For the physical structure, see Arcology (Building).
Arcology is the study and design of megastructures or excavated areas that contain self-sufficient settlements city-sized or larger.
TODO: https://www.organism.earth/library/document/arcology
History
Arcology has numerous fields of thought that impact the approach to sustainability, public/private spaces, racially-adjusted spatial dimensions and amenities. Arcologies might be considered exemplars of a movement, but it is important to note that almost all of them incorporate influences from multiple movements.
Architectural Arcology
Main article: Architectural Arcology
Arcology began as a speculative subfield of Architecture, limited by technology and a prevalent MarketEconomy approach not oriented toward large-scale infrastructure projects.
The term was coined in 1969 by architect Paolo Soleri, who believed that a completed arcology would provide space for a variety of residential, commercial, and agricultural facilities while minimizing individual human environmental impact. These structures have been largely hypothetical, as no arcology, even one envisioned by Soleri himself, has yet been built.[1]
While its original intent included reduction of environmental impact, Architectural Arcology is given a separate name from Eco-Arcology due to a rift of time and practice between the two. However, they can be considered two parts of the same movement, as their intent was the same.
Arco-Engineering
Main article: Arco-Engineering ("Welfare Arcology")
In the mid-21st century, the pressures of EarthsDeterioratingAtmosphere, Rising Sea Levels & ensuing Climate Refugee Crisis were becoming too much for the neoliberal world order to ignore, but not quite enough to effect a change in the system. Responses across the developed world generally amounted to SustainabilityMarketIncentives and some funding for solutions, but no radical changes. Arco-Engineering is the result of these conservative efforts to address only the symptoms of climate change while not hurting profit margins too much.
The resulting structures (retroactively called Welfare Arcos) generally housed hundreds of thousands in miserably utilitarian conditions, and often fell short of carbon neutrality goals. As a result, the movement of Arco-Engineering is an often-cited example of the shortcomings of Techno-Optimism.
Marxist Arcology
Main article: Marxist Arcology
In light of the results of the Arco-Engineering movement, which could at best be called marginally successful, a critical movement in the field identified the core cause of the failures. According to them, an Arco, just like a society, would necessarily reflect in its design the assumptions that were built into it. Therefore, correcting the relationship of labor to capital would create a more equitable and effective design. So much of the materials that went into an arcology were devoted to the division and protection of private property, it was clear to them that it was the primary concern.
Corporate Arcology
Main article: Corporate Arcology
Corporate Arcology is a response to opportunity rather than crisis - though they're generally two sides of the same coin, depending on your socioeconomic status.
The Corporate Arco presumes a single owner, and much of its design is compartmentalized according to function rather than ownership. However, most Corporate Arcos have public and retail levels, but they tend to be more segregated and homogenous than in more public designs.
Eco-Arcology
Main article: Eco-Arcology
As Architectural Arcology began as a project for sustainability, Eco-Arcology is considered to be the movement most in line with it.
Eco-Arcologies are at worst carbon-neutral, and in many cases have a negative carbon balance depending on local conditions. The amenities therein tend to be limited, as reduced consumption of energy is generally the best way to reduce pollution.
Fosterite Arcology
Main article: Fosterite Arcology
The Fosterites are an unique movement, working from Xena Kova's exegesis of The Foster Manifesto as if it were a blueprint for a perfect society. As the Fosterite Empire's projects constituted the bulk of Arco construction, Fosterite Arcology became the mainstream of the field despite outrage about its unethical designs, called "Manifest Apartheid."
Post-Fosterite Arcology
Main article: Post-Fosterite Arcology
A critical movement in response to the Fosterites. It eliminates the most onerous aspects of racial and class apartheid without truly eliminating those systems. For example, it eliminates StructuralAllomorphism without the radical changes of the Marxists.
Luxury Arcology
Main article: Luxury Arcology
Also known as "Retail Arcology," "Tourist Arcology," and various other epithets, Luxury Arcology is the design of major portions of the structure for non-resident populations. Those portions are generally heavily packed with amenities. The service sectors are generally utilitarian.
Hive Arcology
Main article: Hive Arcology
Hive Arcos are designed purely for efficiency, eschewing any aesthetic or quality-of-life considerations. Most private quarters are little more than CoffinHabitations, and amenities are at a minimum.
Flux Arcology
Main article: Flux Arcology
A Flux Arcology is designed with modularity in mind. Their structure allows for easy modification down to the deepest Infrastructure, and they are the most adaptable to changing demands.
Arterial Arcology
Main article: Arterial Arcology
Conceptualized by Paolo Soleri, the Arterial Arcology is designed to build around transit routes rather than serve as a hub for them. This alleviates overconcentration at hubs, thereby allowing for more flexible interconnection between arteries.
Arcoplexology
Main article: Arcoplexology
Arcoplexology is the study of interlinking Arcologies, the various products of which are called Arcoplex.
Anatomy
(Stub, just a list for now)
SCRAPS
Notes taken from other articles or portions of them.
Even the need to be outdoors could be met inside, as entire levels were devoted to natural areas, and left partly open to let residents experience the elements if they chose.
Inexorably, every public crisis is used as an excuse for government austerity, a reduction of corporate obligations, and a deepening of public-private partnerships that serve only the latter. Outside the Arcologies, economies are chaotic and unfair, but largely left to their own devices. Informal or shadow economies commonly arise to address the failures of the old states. As the Arcos are easier to control, more valuable, wholly private, and specifically prepared for climate collapse, the corps allow the Outside to decay. (MERGE)
When climate collapse becomes undeniably evident and changes are occurring too quickly to predict, many governments resort to totalitarian measures to maintain order. Generally, the world is in chaos as people scramble to adjust to the now-unbreathable air, flooding cities, and a global tsunami of refugees. Outside the Arcos, air filtration in city centers is the top infrastructure priority. Gigantic filters are made to sanitize the air. Much like our big cities were covered in a halo of smog, the cities of the future are pockets of clean, breathable air amid an unbreathable environment.(merge)
Greater emphasis is instead placed on disaster mitigation and diversification of habitats. Vital resources become more scarce and wars erupt between the major empires and their neighbors. [See Walled World map] The Global South experiences severe drought, desertification and food & water crises, and the borders to the North are fortified against waves of refugees.(merge)
Originally, they became popular choices due to the Climate Refugee Crisis, that led to a racial/class panic and exodus from the cities themselves.(merge)
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In addition, the Fosterite Empire put so much of this science into practice that its assumption of Homunculus Apartheid within Maintenance Interstices was implicit in much of their design. But since the bulk of Applied Arcologists were employed in such a culture, this led directly to the Fosterite Arcology.