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Thu Dec 10
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I have visited Arcosanti about 12 times over 25 years. Basically it is pretty, and a nice show-and-tell item where one may talk about arcologies. What it is not, and never has been, is a serious attempt to build an arcology. It is the world's largest build-your-own-house project combined with a community garden and, well, lots of pot.
If so, it will only be because nobody actually wants to live in an arcology. It's been decades, and the place is nowhere near "mega". I expect the first one will go up a lot faster. Heck, the Burj Dubai is a better choice for the first arcology.
"The idea of a sprawl-free city seems attractive and smarter for our long-term survival."
How's that, exactly? I'll give you "attractive", but the latter seems hard to support logically.
-Kle.
@Klebert L. Hall: @Klebert L. Hall: reduction of sprawl actually fits logically into the current sustainable development paradigms for urban planning that are a result of the brundtland report. it ties into the notion of "compact city" which features high density, mixed-use, and pedestrian proximity. the notion stems from the traditional European city. this concept of city is intended to reduce carbon footprint as well as use of cars and thus be sustainable. my two cents.
@nexialist:
I also strongly doubt that the collapse of civilization=human extinction. Resource crises might cause the former, but they are unlikely to cause the latter.
-Kle.
@Klebert L. Hall: in a biological sense i would agree with that. in the context of the original question, "The idea of a sprawl-free city seems attractive and smarter for our long-term survival," i can only speak in relation to the city in the European and North American context; the Chinese city e.g. is already something different in the way how spaces are allocated to cultural use. what i refer to is less a biological, more a cultural context of urbanism.
@mr_dude: The Shimizu Pyramid if it were to ever be built would be about 88 square kilometers in building area. That's roughly 245 Pyongyang Pyramids, so not quite. I while give the North Koreans credit for being ambitious though.
Arcosanti has been more or less unchanged for 30 years. Let's hope that speaks to efficacy of the people involved, not the conceptual failure of the arcology concept.
I had the opportunity to visit Arcosanti twice while living in Phx, and yes, it does have something of a communal/hippy vibe about it. However, the folks there seem a bit more grounded and realistic about the goals of the project. I agree that something like this would be great for a city like Detroit or Cleveland, which have vast swathes of abandoned property.
Oh, and the Arcosanti bells are beautiful as well :)
@chuckusruckus: There was an interesting article on NewGeography a while back about re-imagining cities like Detroit. The main idea was centered around the "shrinking cities" movement rather than arcologies. The idea being that major parts of abandoned land be converted into agricultural use. The main urban core would remain intact and smaller urban villages would surround the city. Ideally the city would eventually be able to grow a majority of the fresh food that it consumes. It's a pretty quick read and I really recommend it for anyone interested in urban planning issues.
Okay, I checked. This is the same Arcosanti I heard about as a little kid. It's been "under construction" since 1970. Their heart is in the right place, they love the Earth and all that, but people who eschew material gain are crap for fund-raising. It's like a groovy hippie commune that never ended.
I had a professor in college who was one of the original members of this project way back in the 70's , Russel Ferguson. He would tell us stories of how the idea was very bold but the execution was rather lacking. Apparently they had a stigma about cutting wood to certian sizes so they would collect it into piles sorted by length.
Megacity? Rapture? No. Good idea falling apart at the seems due to lack of leadership and no funding. Yes.
I hope they get Jason Statham to play Dredd, assuming he can pull off an American accent (I'm sure he can, all British actors seem to be able to do it). Put him in Dredd's uniform and he'll look exactly like the character did in the original early stories: all sinewy and mean. #judgedredd
Judge Dredd was a decent movie, otherwise why would Lucas rip it off point by point for attack of the clones?
In actuality, I do think Judge Dredd was a good movie, because no matter how bad you think it was, you still watch it every time it comes on TV. Don't lie, we know you watch it. Did Stallone break the rules by insisting on showing his face? Yes, yes he did, but we also got Max Von Sydow. The scene where he dons his cloak and mask, ventures out into the bad lands with his book of law and a monstrous gun and embarks on his Long Walk is just awesome.
In this post Dark Knight age, the "gritty" hero movie is a reality in a way it has never really been before. It means there will be trendy late-comers trying to horn in on the action, but for the most part I view it as a huge opportunity for movies to be made as they should have been made. Gritty Judge Dredd is obvious, but it is also right, and now we have a real chance at seeing the movie done properly. #judgedredd
@BlueBeard: I wouldn't say it was a *good* movie, but I don't think it was nearly as bad as most people seem to. Take away the helmet removal and the goofy sidekick, and it stayed very true to the Dredd/2000 AD universe. As I've pointed out before on this site, it even had an ABC Robot in it.
If only all comics adaptations would stay as true to their source material. To put it in perspective, imagine if the people behind the Hellblazer movie had made Judge Dredd. It probably would've been set in, I dunno, Miami instead of Mega-City One and Dredd would've been Chinese. Given that there was no way a studio would've greenlit a Sylvester Stallone flick in which Stallone never reveals his face (same applies to any major star), and no studio would've approved the Dredd budget without a major star, they did alright.
@Communist Pope: By Hellblazer, you mean Constantine, right? I never read that book, but I really like the movie- it's another one I'll watch any time it is on. I don't know if it was accurate to the character in any way, and I didn't even know it was based on a comic until later on, but I thought it was a well laid out story, and I like Keanu. He isn't a "great actor" at all, but I'm not watching him in Merchant of Venice, am I? I don't know why so many people dislike Constantine, but I'd bet it is mostly anti-Keanu knee-jerk hate
Yeah, Dredd wasn't great, but as you say, not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. As serious and gritty as I want my action movies to be, people need to realize these things are based on comics and are often going to be full of ridiculousness. #judgedredd
@BlueBeard: Being a long time Dredd fan I wasn't entirely thrilled with the film but like you, I do still watch it every time I see it on TV. They got some stuff wrong and some stuff right. Given Hollywood's usual treatment of things they did at least have enough respect for the source material not to completely butcher it.
@BlueBeard: Right, Constantine -- forgot that they even changed the name of the property. Going back to my previous example, I guess they would've called their hypothetical Judge Dredd movie "Mean Mr. Joe" or something.
I didn't think Constantine was completely horrible by any means, just giving an example of how much some filmmakers like to ignore/mess with the source material.
05:51 PM
11/26/09
11/26/09
If so, it will only be because nobody actually wants to live in an arcology. It's been decades, and the place is nowhere near "mega". I expect the first one will go up a lot faster. Heck, the Burj Dubai is a better choice for the first arcology.
"The idea of a sprawl-free city seems attractive and smarter for our long-term survival."
How's that, exactly? I'll give you "attractive", but the latter seems hard to support logically.
-Kle.
11/26/09
11/27/09
Sure, compact cities are efficient.
Making the leap to the idea that they improve the likelihood of our long-term survival as a species is fanciful, at best.
-Kle.
11/28/09
11/28/09
I also strongly doubt that the collapse of civilization=human extinction. Resource crises might cause the former, but they are unlikely to cause the latter.
-Kle.
11/28/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
I'm waiting for the day when we can build something like this: Shimizu TRY 2004 Mega-City Pyramid. Obviously influenced by the Tyrell Corporation.
11/25/09
@EdificeComplex: You mean...
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
That just sounds a bit strange!!
11/25/09
11/25/09
#calendar
11/25/09
11/25/09
Oh, and the Arcosanti bells are beautiful as well :)
11/25/09
[www.newgeography.com]
11/25/09
YES! We must return to Manorialism! Diocletian had it right!
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
Megacity? Rapture? No. Good idea falling apart at the seems due to lack of leadership and no funding. Yes.
10/26/09
10/26/09
10/27/09
10/26/09
In actuality, I do think Judge Dredd was a good movie, because no matter how bad you think it was, you still watch it every time it comes on TV. Don't lie, we know you watch it. Did Stallone break the rules by insisting on showing his face? Yes, yes he did, but we also got Max Von Sydow. The scene where he dons his cloak and mask, ventures out into the bad lands with his book of law and a monstrous gun and embarks on his Long Walk is just awesome.
In this post Dark Knight age, the "gritty" hero movie is a reality in a way it has never really been before. It means there will be trendy late-comers trying to horn in on the action, but for the most part I view it as a huge opportunity for movies to be made as they should have been made. Gritty Judge Dredd is obvious, but it is also right, and now we have a real chance at seeing the movie done properly. #judgedredd
10/26/09
If only all comics adaptations would stay as true to their source material. To put it in perspective, imagine if the people behind the Hellblazer movie had made Judge Dredd. It probably would've been set in, I dunno, Miami instead of Mega-City One and Dredd would've been Chinese. Given that there was no way a studio would've greenlit a Sylvester Stallone flick in which Stallone never reveals his face (same applies to any major star), and no studio would've approved the Dredd budget without a major star, they did alright.
10/26/09
Yeah, Dredd wasn't great, but as you say, not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. As serious and gritty as I want my action movies to be, people need to realize these things are based on comics and are often going to be full of ridiculousness. #judgedredd
10/26/09
10/26/09
I didn't think Constantine was completely horrible by any means, just giving an example of how much some filmmakers like to ignore/mess with the source material.