Nope, the hippies didn’t get government grants to build a utopia. If they had, it might have gotten built a little faster. The money to build Arcosanti comes from three sources: private donations, workshop tuition, and bell sales. Anyone who is interested can pay a fee to attend a five week workshop at Arcosanti, learning the theories behind it and helping to move it forward. There is a bronze foundry and a ceramics facility on site, and the windbells they make are sold to generate income for Arcosanti.
The 860 acres of land owned by the Cosanti Foundation were bought decades ago, when Paolo first decided to try to build an arcology. The rest of the 4,060 acres are leased from the government, not subsidized by the government.
None of the structures at Arcosanti have no function. Most of them, in fact, have several. The large open space under the arched vaults is used for dinners, parties, and occasionally as a movie theatre. My wedding reception was held there.
The community is tiny and somewhat isolated right now, but a functioning arcology would be a vibrant, lively, cosmopolitan place. Some people say that they could never live in tall buildings full of apartments, but the apartments of Manhattan still command outrageous prices, so somebody must be willing to live that way.
Yes, I’m biased toward Arcosanti. I lived there for eleven months. Personally, I hope they get it finished so I can retire there one day.
