Walt Disney and the Quest for Community (Design and the Built Environment) 1st Edition

Series Editor: Professor Matthew Carmona. During the final years of his life, Walt Disney was consumed with the problems of cities. His development concept would be his team's conceptual response to the ills of the inner cities and the sprawl of the megalopolis: the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow or, as it became known, EPCOT.  This beautifully written, instantly engrossing volume focuses on the original concept of EPCOT, which was conceived by Disney as an experimental community/company town of about 20,000 people on the Walt Disney World property in central Florida.  With its radial plan, 50-acre town center possibly enclosed with a plastic dome, international shopping bazaar, greenbelt, high-density apartments, satellite communities, monorail and underground roads, the original EPCOT plan is reminiscent of the Garden City as well as today's transit-oriented development theory.  EPCOT would also draw upon the latest technology from American industry. Unfortunately, Disney did not live long enough to witness the realization of his model city. However, EPCOT evolved into projects such as Epcot and the town of Celebration, Florida. Table of Contents: Physical Planning, Transportation: The End of Autopia, Architecture and Construction, Site and Technology, Landscaping, Economic Analysis and Finance, Marketing, Regulation and Governance/Social Planning, Operations and Management, and EPCOT After Disney. Read more