The definition of Arconaut in the Arcosanti Arcology lexicon of terms and phrases - is one who has lived in the Arcosanti built environment for an extended period of time and who has on some level assimilated to that unique places culture and way of life.
Related to this idea of Arconaut is the understanding that life at Arcosanti for an extended period as a resident worker and community member is unique and in many ways - at least culturally and socially - is cut off from normal mainstream US consumer & car culture.
The isolation can be a shock in that one goes about their business at Arcosanti without the need for cars and is also not subject to the normal barrage of car related noises like traffic and also the messaging arrayed within that, such as billboards, signs and other stores and consumer related signage and symbols which are termed "commercial culture". It can also be refreshing and Arcosanti because of its isolation of that commercial culture messaging can be seen as neo-monastic at least on a limited level.
The idea of Arcosanti as a cultural and social bubble has thus given rise to the term Acronauts and for this reason has been associated to the Biosphere 2 project here several people stayed inside the enclosed Biosphere 2 microbiome for an extended period to demonstrate what space travel might be like.