Creating Tomorrow - Design with the Desert: Conservation and Sustainable Development - page 481

their multimodel transportation systems will be as personal as possible. Beyond the reach
of technology will be the contribution of behavioral adjustments all in the direction of both
stewardship and community.
In the context of human history, the earliest settlements were individual. A move toward
centralization was fostered by many needs with the three most dominant being the need
for defense, trade, and the desire to congregate for religious purposes. Unprecedented
technology permitted decentralized, mainly agrarian settlements and the exploration of
previously unknown territories. The centralizing force of the industrial revolution attracted
workers off the land and into the factories, resulting in the separation of home and work.
Advances in technology reversed the flow, allowing for commerce to decentralize into the
countryside.
With the ability to communicate around the world faster than driving to work, time
replaced distance. A first for humanity is that it has become possible to be both local and
global at the same time and in the same place. Add to this that we are rediscovering the
connection between our personal health and well being with that of nature and the com-
munity. The result is that we are well on the way to designing the new form of city that
Frank Lloyd Wright long ago described as being “everywhere and nowhere.” 19
The past separation of housing, life, and work will be replaced with a far richer mix
between community and the sustaining essence of nature. The now dominant repetition
of same size, detached houses on uniformly sized lots, occurring in lock-step patterns
along gridded streets and alleys have had their day. They will be replaced with mixed-
use compounds for life and work as artfully integrated and widely varied as the musical
performances that range from solos and chamber ensembles to orchestras and operas.
Individual transportation devices, some shared, and others owned, will become more effi-
ciently accommodated while nature and the pedestrian will be more richly celebrated.
Technology will extend the economies of scale and high performance will become more
personal. The result will be a kind of full-time version of the way-of-the-life patterns that
are now more associated with the provisions of a resort (Figure 27.10).
Other, now dominant urban elements to be replaced are the isolated, hermetically sealed
block buildings, and high rises. Their replacements will be richly terraced multilevel
structures in which natural light, fresh air, and community gardens will be the norm.
To visualize this new building form, think of a twenty-first century merger between the
planted terraces of Machu Picchu and the Arcologies of Paolo Soleri, where indoor/outdoor
living is the norm.
The traditional single-use suburbs will be replaced by what Witold Rybczynski
characterizes as a blend between the Greenwich Village ideal described by Jane Jacobs and
the Broadacre City ideals illustrated by Frank Lloyd Wright. 20 Wright's own Taliesin West
provided an engaging laboratory for understanding how we might envision a live/work,
doing more with less, cultural community appropriate to the desert environments of the
Southwest.
We inhabit the desert regions against a background of great human endeavor. We
stand on the shoulders of everything from the ancient settlements of the Hohokam and
Anasazi to all that subsequent generations have created at their best. We are at a pivotal
moment in the history of the Southwest and ready to move with unprecedented sen-
sitivity and effectiveness. We have an enlightened citizenry and the capability of our
builders and developers is second to none. Our architects and landscape architects are
among the finest in the world for creating arid-region environments. All that remains is
to raise our level of dialogue until the seven challenges outlined in this chapter become
the seven pillars of our new reality.