What kind of City would you build?

Question

You can place your city anywhere in the continental United States where a city does not already exist.

The government will give you as much money as you want to start this city.

What kind of city would it be. College town, high tech city

Things such as economy, organizational structure, street pattern, public transportation all can be planned out by you.

Would your city be car Free, water based city (venice), environmental friendly city. You can be as "out there" with your idea as you want. It just has to make sense.

Answer 1

Disney's original idea for EPCOT

Answer 2

I would look for a valley or flatlands. The roads would be built in large, twenty mile squares. Residential, Commercial, and Industrial zones within each would be approached by feet and all vehicles would be stored in city parking lots in each block. There would be no educational facilities to shape the city beyond grade and high school. Some specialization schools, classes, and mechanical classes would exist but not in a school zone for city planning. The economy would recognize the dollar, tourism from whatever states would probably occur because of the lack of vehicles and total foot paths. An emphasis on an uncompetitive economy would be enforced. There would be some waterworks and canals but developing right next to a river, lake, or coast would not happen and these spots would be avoided.

Answer 3

The city would have the infrastructure needed to accomodate bicycles and mass transit, with allowances for managed growth. Growth would not sprawl; the city would have a definite footprint, with a core open space area surrounded by a buffer zone of human-activity parks. Each of these would have a corridor for walking, cycling and equestrian plus wildlife movement so remote populations are not genetically isolated.

Any manufacturing would be state-of-the-art. Each area would include a hefty percentage of affordable housing.

A community garden, a commons -- it would be a city where people felt safe, felt a sense of home, a place of beauty.

Nice question.

Answer 4

My city would be car free and everyone would ride bicycles( that would help to keep everyone in shape). There would be no need for currency because people would trade goods, which would give people something to do other than play video games. there would be electricity, television, gas, and running water. There would definitely be no pollution and there would be no weapons except knives and simple tools. There would be small houses and a town square for buying and selling things. There would also be no alcohol or drugs. That's all I can think of right now.

Answer 5

I like Paolo Soleri's idea to build an arcology, which is a preset city kind of like a big mall. It is built with preexisting space for commercial areas, residential areas, and treadmill-like sidewalks all built into these big buildings. He built one arcology named Arcosanti, north of Phoenix, but it is unsuccessful because of lack of funding. I think his idea is a solution to overpopulation, since as the town gets bigger construction would make the city taller not longer. Transportation could include elevators, treadmills, bicycles, and in case of the need to drive to another city, use maglev trains. Energy could probably be produced by solar panels, wind power, and natural gas, especially solar panels if built in the Southeastern US.
I think arcologies will be practical in the future, when real estate becomes saturated to the point that no one ever buys fresh land but only someone else's used property.