Search for a Lean Alternative - Design with the Desert: Conservation and Sustainable Development - page 521

state population presents Arizona with possibly insoluble water problems. Suburban
private property manifests a typical case of water waste. Millions of private “hermitage”
houses result in rivers and lakes of underused and misused water. Even considering only
the backyard, driveway and car washing, lawn and landscaping greenery, and similar
suburban accessories, when fed into the million-times multiplier these collectively speak
of a staggering misuse of water. By contrast, every organism is a circumscribed plumbing
system—and this has been true of billions upon billions of them, working at their success
for many billions of years. Which model is more convincing? The marvel of organism is
directly dependent on the stupendously efficient logistical flow of fluids throughout its
makeup, millions of trillions of molecular “water bags.”
The task we face is one of total reformulation—a daunting task, and an inevitable one.
The radicalism of reformulation implies a gradualist approach: laboratory-like institutes
working on urban problems step-by-step and functioning as testing grounds for the
nonsegregational attack that the problems demand. A reformulation of our self-creational
élan requires the quarantine of the suburban “hermitage” and a total reformulation of
our “greenness,” compromised as it is now by Homo faber * materialism. If it is impossible
to redirect the tide by means of reform, it is possible and necessary to propose total
reformulation. Here is where the hope of true green resides. We need an alternative to this
excessive consumption engine that provides a more sustainable way for societies to use
the resources of nature and live a life without adverse harm to the world. This is one of the
key principles of the lean alternative theory and the urban proposals that are presented in
this chapter.
30.3 Arcology Concept
To address the growing concerns of modern urbanization, I propose a new model for
living that has the potential to show that humankind and nature can coexist in a form
that promises a rich and abundant life for all. This model is the basis for the evolution of
the arcology proposal as an alternative to modern suburban and exurban incoherence.
Arcology is my concept of cities that embody the cooperation of architecture and ecology. †
The arcology concept proposes a highly integrated and compact three-dimensional urban
form that is the opposite of urban sprawl with its inherently wasteful consumption of
land, energy, and time, tending to isolate people from each other and the community.
The complexification and miniaturization of the city enables radical conservation of land,
energy, and resources.
An arcology would need about 10% as much land as a typical city of similar population.
Today's typical city devotes more than 60% of its land to roads and automobile services.
Arcology eliminates the car from within the city. The multiuse nature of arcological design
would put living, working, and public spaces within easy reach of each other, and walking
and cycling would be the main form of transportation within the city.
* The Latin term Homo faber translates as “man the maker” or “man who fabricates,” referring to the capability
of humans to create artifacts, tools, and technologies.
† This concept is developed in my book Arcology: The City in the Image of Man . For introductory reading on
arcology, see McCullough and Lima. 1