Joseph's plat was not a "plan". It was a record of something he thought he saw. It was specific to a time and a place. The inscription recited in the linked article to "spread this throughout the world" is made contingent upon it actually being reflective of the layout of Zion in the next clause, and was intended for a time when Zion is a real thing.

I want to distance these plans from Mormonism simply because the project has no meaningful relationship to it. There is no problem whatsoever with Hall drawing inspiration from an old document drawn out by Joseph Smith et al, I take no umbrage with that. The issue is the attempt to pretend that it is some realization of Joseph's intent or visions, some significant step forward in the creation of the Zion of scripture (which, for the record, is mostly defined in the Bible).

NewVistas is one man's plan for a city he thinks will work well. He may even believe the plan has some divine sanction over it, which is fine. I wish him luck in his attempts to lawfully build his ideal city.

What I do not wish to see is the false association, the false significance, ascribed to this project, merely based on Hall's assertion that he drew inspiration from a document authored by Smith. It creates the false impression that Mormons will accept this as religiously significant, and they don't and won't, because it isn't.

There's more than one kind of mormon. There are the skeptical types like you and me, and there are the doomsday-prepping Julie Rowe followers, and more.

There is certainly a subgroup of mormons that would see religious significance in him using Joseph's plat of Zion document for the layout.

If he were doing this in Independence MO, then you'd really have something.

The sense I'm getting from what you're saying is that this plan to create a "Zion" is like various Christian groups doing X or Y to hasten the Second Coming of Christ?

Also, if you have a minute, I'd love to hear your understanding of what the real Zion will be. (Honest curiosity.)

Just throwing in some thoughts...

Mormon eschatology is pretty thin but the core beliefs are that the people are of "one heart and one mind" and that "there are no poor among them".

Specifically this mean that Zion can only be built from "within" and not by force of arms and an economic system not based on self interest but on "love thy neighbors as thyself".

Early Mormon's made attempts in Kirtland Ohio and Far West Missiouri which mostly failed due to rampant speculation and broader economic panics. Some of the ideas were adopted in Nauvoo, Illinois and later is small communities in Utah by Brigham Young.

Some of these experiments yielded later economic benefits because it allowed the Mormon's to divorce their economic system somewhat from gold (which was I short supply). While trades with non-Mormons would need to be settled with gold trade between Mormons could be settled with script that could be exchanged for goods at the "bishop's storehouse." Tradesmen and famers would sell items to the storehouse and get back script which they could then use to buy finsished good or services.

This created a currency that was functionally backed by finished goods and commodities and was immune to speculation and banking system panics that were common at the time.

A great place to look for a Mormon view on what Zion will be like, at least in principle, is a book called The Enoch Letters written by Neal Maxwell, a LDS apostle. It is written in the style of The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. It a quick read and I found it to be quite interesting.