Welcome to Arcosanti, the experimental desert city loved by Charli XCX

Forget Brat summer is this utopian citadel in Arizona the ultimate non-conformist destination?

- William Hosie

Now I wanna think about all the good times," muses Charli XCX on the remix to So I, one of the most heartfelt tracks off her Brat album and an ode to her late friend, the DJ and producer Sophie. "Best night ever in Arcosanti," she purrs.

"Got birthday cake on the way." My bovine brain assumed Arcosanti was a restaurant in West Hollywood, but a quick google reveals something else entirely. It turns out Arcosanti is an experimental city in the high desert of Arizona, designed by the architect Paolo Soleri. If there's one Brat collab no one saw coming, it's this.

Arcosanti, a small outpost on a mesa 70 miles north of Phoenix, in Yavapai County, is a popular tourist destination in the United States, with daily tours and 35,000 visitors each year.

A quick sample of fellow journalists at The London Standard office, though, suggests it's little known outside its country of origin. And, indeed, outside of urban planning circles.