Arizona’s City Of The Future Looks To Our Past

The urban sprawl is a monster with an unending appetite. The need for innovation and comfort will swallow every piece of unused land it can, leaving the natural world to bend to its will.

Everyone wants a little bit of both, but that dream seems almost impossible. Arizona is home to the one answer.

An Italian's Dream

Paolo Soleri is a visionary. Born in 1919 in Turin, Italy, Soleri showed an interest in architecture from a young age. In his 30s, he travelled to the United States to study under Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West where he was introduced to the beautiful deserts of Arizona.

He soon made Scottsdale his permanent residence, and began thinking of the urban giant he was wasting his life in. He devised an idea, a plan for a city that kept the community he loved while working with, nay, bending to the whims of Mother Nature.

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Arcosanti: City of the Future

When we think of a "city of the future", we think of a tech aided paradise where machinery can fix any issue we have. Soleri had a different idea. Arcosanti was built to enhance the nature around it, being built with minimal resources and integrated with the environment around it. The project began in 1970, and has been in a perpetual state of expansion, even after Soleri's death in 2013.

While the hope was for a community of 5,000 to live in the city, it has instead, focused on tours and tourist intrigue, only housing between 50 and 150 people, most of whom are studying at the exhibit.

The city itself is vibrant, unique, and constantly singing, due to the handmade wind bells scattered around the property. It is truly one of the most innovative and expansive projects ever conceived, and we can only hope that Soleri's dreams of widespread environmentally sustainable cities comes to fruition sometime in the future.

[Arcosanti]

[AbFabTravels]

[Wikipedia]

[Oddly Explorer vis YouTube]