phalanstère

thumb|alt=|Perspective view of the urban area of Fourier's . Rural area is not shown in the drawing. thumb|North American Phalanx building in [[Monmouth County, New Jersey, inspired by Fourier's concept]]

A phalanstère (or phalanstery) was a type of building designed for a self-contained utopian community, ideally consisting of 500–2,000 people working together for mutual benefit, and developed in the early 19th century by Charles Fourier. Fourier chose the name by combining the French word phalange (phalanx, an emblematic military unit in ancient Greece) with the word monastère (monastery).