Disneyland at 70: A Civic Vision Worth Remembering

Disneyland at 70: A Civic Vision Worth Remembering

Disneyland’s founding vision 70 years ago was civic, not commercial—a place where design made family belonging feel natural. That lesson endures: We need public spaces that offer what the park once promised, without the price of admission. It was not clear, then, that Disneyland would become one of America’s most influential cultural exports. Yet beneath the spectacle lay a civic idea: that design could cultivate virtue; that well-ordered spaces…