Utop, an Ongoing Utopian Housing Project in Paris

As Jean Haëntjens stressed in his article at the beginning of this special issue, we have, since the 1970s, seen the emergence of new urban projects, coming not from visionary theorists but increasingly from associations, collectives, companies or citizens who have decided to take the future of their city in hand. Marthe de La Taille-Rivero outlines one of these initiatives here, the work of a collective of Paris citizens who are carrying out a project in participatory living. She shows how a utopian vision of housing shared between friends is about to become reality, since, after surmounting a series of administrative, financial and technical hurdles, the Utop project has been approved by the Paris city authorities and translated into an architectural project that is both environmentally friendly and mindful of the need to connect with the residents of the area. If everything goes according to plan, the housing complex should be in place in two years’ time, lending substance to a new form of urban utopia.