Dr. Paolo Soleri, who at one time was Frank Lloyd Wright's apprentice, is the creator of large, self-contained urban centers. Since 1970, he has been building Arcosanti (a prototype town for 7,000 people) in Arizona and has, in recent years, become interested in space "arcologies".

Soleri is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, and his landmark exhibition The Architectural Visions of Paolo Soleri, organized in 1970, traveled extensively in the U.S. and Canada, breaking attendance records. More recently, Soleri's Cities, Architecture for the Planet Earth and Beyond was featured at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts in Scottsdale, Arizona.