dans son principe

[niceandneat]

Hi,

I am translating the following sentence:

Dans son principe, l’utopie s’accorde au développement durable car elle a pour vocation de projeter un idéal social.

I have translated it as:

At its core, the notion of utopia compliments sustainable development, the purpose of the former being to spread a social ideal.

I would HUGELY appreciate it if someone could let me know whether I have correctly translated the sense of the two words in bold...

Thanks!

 

[cropje_jnr]

"At its core" seems pretty good to me. I was thinking of "in principle", but that's probably slightly less idiomatic.

I would simply say "project" in the second instance, but it probably amounts to much the same thing as "spread".

 

[Guerric]

You could use "In its core concept, utopia...".
But I don't know which one would sound the most natural.

About "projeter", you should wonder about (and check) its meaning here.
If it means "concevoir le projet de", then "spread" is not the right term.