An Early Eco-City Faces the Future

[MachineGhost]

THE pilgrimage began with a black-and-white handbill on a campus bulletin board. At the top was a sketch of an ultramodern compound rising above a desert canyon: a city upon a hill.

Next came the manifesto. “If you are truly concerned about the problems of pollution, waste, energy depletion, land, water, air and biological conservation, poverty, segregation, intolerance, population containment, fear and disillusionment,”? the poster began. Then, at the bottom, the remedy: “Join us.”?

Occupying the middle of nowhere must have appealed to the students, architects and seekers of the 1970s who founded Arcosanti, an “urban laboratory”? in the desert 70 miles north of Phoenix. After following a washboard road to the desolate camp, they would find a kind of kibbutz. Here, in workshops, they might build a 30-foot-high concrete vault or plant olive trees or cast bells in silt to sell for construction money.

Above all, they were able to join an ongoing colloquy with the city’s visionary designer, Paolo Soleri. In a cosmic language of his own invention (filled with phrases like the “omega seed”? and “miniaturization-complexity-duration”?), Mr. Soleri proselytized for a carless society in harmony with the natural world. Over the course of 40 years, some 7,000 souls would come and go.

For the most part, though, they left. And last fall, Mr. Soleri joined this group himself, retiring at age 92 as the president of the parent Cosanti Foundation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/garde ... .html?_r=1

[craigr]

I visited Arcosanti in Arizona when I was a teenager. Even bought a bell I no longer have but wish I still did!

Back then it struck me as an interesting idea, but had a weird hippy commune cult feel to it. I didn't see much future in how it was being run even though some of the ideas were good. Maybe they'll turn it around with the new management.

[MediumTex]

I read that article a while back.  

It's an interesting history of one type of communal living.

I'm glad such experiments are undertaken, and I'm also sort of glad that they tend to fail.  

Communal arrangements tend to follow a similar pattern of early excitement and charismatic leadership that is later followed by some combination of poor management, scarcity of funds, and early adopters simply growing out of it and losing their enthusiasm.  This assumes, of course, that the communal arrangement is not at the national level.  When it's at the national level it often takes a lot longer to displace.

[lazyboy]

I've never been there but it looks visually interesting. I'd imagine this could still be be a cool place for students of design, architecture, crafts, gardening and cooking to try out new things. Maybe they can grow, reinvent themselves, maybe not. At worst it can serve as a museum for a very intriguing architectural and living experiment. Maybe it will inspire someone in unexpected ways.

[alvinroast]

We stayed there in the 'Sky Suite'. It was very interesting architecturally much like Taliesin West. It's a very interesting place with incredible scenery. We went on a tour with a guide who was an intern staying in the (very cold) worker housing at the bottom of the valley. He spent his days planting experimental crops and tending cattle. He inadvertently let us in on many of the cultural and architectural failings of Arcosanti. While I'm sure he didn't stay much longer, I'll bet he will remember the experience for the rest of his life and hopefully use what he learned.

I'm really glad that these experiments exist (at least as long as they're voluntary). I'd recommend a visit for anyone living or traveling through the area.

I think the biggest problem with the location is that the Arcology concept is urban and the only places you can attract thousands of people to live there are already urban unless you have a viable company town.

[MediumTex]

Maybe you would say that this was a successful cultural experiment, but perhaps a failed economic experiment.

[KevinW]

When I first heard of intentional communities I was very interested in the concept. People living in close proximity; efficiently sharing utilities, tools, public space, and vehicles; interacting and forming bonds; and so on. But shared ownership wouldn't work, so I started thinking about how to form a community like that where everyone owns property privately. And there's a chicken-and-egg problem with getting a critical mass of people, so maybe this should be located where people already are.

And then I realized there's already a term for this kind of arrangement: "a city."

So now I just live in a relatively urban place, and feel good about how I share parks, roads, utilities, public transit, libraries, restaurants, theaters, and the Home Depot rental section with all my neighbors. Problem solved!

[MachineGhost]

So now I just live in a relatively urban place, and feel good about how I share parks, roads, utilities, public transit, libraries, restaurants, theaters, and the Home Depot rental section with all my neighbors. Problem solved!

Yeah, it seems like the marketplace has already optimized for the optimal solution already and it doesn't involve kooky communist-hippie-anti-technology enclaves.  But, "ultra liberal' enclaves such as San Francisco or Santa Monica have a lot of undesirable aspects that ruin the utopian fantasy.  I'll take suburban sprawl any day over people shitting in the streets, homeless drug addicts, Skid Row, etc..  Radical tolerance should have limits when it comes to decency.  But, I bet I'd feel many things are wrong with Singapore too.

Anyway, I got the feeling that Arcosanti would have been appropriate in a futuristic zoo (Brave New World?) where tech-savvy visitors get to observe the primitive, backwards living culture through one-way transparent glass.  I don't know whether to be disgusted or not by the all the counter-culture experiments of the 60's and 70's; the creepy cult feeling of which I can still fondly remember from my childhood.  You just know something is wrong but can't articulate it.

MG

[MediumTex]

I don't know whether to be disgusted or not by the all the counter-culture experiments of the 60's and 70's; the creepy cult feeling of which I can still fondly remember from my childhood.  You just know something is wrong but can't articulate it.

MG

So you're saying that after reviewing these experiments, you grok wrongness.

[stone]

I don't know whether to be disgusted or not by the all the counter-culture experiments of the 60's and 70's; the creepy cult feeling of which I can still fondly remember from my childhood.  You just know something is wrong but can't articulate it.

So you're saying that after reviewing these experiments, you grok wrongness.

I think it is important for people to have a certain amount of free reign to be themselves. Perhaps the "creepiness" comes from people trying to "be as one" I sort of think a certain amount of balance is best in all of this. It is good if people are considerate neighbours but also good if part of being considerate neighbours means putting up with other people going about things differently.