Is urbanity a utopia?

European urbanity is associated with a certain image of the City, with a sp ecific way of life, and with the hope of emancipation. The author contends that the ,,Gestalt" of the City cannot be preserved, and that urbanism as a way of life is no longer bound to the city. Only the emancipatory elements of urbanity are still valid, though in the form of utopian hopes: the eman cipation from uncultivated nature, the liberation from the necessities of l abour(Marx' ,,realm of necessity"), the overcoming domination in democratic self government, the City as place of individualisation and integration of strangers.