In the 1980s, as a newly minted Medicaid executive, I went to the Arizona town of Arcosanti. Arcosanti was Architect Paolo Soleri's dream city meant to be eco-friendly, innovative and composed of a single structure. The structure would be a laboratory for self-sustaining and self-contained cities of the future. Arcosanti was meant to house 5,000 people, but to date, 47 years since its inception, it houses only 100.
What happened? The dream met the reality of government regulation and failed to thrive. How often does this happen? Nothing has been built in Arcosanti for over 15 years. Why? According to David Kidd in Governing Magazine, January 2017, "That's partly the fault of new building codes--the local fire company has put a halt to any additions until the dirt road that leads from the nearby interstate is paved."
Total government control is never a good thing. In picking the alternative energy winners and losers, being self-contained and self-sustaining is not a good thing. One wonders what alternative the local fire company discussed with Arcosanti in terms of delegated responsibility, versus literal adherence to the letter of the law. Prehaps its funding from donations and the sale of Arcosanti Bells makes it just a little too independent for governement to work with.
I wonder how different the end of this story would be if Arcosanti were dependent on gvernment grants and alternative energy development?
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