1 City as Utopia Francisco Colom González Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) Madrid, Spain ORCID: 0000-0002-7812-4535 Abstract Although the first cities were built in Mesopotamia some 6,000 years ago, it is not until Greek philosophy that we find the first reflections on the meaning of the city itself. Since then, Western narratives of the city have been mainly normative: a reflection on the “good city”. Its representation as an idealised reference for a morally and materially fulfilled life has taken many forms: the “virtuous city” of ancient Greece, the “city of God” of early Christianity, the “ideal city” of the Renaissance, and the healthy, smart or sustainable city from the Industrial Revolution to the present day. This chapter explores the different connotations that have been attached to the idea of the city, and to the urban dimension more generally, as a utopian reference over time, from classical antiquity to modern urbanism. 1. Introduction The history of mankind is closely related to the history of urban spaces. In 300,000 years, homo sapiens has evolved from a small species of hunter-gatherers roaming the East African rift valleys to a true homo urbanus whose main habitat is the city. This change has resulted not only in a dramatic social transformation, but also in a process of anthropisation of the planet, posing social, environmental and political challenges of unprecedented proportions. Throughout this process, the importance of cities has varied greatly, with their cultural contribution to the history of civilisation being as significant as their political and economic role. While the earliest urban settlements were established in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East approximately 6,000 years ago, it is not until the advent of Greek philosophy that we find the first systematic reflections on the meaning of the city itself. Since that time, the Western narratives of the city have been largely normative in nature: a reflection on the possibility of the good city. Its representation as an idealised or utopian reference for a morally and materially fulfilled life has taken many forms: the virtuous city of ancient Greece, the city of God of early Christianity, the ideal city of the Renaissance, and the smart, healthy, or sustainable city from the Industrial Revolution to the present day. This is not to say that there are not more shadowy elements to such a discussion, as in the biblical tradition, where the first This is the preprint version of the following book chapter: Colom-González, Francisco (2025) “City as Utopia”, In F. Carrión Mena and S. Rodríguez Alvarez (eds.) From the City as a Project to the City Project. Springer Nature, pp. 47-66 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-94226-6_4