I know Arcosanti (visited in 2013), and have studied a bit about its history.

Unfortunately the project has been essentially a failure. It was supposed to become self-sustaining and reach 5,000 people, instead at its peak it reached less than 100. Great idea though.

That's awesome - I like the idea that the bell-making business was baked in from the start. I think the same could be done with software development or some sort of SaaS instead of bell-making.