Friday, March 12, 2010

Arcosanti as Holiday Village

Heard a fascinating piece on NPR this morning: an Indiana developer, Leroy Troyer, wants to put a vacation destination under glass in Indiana. This has taken off in Europe. Families drive to these venues, park the car, stay for a few days and walk everywhere.

http://www.centerparcs.com/ describes "Holiday Villages" across Europe and the UK. They speak to "Short Breaks and Family Holidays". Maybe a bit Disney, but I find these places appealing, along the lines of a Dude Ranch.  These types of projects could be an interesting addition to an agro-tourism regional development model. Sort of a chunky nougat for an industry cluster. Sorry.

The Indiana project is with NPR's Morning Edition at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124593116 and the comments range from support to cynicism.

For some other projects, take a browse through http://www.buckminster.info/ for Fuller's Old Man River City (an intimate dome for 125,000 people) and http://www.arcosanti.org/ for another big vision of an urban living system from Paolo Soleri's work.

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