The self-managed community of Christiania has been operating since 1971
"Are you depressed by the endless routine of daily life or the horrible state of politics? Do you yearn for a better world, with more beauty, equality and opportunity? (...) Only a few have a more radical vision of what would have to be the world, and the will to try to build his own utopia . Do you have the guts to be one of them?"
This is how suggestive is the beginning of the book Utopías (Planeta de Libros, 2020), a Illustrated comic book guide that unravels, in a very entertaining way and with a sense of humor -and even irony-, the attempts of citizens from all over the world to live by your own rules.
"These people often spend their entire lives working to make their dreams come true. Sometimes they sacrifice their family, their friends, their health, even their sanity. The story of these people and their projects It can serve as an example... or a warning! ", continues the volume of Andy Warner and Sofie Louise Dam, recently published in Spain.
The cover of the book 'Utopias'
The book is divided into five sections, beginning with intentional communities, that is, groups of people who choose to radically remake social structures. This is the case, for example, of the Danish neighborhood of Christiania; of Auroville , the great golden sphere called to unite the peoples of the world -and which is now a World Heritage Site- or the Van Dykes , a group of lesbians who, in the 1960s, decided to build a perfect sorority community... going so far as to stop talking to men.
The second chapter studies micronations, tiny countries never recognized as New Atlantis, created by none other than Hemingway's brother on the Jamaican coast. Or the Principality of Hutt River , a hereditary monarchy created by a group of farmers dissatisfied with government wheat quotas... which still exists today, after 47 years.
Auroville, a striking international community established in India
The third speaks of failed utopias, great political and social experiments that did not end well, as Palma Nova, a city in the shape of a nine-pointed star founded in the Republic of Venice no less than 425 years! It took 200 just to build, and when it was finished, no one wanted to move in, so Venice ended up populating it with pardoned offenders . Today it is still standing.
The section also brings together other curious stories, such as that of Oneida , a New York community born in the 19th century in which marriage was abolished, equality was encouraged and the children - who could only be conceived by a select few - were communally raised , since paternal attachment was discouraged. Years later it became a successful cooperative manufacturing silver items!
The fourth part encompasses the visionary environments, stories of wonderful and strange places where the dreams of their creators have come true. For example, him Arizona Mystery Castle , which hides the touching story of a father who, playing in the sand, had always promised to give his daughter a castle. he finished it erecting in secret , a job that took him a lifetime.
The fifth and final chapter is entitled Strange Dreams, and is populated by innovative proposals that were never carried out, such as the utopian city of King Camp Gillette, Metropolis . The inventor of the famous razors had become enormously rich, but this only increased his concern about the dire effects of capitalism on society, which he almost predicted point by point. This is how this book collects it, which will delight curious, restless minds, nonconformists, travelers -many of these places can be visited- and, of course, big dreamers.