Welcome to the Real World

From a more contemporary perspective, one might argue that the implementation of the arcade as an architectural strategy was effective initially because of its internalization of elements of the street as prototypical marketplace into enclosed spaces. While this may be true, the arcade as a passage initially served as a model of an idealized street life. This kind of idyllic re-hashing of the not-so-ideal circumstances of Paris’ 19th century middle class, which many times took the two-dimensional form of the panorama, (or complete picture of human existence), can be said to have contributed heavily to the rise of the bourgeoisie.
If the emergence of a social consciousness was indeed the result of the creation of a pedestal from which to look down upon the streets of Paris, then how can we expect Destiny USA to function? It seems as though with the erection of the “complete picture of human existence” (the Tuscan hill-town, for example, complete with authentic vintners!) in BUILT form, Benjamin’s argument will have come full circle. The panorama will have gone from the pictorial representation of an idealized landscape to the construction of that landscape as a living, breathing element; albeit frozen in time, this manufactured “worldwide panorama” may well again serve as a perpetually outdated model for the future, based on the past.
Now that the designers for Destiny USA have the opportunity to remake portions of Italy, France, and the “world marketplace,” what will they do differently? Will they build new, idealized models of Tuscany without all the region's quirky eccentricities, or with them? What will be the “monumental and lavish” public spaces promised to echo “Old World” architecture? The real question, however, concerns the effect these spaces and environments will have on those whose only encounter with them is through their distilled and manufactured identity. Who knows - maybe by 2017 all Tuscan vendors will speak English.