoretical works on participation, in this paper it is argued that the realistic utopia offers a distinct conception of the interaction between architectural objects, the processes by which they are formed and the societal structures which frame this formation. It shows that beyond being a means to understand the multi-directional relationship between architecture and society, the realistic utopia offers a conceptual tool to aid action within the complex set of forces at work in this relationship. In this way, it locates the realistic utopia as something of importance beyond an assessment of the work of De Carlo, or even the broader project of participation he fostered, and is here opened up for renewed use by practitioners today.