Ecotopia as an Experimental Field in Architecture: A Socio-Spatial Analysis on Space-Constructing Contextual Frameworks in Auroville

Authors : Sinem Ozturk, İrem Küçük

Pages : 317-333

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Publication Date : 2025-09-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Ecotopia, approached through the lenses of environmental ethics, systems critique, and utopian fiction, has come to define an increasingly recognized field of inquiry within architectural and urban design. It represents a multilayered construct in which ecological transformation, social imagination, cultural restructuring, technological adaptation, and economic alternatives are collectively organize moving beyond a mere environmental ideal. In this context, the study aims to critically evaluate the vision of ecotopia in relation to ecological life practices through the lens of spatial production. It identifies the contextual frameworks that constitute ecotopia, analysing the interrelations among these frameworks and how they influence spatial configurations in practice. In this study, which examines the conception of ecotopia across historical, theoretical, and practical dimensions, the first part explores its historical development and intellectual foundations; the second part defines the space-constructing contextual frameworks that shape space; and the third part examines the Auroville case within these frameworks, assessing its spatial formation with attention to its experimental aspects. Through this approach, ecotopia is repositioned as a critical and operative tool to analyse and construct nature-integrated ways of living in spatial terms. Highlighting the experimental nature of ecotopia, this perspective provides a foundation for developing locally responsive, critical, and creative design approaches, and opens new theoretical and applied research avenues in architecture and urban design
Keywords : ekotopya, ekolojik mekânsal üretim, mekân kurucu bağlamsal çerçeveler, Auroville

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