What do the places conceptualized in sociological thought reveal about the ways this discipline addresses hope? Sociologists' hopes express themselves, among others, in representations of places that are envisaged as settings historically pregnant of other social orders. By focusing especially on urban u-topias brought about at the beginning of sociology in Germany, France, the United States and Brazil, and on their recent conceptual unfoldings, one realizes the methodological role that representations of time as to (urban) space play in the relations of sociology with hope. Particularly historical concepts of time regarding cities seem to be crucial for a "hopeful" sociology.
Sociology; Time; Space; U-topia; City