Platonic Myth and Urban Space: City-Form as an Allegory

Abstract

Shaping civilization across the ages, the myth of the Ideal City has reverberated through Western city-form from Plato to this day. While the intrinsic structure of Plato’s Ideal City was mirrored in the perceived constitution of the human soul, the physical design of the Ideal City, as outlined in Plato’s legend of Atlantis, corresponds to his vision of the universe at the very end of the Republic. The Platonic attempt to emulate universal perfection in the Ideal City has been manifest throughout the history of the city. It grew hand in hand with a companion allegory – that of the Grand Designer. Whereas the inherently masculine paradigms of the Ideal City and the Grand Designer have shaped Western city-form across historic times since antiquity, the feminine myth of the Garden has been all but excluded from a design expression in the city.