As progressives the notion of authentic community life should be the foundation of all we do. We might see ourselves on that level as in alliance with many folks seeking or espousing more conservative ideology. Yet our notion of community is more fluid and inclusive and not beholden to traditional notions of community that fostered parochial thinking and a general close-mindedness.
The Alternative Arcosanti Project envisioned here does not preclude participation of anyone regardless of lifestyle or political affiliation. What it does require is an agreement to adhere to certain values and ideals as specified here. Unity in Diversity is this ideal of community that if we have a UNITY OF PURPOSE, we can have and embrace the multitude of differences we have while still have a core common ground to stand together in solidarity as a community.
Community can and must be the foundation for everything we do. We cannot postpone the notion of community until a later, when we are ready. Whatever we do it must be driven by a common spirit of people unified in a spirit of community sharing and participation.
One of the core issues that has led to the stagnant reality of present day Arcosanti revolves around the fact that the people who started and founded Arcosanti not only undervalued but denied that Arcosanti and the larger network was in fact a community of people united by a common purpose. Soleri's had a world view that put the building of something before the community. Its was a view of the world clouded by a conventional idea that many architects hold which sees the architect is the man who builds the habitats for humanity. "He" the ARCHITECT in such modes thinking denies the complexity of the process that leads to a habitat creation. He also tends to be a bit egocentric dismissing the key role of a community in creating a habitat or evolving habitat. So part of the process of escaping this mentality is to consider the feminization of Architecture so that we consider not only the ecology but the duality of male and female energies in creating a healthy habitat for housing humans.
Paolo Soleri's passing provides an opportunity for people to finally come together effectively in that common purpose to built a social architecture for a fully featured Arcosanti project. We can finally proceed unhindered and unbound to explore what a strong community component at Arcosanti might look like. In considering this idea of community, we should explore what kinds of things lead to a rich community life and/or a good and prosperous quality of life.
Community vs Corporate Profit - A Zero Sum Game
Often neglected in our corporate dominated world, community is often rendered as something not only insignificant, but actually a hinderance to the achievement of systemic goals that require passive and docile people disconnected from each other. So we can see that the incentive for developing a strong community life is not that great in a society where the only form of profit is money. This is what we call a Zero Sum Game in that it is not leading to the kind of social synergy needed to create inspirational stories that uplift people and create a sense of good about a place. Many people also see that its a competitive I win you lose model in which the winners are only a small portion of the total population.
Alternative Methodologies for Valuing Quality of Life Indicators over Quantitative Measures of Success
In the 2000s a movement of nonprofits reached critical mass. This movement centered in the environmental and sustainability movements. As considerations of sustainability began to expand beyond ecology, we began consider new ways of measuring success in relation to how factors that indicate social well being in society contribute to its longevity.
Corporate sustainability and social investing expert Frank Dixon reported on how Gross National Happiness became a way for the King of Bhutan to move his small country in alternative direction against the winds of multi-national groups dominating the global economy. In that vein, other organizations began studying more complex notions of profit that went beyond the financial bottom line. SustainAbility was one such pioneer developing tools to expand bottom line metrics to the triple bottom line.
oneVillage Foundation an organization this wiki's founder was involved in from 2003 to 2010 incorporated a major part of its approach to the tradition of the Yoruba people in Nigeria, Africa, which was aided thanks to the contributions of Yoruban Sociologist Prof Akinsola Akiwowo. The Yoruba he said actually had 6 notions of profit which were called Asuwada as in the many coming together in union to create the whole that can sustain the community. Inspired by Asuwads a methodology for a community oriented approach to sustainable development was organized around the basic areas of vital human development such as
Governance
Ecology
Economy
Education
Health Care
Culture Governance
The Long Term Social Implications of Arcosanti being a Construction Site and not a Community
At Arcosanti, while supposedly eschewing capitalism, a similar pattern emerged in which the pattern of benign community neglect emerged. Such polices were justified by explaining that Arcosanti was not a community, it was a construction site. There was little time or resources to be distracted from the pouring of the concrete to build the Container for the Arcology.
In society, because everything revolves around materialistic and quantitative measures of success, it is hard to justify spending scarce resources on art and community development. Yet what if it is the case that by investing in a rich diversity of community activities, we have the greatest chance of securing long term community success? Thus the idea we cannot afford a Yoga class or massage therapy may be penny rich pound foolish type thinking.
In 2000 Libby Hubbard and Jeff Buderer worked on a paper about Community Development and Arcosanti: Our vision of Arcology as a New Model of Education. The paper goes into detail about the points mentioned above in relation to how the denying of community became necessary in Soleri and the Foundation's eyes both to limit dissent and discourage co-ceativity. However, a major problem is that long term residents never became strong enough in their notion of community at Arcosanti to trust each other. The result is that innovation and risk taking are stifled, which reduces the potential of the project to find compelling solutions to ensure not only its survival but a general human to feel good feelings and fulfillment about what one is doing. Related to this is the capacity of the Cosanti Foundation to ensure its founder's legacy as an innovative thinker in relation to the designs of future cities - is weakened.