Arcology: The City in the Image of Man Paperback – October 1, 1973

If you can imagine a future where cities cover every bit of earth's available space (think LA everywhere), then you can also imagine an alternative. Whole cities inside massive structures of incredible design, leaving most of our precious land open for us to enjoy and treasure. Paolo Soleri envisioned such cities and his drawings will inspire you and spark your imagination of what could be. Imagine cities that float on the sea or stretch across canyons and you will get the idea. Architecture students or just about anyone with an imagination will be amazed by his designs. I hope to live long enough to see one of his massive structures built.

I nearly fell off my chair when I opened the package .... I'm the envy of my architecture class.

Like my old drafting instructor used to say, anyone who attaches social and political concepts to art might have a screw loose. Then again I think it was Aristotle who said there was never a genius without a tincture of madness.And that's kind of how I view Soleri's Arcology concepts. They're interesting to look at and contemplate, but in a sense we already have arcologies today; shopping malls, high rises of various sorts that have stores in them along with apartments, and so forth. But they rely on motor traffic, more or less. Soleri's concepts expand on that idea by try to slim down the reliance on cars or other chemical using transports to help ease the burden on the environment. Or so the theory goes.The truth is the drawings are interesting, but the theory behind the concepts (given the "conflict resolution" comment in the documentary on Arcosanti) to me, is not fully vetted nor otherwise critiqued and explored. In short, it has yet to be proven to everyone's satisfaction.Still, like I say, the drawings are interesting, but the (how does one put it) "rhetoric" that Paolo Soleri puts forth, to my way of thinking, is a bit overstated or already known. Though written up as some form of artistic dialogue with the reader with sociological overtones from an artist's point of view.I liked the structure concepts, and some of them could probably work, but an engineering report, I think, would be even more interesting.I bought the original book way back in the 80s for a bookstore price via one of my teachers. How it got to be so expensive I have no idea. But if you can scope out a copy, then give it a shot.

Though I suppose the outlook is outdated, the drawings and perspective of the book are unique and thrilling. This book will be part of my library for my entire life.

As good as when I first read it 40 years ago

kool book for people who like arcology.com

I owned this huge paperback book back about 1982-3. It was a most intriguing work, with the basic concept of everything needed for human habitation all in one convenient mega-structure. Thought provoking for its' time, I suppose. However, after contemplating that concept, I came to realize that it reminded me of a human version of a giant ant hill. I can't imagine living in something like this; it reminds me of something out of Blade Runner. (Syd Mead did a much better job of visualizing)I donated this to our local library a few years ago for their reference section-they still have it. The graphic presentation was very well done and the quality was that of all MIT Press publications. Would I own it now? No, not really, but it is very interesting in it's own way.