He Original Vision of EPCOT

CASE STUDY e Original Vision of EPCOT Many people know Walt Disney for his empire of Disneyland, Disney World, and Disney cartoons. Beyond creang new industries in animaon and amusement parks in his life:me, Disney also influenced American society in other ways. For example, during the 1950s, he explored the ideas of space exploraon and space travel in several Disneyland TV shows, which helped create strong public support for the burgeoning U.S. space program. Disney also influenced how people think about sustainable ci:es. His last film presented a bold vision for a concept called the “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow”, otherwise known as EPCOT. EPCOT was an idealized city, where people would live, work and play. Building on familiar ideas of the :me, EPCOT evokes the European concept of Garden Ci:es and the popular World Fairs. A grand challenge The vision for EPOCT was first presented in October 1966 to the American public on naonal television as part of the weekly Disneyland series. In his film, Disney’s vision is structured in three parts that correspond to the first three phases of the foresight process: Perspec:ve, Opportunity, and Solu:on. In the first sec:on, the narrator presents a brief history of Disney’s work, quo:ng experts and establishing credibility with the audience—all of which offers perspec:ve to the viewers. A good vision embodies the beliefs and values of the :me, and it was no different with EPCOT. For example, the city locaon was deliberately placed at the intersec:on of two major highways, just as the American interstate system was flourishing and family road trips were becoming popular. In the next sec:on, Disney outlines the opportunity for his big idea, showing why it is addresses the needs of workers, families, and businesses. EPCOT was to be a self-sustaining and self-governing city designed for public need, not entertainment. Disney hoped that EPCOT would have a big impact on urban planning and community development because the city would “become a pilot operaon for the teaching age—to go across the country and across the world.” In the final sec:on, he explains how EPCOT could work as a solu:on and helps people to imagine the new community by showing animated sketches, illustraons, and other rough prototypes. Disney posed his vision as a challenge to the general American public, saying: “I don’t believe there’s a grand challenge anywhere in the world that’s more important to people everywhere than finding solu:ons to the problems of our cies.” View and download the View and download the free complete playbook www.lut.fi/innovaon and related materials from:free complete playbook foresight.stanford.edu/playbook and related materials from: www.innovaon.io/playbook CASE STUDY page 2 Was the vision DARPA Hard? Walt Disney’s vision for EPCOT was bold and unbelievable to many. The language throughout the film is wonderfully scripted, reinforcing the four quali:es of a radical vision. 1. Far-Reaching: EPCOT was a big idea that would take both :me and complex integraon to build. 2. Technically challenging: EPCOT was an en:rely new city with new infrastructure ideas, such a regulated climate system, in a locaon far away from the Disney enterprise—truly DARPA Hard. Source: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment 3. MulAdisciplinary: While Disney was the spokesperson, he needed the par:cipaon of mul:ple groups from government, industry, and the community to make the idea of EPCOT real. 1. AcAonable: Disney appealed to other companies to help show how they could get involved immediately. The vision of EPCOT today Disney died soon aer his video aired, and the momentum for EPCOT stopped for a :me. A visionary is o_en closely linked to his/her vision. Although Disney’s brother and management team pursued parts of the idea, they built a different version under the same name—which included a theme park that opened in 1982 and a planned city called Celebraon that was developed in the mid-1990s. Was EPCOT a failed vision? No, because another team pursued a different idea. Ul:mately, many of the ideas behind the original EPCOT vision were gradually embraced by American society in the ensuing decades. .

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