Climate Safe Arcologies
Dear Senator Mark Kelly,
I’ve been trying to contact you since July 20, 2024, about the need for Arizona to take on the completion of Paolo Soleri’s prototype arcology, Arcosanti. I had two meetings planned with one of your assistants, which she canceled. The urgency of our climate-fueled environmental crisis has gotten even more apparent since the burning of Los Angeles, which is still raging as I write these words.
Governor Gavin Newson has told the press that he plans to rebuild LA with a Marshall Plan effort, what he calls LA 2.0. with less environmental restraints. He said he already has a team to start recovery efforts in time for LA to host the 2028 Olympics. It was reported on Democracy Now that developers have already approached homeowners to buy their burned-out properties, an example of Naomi Klein’s concept of disaster capitalism. There has been no official reflection on how to rebuild in a new way so that future generations do not have to live through the hellscape that California is currently experiencing. Phoenix could be next unless we make evolutionary changes in designing and building cities.
The arcology model must be part of a national dialogue about rebuilding our cities for climate mitigation and adaptation to a hotter and dryer world. This is especially true in the Southwest, which depends on the dwindling Colorado River watershed. Arcosanti must become part of the Marshall Plan with the speed and determination to try something new. We have the blueprints.
As Arizona Senator, it is your responsibility to advance this model. I am asking for a meeting with you—not your assistant—as soon as possible at Arcosanti with the Cosanti leadership present so that we can discuss how to move forward with the project on a scale that meets the needs of climate refugees, who could be every one of us. There are no more climate-safe havens. It is up to us to build one.
Looking forward to your response.
Libby Hubbard, EdD
Attached are images from Richard Register’s book, Ecocities Illustrated.
