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  • Essay / Disney's Utopia - 1645

    To create a perfect society. This was Walt Disney's dream in the 1960s when he imagined the Community of Experimental Prototypes of Tomorrow (1). Today it is better known as the Disney theme park, EPCOT. In 1995, however, the people of Disney created their own town, fulfilling another of Walt's dreams. Simply named Celebration, it is located in central Florida. To live in the utopian community, there are strict guidelines that every citizen must follow, known in the legal world as a "covenant." Disney's commitment to living in Celebration is known as the Celebration Declaration of Covenants. It is a massive 166-page document that presents both positives and negatives for citizens living in this “perfect” little town. The agreement signed by the citizens of Celebration has many positive points. One of them is that it does not authorize the establishment of a church or government in the city (4). This is positive because there can be no division of citizens according to any type of local politics or religious affiliation. This keeps everyone on equal footing and no one is looked at differently. Another positive aspect that is a direct effect of the alliance is the feeling of unity found in Celebration, Florida. Some specifications found in the 166-page Celebration Declaration of Covenants include certain shrubs that can be planted in yards, each house is a certain number of feet from the street, and fences can only be a certain height ( 1). Other specifications include: the location of garden gnomes and birdbaths, and only one campaign poster is permitted during the election period and may only be displayed for forty-five days (3). This feeling of unity makes people feel equal to others and allows them to not worry about their physical appearance as is the case in the real world. The layout of the city, which is specified in the alliance, is also something that positively affects the environment. city. Riding the city of dead ends and having narrow streets helps slow traffic and encourages people to walk to different places (2). The town center is conveniently located close to all the original houses built in the town (2). This causes the citizens of this utopian city to interact in a way that almost every other city has forgotten..