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Babel and Babylon

Babel and Babylon

Aztec cities

Aztec cities

Heavenly Jerusalem

Heavenly Jerusalem

The Fujian Tulou

The Fujian Tulou

Utopia

Utopia

Romorantin, capital of a kingdom...

Romorantin, capital of a kingdom...

The city of brotherly love

The city of brotherly love

Saint Petersburg, Peter's great city

Saint Petersburg, Peter's great city

Industry, socialism and utopia

Industry, socialism and utopia

Taking technology to new heights

Taking technology to new heights

Home sweet home

Home sweet home

A towering challenge...

A towering challenge...

New towns

New towns

Conjuring capitals

Conjuring capitals

Auroville: "divine anarchy"

Auroville: "divine anarchy"

Private cities

Private cities

Dubai: miracle or mirage?

Dubai: miracle or mirage?

All eyes on the horizon

All eyes on the horizon

Private cities

Hippies or yuppies? In the United States, corporations had begun taking an interest in cities, with talk of an affordable paradise for all... These "gated communities" or "private cities" were reserved for specific sections of the population (from golfers to retirees) and were closed to non-residents. The communities were managed outside of conventional municipal channels.

Even The Walt Disney Company got involved: Celebration, completed in 1994, was a city with no mayor, freed of the "confines" of political representation by its special status. Today, it is owned by an investment fund.

Celebration

Celebration was simply the last incarnation of a more ambitious Walt Disney project to create the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT), which was finally turned into a theme park.

The original Disney project involved building a real township with a business park, public facilities and housing spread over 110 square kilometers of land bought in Florida in 1965, drawing on the full range of available technology to improve quality of life for inhabitants (with a forecast population of 20,000 people). The result would reflect Francis Bacon's "New Atlantis" utopia. Disney defined the project as follows: "It will be a planned, controlled community, a showcase for American industry and research, schools, cultural and educational opportunities. In EPCOT, there will be no slum areas because we won't let them develop. There will be no landowners and therefore no voting control. People will rent houses instead of buying them, and at modest rentals. There will be no retirees; everyone must be employed." He even planned to cover the entire city with a glass dome to control the climate!

After Walt Disney's death, his brother took over the project and turned it into a technology theme park. However, the Disney Company did not stop there: in 1994, it opened Celebration, a city designed as a traditional small American town. The architecture was based on the concept of New Urbanism, reflecting a neo-traditional design, with five different styles authorized (Colonial, Mediterranean, French, Victorian and New England). Life was highly structured: lawns had to be regularly mowed and residents were not allowed to park in front of their homes. The color of the houses also had to be approved.

The Disney Company eventually sold the town to Lexin Capital, an investment company. Nearly 10,000 people now live in Celebration.

"Celebration" snow globe

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