An interdisciplinary perspective for reading utopia versus dystopia: “The Ultimate city” by J.G. Ballard, Distopyaya karşı ütopyayı okumak için disiplinlerarası bir perspektif: J.G. Ballard’ın “The Ultimate City” öyküsü

Abstract

In the context of the interdisciplinary nature of architecture this study dwells on the fruitful relationship between architectural discourse and the “literary spaces” within texts. The aim of this study is to offer an original methodology to architectural discourse by looking into literature – in particular science fiction literature – for the creation of alternative outlines on the future. In this respect the study is structured on the reading of literary spaces with regard to knowledge acquired from architectural discourse. Within this interdisciplinary gaze the exemplary problem definition relies on the contradiction between the concepts of “utopia” and “dystopia.” In J.G. Ballard’s story from the early part of his career The Ultimate City this contradiction is displayed through two u(/dis)topias: the abandoned technological metropolis and the pastoral suburban Garden City that represents an agricultural society similar to the utopian Garden City of Ebenezer Howard. The premise of the study can be understood as conveying the data acquired from the utopian/dystopian worlds within literary spaces in general and Ballard’s literary spaces in particular providing new perspectives and finally arriving at a general proposal of translation of the idea from literary spaces to architectural discourse. © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.