The Construction of Ideal Cities and their Spiritualistic Background

• Project/Area Number: 13610688
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 文学一般(含文学論・比較文学)・西洋古典
• Research Institution: NAGOYA UNIVERSITY
• Principal Investigator: YOSHIMURA Masakazu NAGOYA UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF LANGUA AND CULTURE, PROFESSOR, 言語文化部, 教授 (10033408)
• Project Period (FY): 2001 – 2002
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2002)
• Budget Amount: ¥2,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000); Fiscal Year 2002: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000); Fiscal Year 2001: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000)
• Keywords: Garden City / Communitarianism / Utopia / Millenarianism / Shakers / シューカー / イギリス文化史 / ロバート・オーウェン

Research Abstract

The purpose of this research project, The Construction of Ideal Cities and their Spiritualistic Background, is to trace the communitarian experiment of Robert Owen's New Lanark in the early 19th century and Garden City movement of Ebenezer Howard in the early 20th century, and to prove that their British socialist movements were greatly influenced by the religious enthusiasm such as Millenarianism and spiritualism.
In 2001, I considered what Owen meant by the secular Millenarianism by comparing his communitarian experiment in New Lanark with Shaker community. I made a fieldwork in New Lanark and Letchworth Garden City from 31 July to 22 August, and collected the relevant research materials.
In 2002, I kept on the research on how Howard created his idea on Garden City and in what way he tried to construct Letchworth, the first Garden City in UK. I made a fieldwork in Letchworth Garden City and the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans in France from 31 July to 15 August, and collected the related research materials, especially from Hertfordshire County Archive.