Explore 63 Utopias Collections - Atlas Obscura
Places near me Random place

63 Items Tagged

Utopias

Share
A building and road in Fordlândia
forests

Why Did Henry Ford Build a Midwestern Town in the Amazon Rainforest?

Welcome to Fordlândia, the utopia nobody signed up for.
The Podcast Team January 27, 2026
Aerial view of Bell Labs Holmdel
film locations

How the Bell Labs Holmdel Complex Inspired ‘Severance’

Once celebrated as a pinnacle of industrial design, the complex is now synonymous with a never-ending nightmare.
The Podcast Team July 18, 2025
The glass-ceilinged atrium of the Bradbury Building was inspired by Edward Bellamy’s utopian literature.
architecture

The Bradbury Building Featured in ‘Blade Runner’ Was Inspired by a 19th-Century Utopian Novel

The Los Angeles office building draws heavily on the futuristic architecture described in Edward Bellamy’s ‘Looking Backward.’
The Podcast Team May 29, 2025
Ludovico Quaroni designed <em>Chiesa Madre</em> (<em>Mother Church</em>) for Gibellina Nuova.
abandoned

What Can You Do With a 'Failed' Postmodern Utopia?

Gibellina, known as “Sicily’s Marfa,” is looking to its visionary past for a future revival.
Vittoria Traverso February 16, 2024
Krakow, Poland

Nuclear Bunkers of Nowa Huta

An underground city beneath Krakow's postwar socialist utopia.
Humboldt, Kansas

Sad Saga of Vegetarian Creek

This historical marker is all that remains of Octagon City, Kansas, a failed vegetarian utopia.
A polyamorous community, Oneida encouraged gathering with big outdoor and dining spaces.
cults

The Curious Connection Between Food and Cults

From Fruitlands to NXIVM, food has served as the core of Utopia and a tool of control.
Sam O'Brien October 24, 2022
The city's former bathhouse, topped with the word "sogni" ("dreams"), has become Tresigallo's most iconic building, a favorite photo spot for artists and tourists breathing new life into the forgotten city.
architecture

The Curious Afterlife of a Fascist Utopia

What's next for this architectural wonder hidden in the swamps of northern Italy?
Alex Sakalis September 9, 2022
'Searching for Utopia' in Nieuwpoort
Nieuwpoort, Belgium

'Searching for Utopia'

A massive, gleaming sea turtle with a rider atop its shell looks out over the horizon.
The Fruitlands Farmhouse.
Harvard, Massachusetts

Fruitlands Museum

Utopia and nostalgia mingle at the site of Bronson Alcott's ill-fated agrarian commune.
Permanently Closed
Las Marías, Puerto Rico

Termitopia

An artist’s underground sanctuary, 40 years in the making.
The inset map of Utopia, with the accompanying Utopian script (and Latin translation just below it).
books

For Sale: Sir Thomas More’s Utopian Alphabet

The humanist scholar fudged a language into existence.
Isaac Schultz March 2, 2020
Väike-Õismäe District.
Tallinn, Estonia

Väike-Õismäe District

A series of concentric circles represented a bold new experiment in socialist urban planning, and it notoriously difficult to get around.
Aerial view of Palmanova.
Palmanova, Italy

Palmanova Star Fort

A star-shaped fortress town fort built in the geometric model of the Renaissance utopian city.
The Oneida Community Mansion House.
Oneida, New York

Oneida Community Mansion House

The shared home of a utopian commune that practiced "free love" a century before the hippies.
Isokon Apartments.
London, England

Isokon Flats

An exercise in radical design and social living that became the epicenter of Soviet spy networks in London.
A reproduction of Le Corbusier's Modulor Rule.
architecture

Le Corbusier's Special Measuring Tape Is Making a Comeback

The architect thought his unique measurement system was revolutionary, but no one really used it besides him.
Elena Goukassian September 5, 2018
Broadway Bicycle School, founded in 1972, is one of the few countercultural spaces in Devin's book that are still around today.
maps

Mapping the Lost Countercultural Hotspots of Cambridge, Massachusetts

Local librarian Tim Devin has found hundreds of buildings that once housed utopian groups.
Cara Giaimo April 24, 2018