The Political Arcology

The Continuous Enclave: Strategies in Bypass Urbanism

An interesting, if impractical, idea to use arcologies to redefine and unify fractured political geographies.

From BLDGBLOG

Arcologies

I confess to growing up thinking arcologies were really cool.

I know I certainly felt compelled to dot Sim City with them. Has anyone besides me noticed the number of Blake's & references that were in that game? Anyway ...

More floating cities for your enjoyment.

From Vincent Callebaut Architectures.

Arcology?

I must admit, I find the ideas that Paolo Soleri puts forward on single structure mega-cities to be utterly fascinating. His ideas at times seem to have an odd undertone of misogyny, praising a technological future encased in the symbolism of human-male hegemony. But there is still some pretty awesome stuff there. His works are a must read for anyone exploring architecture, urban form, anthropology, and the human condition. For his notion of residual anguish if nothing else.

And yet, this project, from MAD, is something I find to be creepy. Something about the social politics presented are extremely discomforting. Pay attention to the implied definitions of education and culture.

More Futures Soleri Style

More futures Paolo Soleri stye:

From Japan, where arcologies are a staple in their science fiction fare (yes, the Superdimensional Space Fortress counts too):

• Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid
• Sky City

Spain brings us the bionic tower.

And from treehugger: Paolo Soleri is Hot Again

Welcome to the Arcology

Paolo Soleri may finally have his day.

From inhabitat.