Hassan Fathy is Egypt's best-known 20th-century architect. He embraced traditional, vernacular forms, techniques and materials and throughout his career promoted their use as part of a campaign to improve the conditions of Egypt's rural poor.

Earth & Utopia chronicles this lifelong commitment through personal interviews conducted by the author, photographs and drawings from the Hassan Fathy archives, and Fathy's own writings on the subject, many of which are published for the first time.

This book will be essential reading for students, academics and general readers interested in Fathy, and the development of Arab and vernacular architecture, earth construction, architecture for the poor and sustainability.