This article was published in the Tucson Weekly Nov. 1-7th.
A Call for Solar-Powered Arcologies, Whatever Those Are
I was surprised to read at the end of "Community Under the Stars" (Oct. 25) that the community was not a "modern-day Arcosanti, some wide-eyed vision of an artist for a self-build fortress of communal living." Putting aside the nonsensical caricature of Arcosanti, where I lived for a year and a half, one of our favorite past times was to climb up on the "vaults" and look at the stars. But we could also see the glow of the urban sprawl of Phoenix growing toward us like a planetary disease run amok.
Everyone should have access to the night sky, because it puts one directly in touch with cosmic order. But in big cities such as Tucson and Phoenix, only a handful of stars can be seen through the light pollution and smog. Arcosanti, a model arcology (the fusion of ecology and architecture) is a way for all of us to experience the wondrous night sky, not just a few rich folks who can afford a home with a private observatory at places like Arizona Sky Village.
Urban sprawl and its car dependency are the reasons for light pollution. The solution is to build solar-powered arcologies. It's time now to plan one for a million people on Arizona state-trust land.
Libby Hubbard
To whom it may concern:
Thanks for publishing my letter to the editor [Nov. 1-7] about arcologies being a solution to urban sprawl that causes light pollution from keeping those of us who live in cities from being about to see the stars. From the title the editor gave my letter, “A Call for Solar-Powered Arcologies, Whatever Those Are,” it is clear that the public needs to be informed as to what arcologies are.
I request that you send a reporter to interview me, so that I can report to him or her, what arcologies are. Architect Paolo Soleri has been building the idea for 30 years in central Arizona. I have written extensively about the concept which you can see on my web site. One of the central themes of my Tucson cable assess TV show, Lovolution Village, is devoted to promoting the idea of arcology as a way to not only allow us to see the heavens again, but as a way to save us from global climate change.
Dr. Libby Hubbard
2 comments:
Libby thanks for your comments on the Arizona Sky Village. I did not see a word about sustainability in the article and indeed it seems like basically a gated community for rich star gazers.
I did notice their attempt to distance themselves from Arcosanti which seems to me a bit of out of touch, given the massive problems with Global Climate Change and rising oil prices.
Despite the many flaws of the Arcosanti prokect (which we have talked about many times), I would choose it over this kind of development even if I had the 200k to invest in it.
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