City on a hill : urban idealism in America from the Puritans to the present Introduction: Dreams of a future in a new world Jeffersons blueprint for an egalitarian republic A natures nation in the garden of the world Americas anti urban bias The small town as an ideal: Puritan covenants to Celebration Florida The company town away from town Grace dwelling in it : the romance of the suburb Seeding settlement: homesteads land grants and capital seats Making nature urbane: Olmsted and the parks movement Utopians and reformers in a cauldron of urbanization Washington: city of magnificent intentions Chicago 1910: logistics utopia Autopia: the drive to disperse Communitarian journeys Misguided renewal: the urban clearance decades Walt Disneys EPCOT and the new town movement Fabulous and commonplace: seeking paradise in Las Vegas New Orleans and attachment to place E topia: smart cities for the creative class Postscript: Heading to that better place. From the pilgrims to Las Vegas hippie communes to the smart city utopianism has shaped American landscapes. The Puritan small town was the New Jerusalem. Thomas Jefferson dreamed of rational farm grids. Reformers tackled slums through crusades of civic architecture. To understand American space Alex Krieger looks to the drama of utopian ideals