The Venus Project is a
501(c) nonprofit organization founded by
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
and social engineer
Jacque Fresco
Jacque Fresco (March 13, 1916 – May 18, 2017) was an American futurist and self-described social engineer. Self-taught, he worked in a variety of positions related to industrial design.
Fresco wrote and lectured his views on susta ...
. Fresco, along with his partner Roxanne Meadows, founded this project with a
socioeconomic
Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
model to develop a resource-based economy for human beings utilizing technology.
History
Before the Venus Project Fresco worked on the ''Project Americana'' from 1955 to 1959. That project was mainly about environmental, traffic, and floodgate concerns.
In 1970, Fresco formed an organization, Sociocybereneering Inc, based on the idea of combining
technology
Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...
and
energy conservation
Energy conservation is the effort to reduce wasteful energy consumption by using fewer energy services. This can be done by using energy more effectively (using less and better sources of energy for continuous service) or changing one's behavi ...
strategies. Later, Fresco and his partner Roxanne Meadows purchased of farmland in
Venus, Florida, an unincorporated community in southeastern
Highlands County, Florida
Highlands County is a county located in the Florida Heartland region of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 101,235. Its county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital ...
in order to conduct different types of research about their futuristic architectural design and city models.
Fresco and Meadows began creating buildings and other infrastructure to actualize their idea of
energy-efficient cities. According to ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', initially, they supported the project by selling books and lecture videos.
In 1980, Fresco, established a research center to experiment on resource-based economy and later named it "The Venus Project" after the town of Venus, Florida.
The project was prominently featured in
Peter Joseph's 2009 film
''Zeitgeist: Addendum''. Fresco and Joseph parted ways in 2011.
In 2010, Fresco and Meadows traveled to 20 countries to present the Venus Project.
In June 2012, Swedish documentary and fiction director Maja Borg screened her film ''Future My Love'' at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, featuring the work of Fresco and Meadows.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official website
Non-profit organizations based in Florida