What if the piazze and civic spaces of Rome—the “white space” of Nolli’s Pianta Grande—were also the very source of the community’s fresh water, the sites where its waste was turned to nourishment for plants and trees, and the silent generator of its electrical power? Sharing resources for water, energy, and even food production at the local level was the basis upon which preimperial Rome was formed. It may also be the most intelligent means of developing and preserving the city without placing undue strain on its centuries-old infrastructure. I will reimagine the Roman piazza and water fountain as the poetic and functional heart of an “off-the-grid” neighborhood, using green design to express a sense of community, both local and global. Rome’s open spaces have always celebrated the complex, unpredictable choreography of urban life—they may attain still deeper meaning as the loci of sustainable, decentralized community ecosystems.