ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a general overview of the EPCOT concept, followed by an examination of planning influences. EPCOT is a model for urban development based on increased development density at the urban core/transit node. As architect and planner Victor Gruen would have said, EPCOT was Disney's own multipurpose demonstration of a counterattack' against the sprawl and other evils' of the urban crisis that was definitely not a fairy tale. After development of Disneyland, Disney seemed to be sold on the radial plan. In EPCOT, the greenbelt is situated between the apartments and the single-family houses. Planning experience with world's fairs and expositions also contributed to EPCOT conceptualization. Ebenezer Howard's Garden Cities of To-Morrow, influenced by company towns, attempted to blend the best physical qualities of town and country. In addition to Howard, architect Charles-Edouard Jeanneret Le Corbusier (18871965) ranked among the great utopians and profoundly influenced the built environment in the twentieth century.
