Arcosanti

Even though we did Arcosanti the same day as Montezuma’s Castle I decided to do them as two posts because the blogger app doesn’t do long posts well. When I tried to post Yellowstone I thought the computer was going into cardiac arrest. In light of that I didn’t want to over exert it.  Arcosanti was designed to be an Arcology. An Arcology is designed to be a more sustainable city. The architect Palo Soleri believed that the modern cities were too spread out. Arcosanti was designed to house 5000 people on 25 acres of space. In perspective a modern housing facility will house 5000 on several hundred acres. This city was also designed to be self-sustaining. It grew its own food, made its own electricity, and supplied its own water. At least it would have if it worked. Now it houses about 60 people year round and supplies 10% of what it needs. The rest has to be bought. Their primary income source is bells. Yes you read right, bells. The people living there make bronze and ceramic bells that they sell to tourists. The original idea for the city was for it to be huge, unfortunately there wasn’t enough funding to complete it. The people who live there work there in exchange for rooms and food. There are several greenhouses along with about a dozen olive trees, so the jobs may be gardening or making the bells. A few years ago my parents went here and bought a ceramic one.