Totalitarian Imprints in Society, Landscape and Urban Architecture

Article by Theresa Konova

Part 1: Meaning of Totalitarianism: Characteristics and Expression.

Totalitarism is defined as the type of political system in which the state has achieved control over every factor in public and private life. The overall rule is limited to one leader (defined as a dictator, although a few other decision-making people are supporting the singular persona of the dictator), and he has the power to shape the ideologies, norms, beliefs, activities and definition of the meaning of life for the whole population he rules over. Revolting against such a regime results in severe punishments, possibly until the rest of one’s life or maybe even the end of one’s life. Furthermore, a totalitarian system does not allow real public media and controls any sort of information that may reach the public, including manipulating, erasing and changing historical and cultural narratives to suit their current aims and ‘brainwashing’ general views by deforming the imprint of the past to model the future (Nicholas, 2021). And people leave imprints in multiple ways, especially in our landscapes, as a result they become also game field for power-dynamic changes and disturbances. From the perspective of the state’s development (scientific, medical, technological, agricultural, architectural, etc.), this regime can have great achievements and reach heights as never seen before, succeeding in the creation of a parallel world, represented as a potential ‘great reality’ to other countries.

Part 2: Totalitarianism among People and Landscape (seen through the critique of George Orwell, and pretty much accurate)

Above-described methods influence strongly society by integrating silence, fear, mistrust, restriction, isolation, and probable lack of empathy among people (fig. 1). In this way, society becomes a comfortable and silent asset and with its passiveness and implied severe control it helps totalitarianism flourish (fig. 2).

Fig. 1, Quote from 1984 book by George Orwell, Pinterest

Fig. 2, Quote from 1984 book by George Orwell, Pinterest

Through repression of human characteristics and emotions, a totalitarian state can benefit from the three most important things, mentioned in 1984 book by George Orwell: 1. Cheap labor (working bodies), 2. Valuable minerals and raw materials (resources and landscape) and 3. Territory (encompassing the other two). Thus, a reason to have ongoing wars, destroying beautiful nations and landscapes: yet, Orwell’s deeper point is that the war is not meant to be won, but its real purpose is to keep the landscape and people locked in perpetual scarcity, making the totalitarian grip permanent (fig. 3). Although totalitarian power is strongly connected to examples like the Soviet Union from the past or North Korea currently and other communist regimes, it could be assumed that Totalitarianism is not just a political regime that is either fully ruling a state or not, it can also be a power used and dictated partially over people, in certain areas and timeframes of their life: and this sort of restrictive and submissive measures are used in many countries and political settings, for which we have to be aware of. Nothing is just Black or White, just good or bad, and if we look around: just in the ways we live, in what we are allowed and what is strongly censored and purposely tried to be hidden from the mass, we can see what is strictly controlled and suppressed in our surroundings, capable to limit society, culture, nature… Especially when we are not able to criticize and express ourselves freely without consequences and restrictions, then it is clear that the existence of a totalitarian dynamic is present.

Fig. 3, Quote from 1984 book by George Orwell, Pinterest

In 1984, this restrictive logic is displayed directly onto the city of London, in Airstrip One (the imaginary name of Great Britain). London’s landscape is a map of permanent war: rotting nineteenth-century houses sustained with timber, windows patched with cardboard, and bomb sites turned into “sordid colonies of wooden dwellings like chicken-houses”. Contrasting to this ruined urban fabric rise four enormous Ministry buildings, ironically named ‘Ministry of Love’ (law and order), ‘Ministry of Peace’ (war), ‘Ministry of Truth’ (entertainment, education and fine arts) (Bentham Science Publishers, 2021) as a paradox showing to us that whatever intentions are being presented to us initially do not reflect a complimentary action, but often an opposing one, masked under the false propaganda and the creation of a delusive perception.

Architecture and urban spaces were partially the vivid imagination of the author, but also partially showcasing the real expression of totalitarian authority. The Four Ministries are described as huge pyramid-like towers of white concrete, 300 meters high and dominating above the whole of Airstrip One from the skyline. In the rest of the landscape, living blocks are inhabited by the workers, like the one of the main character: Winston’s home, Victory Mansions, a name that clashes with the decayed reality showing how language and architecture are used together to mask decline. Meanwhile every square, every meter of public space that is considered accessible is monitored and even private dwelling space is surveilled. Such disruption of personal freedom keeps people tired, cramped and constantly reminded of the only meaning of life: authority. The walls of these blocks are not a boundary for privacy, but a device that connects every space to the Ministry: inside and out. Wandering through the proletarian districts (more neglected and poorer), another type of landscape, Winston moves through a maze of narrow streets, small shops, pubs and markets, with shabby houses, but still communicative people. It is more chaotic than disciplined in comparison to the Party’s clean corridors and ministries. As opposed to this world and landscape, Winston has a recurring dream (and later in reality with Julia) where he comes to a place called the ‘Golden Country’: ‘a pasture of short springy turf, with a rabbit-bitten pasture, a broad, clear stream, and elms whose leaves were gently swaying in the breeze.’ (fig. 4). This counter space is an example of how a different landscape allows different emotions and forms of life, which albeit not perfect (as Winston describes things he confronts also in this sort of landscape), are nonetheless free of control of the regime (The Urban Imagery of George Orwell, 2006)

Fig. 4: 1984 movie, location of the ‘Golden Country’, (Filming Locations for 1984 (1984), in London and Wiltshire., 2025)

Part 3: Development Stages of Totalitarianism 

But how does Totalitarianism happen to form? According to the Mises Institute there are five development stages (Larson, 2022):

Stage 1: Rising on the ruins of the old order

To make people contribute to a totalitarian mission, dissatisfaction and mistrust in the old and current must be built in them. In such way, the totalitarian approach comes out as a necessity, and not as a new form of repression. An example is given of how the French revolution did not flourish from the blood but from the bread: the lack of it, although abundant to the kingdom, while being supported by the ideas of the Enlightenment, while raising up taxation in combination, built up the strongest resentment step by step through the suffering of the French citizens. Another case is the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917, in which the Bolsheviks could make use of ordinary Russian people miseries to accomplish a successful revolution, again prompted by the leadership mistakes and consequences of the rule of Tsar Nicholas II (and of course Rasputin and his wife, so it is getting complicated…). And about a decade further, German people were faced with the biggest postwar consequences, implied by the Treaty of Versailles, which let to such economic collapse that social structure oriented itself to the extrapolated and inconsiderable (under normal circumstances) leadership of the Nazi Party and the formation of the Weimar Republic.

Stage 2: The Messiah and the Grand Revolt

Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In physics, "action" and "reaction" are simply two forces acting on two different objects. Forces never exist in isolation: they are always the result of interactions between two bodies (Hall, 2024). Thus said, if the action forced upon society is extreme, the reaction will be no less. In such moments, what is actually a brutal and even sociopathic leader can seem like a saviour who has a point and a reason, deeply resonating with the formed traumas and issues in society. In Russia, the Bolsheviks rode the wave of food riots and military mutiny, turning the simple promise of “Peace, Land, and Bread” into a licence to seize the state in a swift coup. In Germany, the same messianic dynamic unfolded more slowly and legally: Hitler and the Nazi Party transformed resentment over Versailles and economic collapse into electoral gains and propaganda-fuelled charisma, until his appointment as chancellor in 1933 gave him the key to dismantle democracy from within.

Stage 3: Propaganda and Crushing Opposition

Upon the imposed power of the Messiah, the regime moves towards neutralizing all rivals and capturing the key institutions of society. All parties and unions are disunited if not brought under control with emergency laws being permanent and the threat of violence silencing remaining criticism. This mission is successful if there exists no longer any organized alternative to a new order, but only the authoritarian leader and the suppressed population, fragmented and frightened into obedience. 

Stage 4: Reinventing Society and Lifestyle

This is the stage in which the regime expands from the real of the proclaimed in speech and on paper into all areas of public and private life. All education, art, science, religion beliefs, family and personal values are reshaped to serve the official ideology, in which censorship dominates information and surveillance is inevitable. People are pursued to forcefully believe the truthfulness of the regime on a deep internal level, built into daily routines, buildings, media and landscapes.

Stage 5: Stagnation and Collapse

In this final stage, the totalitarian regime either radicalizes further (purges, permanent war and genocide) or slowly decays into a more ordinary authoritarian system which also reeks of corruption and exhaustion, malfunctioning and rotting. Sometimes an internal split or external shock can threaten it and bring to its collapse. Ideology can still remain, but real control weakens and the system drifts in a grey zone between power and static state (Larson, 2022).

Part 4: What is left of Totalitarianism then? 

When the system runs out of energy, money and belief, monumental and architectural projects are abandoned, while districts and former industrial zones are ruined but not rebuilt. Totalitarian power does not simply disappear; it settles into the landscape. Abandoned factories, vanished villages, labor camps, war airfields and ruined industry are a scattered atlas reminiscent of the intimidation, social pressure and modulation. Even though their original goal has ended, it still searches for ways of repurposing and seeking for a new expression. Such a case is the Czech research project The Land Gone Wild (Zdivočelá země) which is mapping traces of Nazi and communist rule in Czech countryside and towns: from mining grounds and plantations to former internment sites and Stalinist memorials. This initiative aims to show how material remains and ‘wild’ in-between spaces still carry memories that are more resistant to manipulation than official narratives. In this sense, the leftover of this regime is not only a political or mental imprint, but also a physical one: a patchwork of intimidating structures, brownfields and repurposed out-of-time buildings, which continue to shape how people live daily, move, remember and imagine their present long after the regime itself has collapsed (ARUP, 2025).

Fig. 5: A photo from The Land Gone Wild Project, (ARUP, 2025)

References

Architecture in Fictional Literature: Essays on Selected Works | Bentham Science Publishers. (2021, December). Benthamdirect.com. https://www.benthamdirect.com/content/books/9789815036008

ARUP. (2025). The Land Gone Wild. Archaeological and Transdisciplinary Research on Resilience Strategies in the 20th Century - ARUP. ARUP. https://www.arup.cas.cz/en/research-development/the-land-gone-wild/

Filming Locations for 1984 (1984), in London and Wiltshire. (2025). The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations. https://movie-locations.com/movies/0/1984-1984.php

Hall, N. (2024, June 27). Newton’s laws of motion. Glenn Research Center; NASA. https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/beginners-guide-to-aeronautics/newtons-laws-of-motion/

Nicholas, S. (2021). Characteristics of totalitarianism. EBSCO Research Starters.https://www.ebsco.com/research-

starters/political-science/characteristics-totalitarianism

Larson, W. (2022, June 11). The Five Stages of Totalitarianism | Mises Institute. Mises.org. https://mises.org/mises-

wire/five-stages-totalitarianism

The urban imagery of George Orwell. (2006, April 20). Eurozine.com. https://www.eurozine.com/the-urban-imagery-of-

george-orwell-2/