Are there any utopian societies today

They maintain that their pacifism meant that they lived in a peaceful society for five centuries. By , their small capital city on the lagoon is home to a peace school that expounds the virtues of pacifism to the rest of the world.

The cacophonous roar of their seven columns could be heard many kilometres away and, for many years, the falls were a major attraction. In , however, the Brazilian military government blew away the rocks over which the water fell, to create a reservoir for a dam. Many Paraguayans mourned the passing of their much-loved falls.

By , though, both the falls and the city have re-emerged in splendid style. The dam has collapsed through neglect and local people have regained control of their land. They set about rehabilitating the falls as best they can, turning their home into a scenic eco-city that attracts tourists once again.

After a nuclear meltdown just out of town, a vast radioactive cloud sweeps over future Tokyo. Everyone must be evacuated. Everything these families eat and drink must be produced and recycled within these homes. These six scenarios are but a small sample of the that were produced within the Ecotopia project.

Throughout history, people have been in search of the perfect town. A utopia, built with harmony in mind, where everyone gets along and works together without conflict.

Since then, humans have tried to replicate this society, not just in stories but also in real life. A handful of towns have sprung up around the world designed with this ideal society in mind.

Ask anyone in Auroville who started the town, and residents will tell you it was the Mother—a woman who dreamed of a unique city where nothing is owned by anyone and everyone lives in peace and harmony without politics, religion or nationality.

Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. Auroville is designed after a galaxy, surrounding a banyan tree in the geographical center and a gold-plated sphere full of meditation rooms that took 37 years to build. Some 50 years later, Auroville is now funded by tourism dollars from people looking to get a piece of peace, as well as more than 2, residents from about 40 countries. A number of small businesses have popped up, selling handmade items like paper and incense, and the proceeds benefit the town.

There are few buildings save for some homes, a school, a town hall, farms, restaurants and the meditation sphere. No one uses cash; instead, Auroville runs on "aurocards," something similar to a debit card. Healthcare, electricity and school are all free, and residents handle maintenance in the town. Though Quakers initially were known and named for their trembling and movements during prayer, this practice fell out of favor, with the exception of one holdout community in Manchester.

The practice of celibacy was reflected in Shaker architecture: Men and women lived and worked apart from one another—even using separate staircases and entrances in buildings like meetinghouses their version of churches. As practitioners of communal living, the Shakers designed their villages—some of which you can still visit today —around this idea. They believed that working hard and efficiently was a form of prayer , and this is reflected in their architecture and design, which is utilitarian with a lack of adornment.

Sticking primarily with boxy Federal-style and Greek Revival structures, every part of Shaker construction had a function. For example, their shutters were designed to block out the sun in the summer and help the building retain heat in the winter. Their wooden furniture was either built into the walls, or—like their timeless Shaker chairs —easily hung from pegs on the wall to allow for easier cleaning.

Regardless of origin, the Shakers eagerly adopted new technologies that allowed them to work more efficiently, including having running water and plumbing systems starting in the s, and using circular saws, mortising machines, and steam-powered lathes. And their willingness to accept new technologies that may have seemed futuristic—especially when it came to anything that could help them work more efficiently—is now the norm.

They established a colony in Butler County, Pennsylvania, called Harmony, and believed that the Bible was the sole authority. Under Frederick Rapp, George Rapp's adopted son, the economy of Harmony grew from one of subsistence agriculture to gradual diversified manufacturing.

By , there were members, a town of about houses, and several factories. They again they built a prosperous community, New Harmony, only to sell it too in They reached their peak in , but the practice of celibacy and several schisms thinned the Society's ranks, and the community dissolved in The Oneida Community:. He studied theology at Andover Theological Seminary, and later Yale. Noyes moved his community to the town of Oneida, in New York.

The community practiced broom manufacturing, shoe manufacturing, flour processing, lumber milling and trap manufacturing. The Perfectionists in Oneida held communal property, meals and arrangements for the rearing and education of children. The Oneida Community Mansion House began housing the community in the early s, and in there were members.

Misunderstanding of the community inspired an meeting of ministers in Syracuse, where they condemned the settlement. Unrest hit the Perfectionists, and Noyes fled to Canada on June 29, Their communal experiment ended in January of when the community was reconstituted as a joint stock corporation. The Demise of the 19th-Century Utopian Colonies:. Several religious and social communal groups developed in the nineteenth century.

Yet of all these utopian groups only the Amana Inspirationists developed and built a network of seven villages set in an agricultural region. As other communal groups in the United State, the Inspirationists of Amana founded their communities with an agricultural basis as. They modified their system into two distinct organizations, one secular and one spiritual. Both men and women labored, although in Amana women's work did not include trades and the ministry as it did in the Shaker communities.