Hello SuperForest! I’m Amy. I’m new! I hail from Portland (the Maine one, not the Oregon one) and I’m super psyched to be joining Team SuperForest. Today, I’m sharing with you possibility…
Last week I came across a list of 10 cities that I would never be able to visit, because they had never been built. My favorites? These four, which are designed to promote all kinds of connections; connections between people and the earth, people and their food, and people and their work, people and their neighbors… these particular cities never made it to fruitian, but why couldn’t they? Imagine if every city aimed to be a Dongtan or a Broadacre. I’m picking out my favorite pieces from each, and combining them in my head into one utopian-style dream city (where, I imagine, the SuperForest Temple o’ Peace would fit quite nicely).
Check out my faves (and the whole list, here):
Dongtan was to be built on the island of Chongming in Shanghai, China. Sadly, development is at a standstill, and there’s been some speculation of less-than-pure motivation for planning the eco-city in the first place, but there are a lot of good ideas here! For instance:
The self-sustaining city would have produced its own energy from solar, wind, and bio-fuel power, and recycled city waste. Public transportation would have been powered by clean technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells, and a vast network of foot and bicycle paths would have substantially cut down on vehicle emissions. In addition, organic farming methods were to be used inside the city limits.
Broadacre City was designed by none other than Frank Lloyd Wright in the early 1930′s, and combined the benefits of city life and country living:
In essence, [Wright] wanted to abandon the crowded, machine-age, industrial city, but avoid a rural community.
Just like Jefferson believed every citizen should have their own “vine and fig tree”, Wright planned the city so that each denizen would grow their own food on their one acre plot of land. In what was a controversial characteristic, citizens of all social classes would intermingle much more than in any other city or town of the day. Wright also despised centralization so it was essential that the city be sprawling and widespread, which severely differentiated itself from a city. In Broadacre, homes, factories, offices, and municipal buildings would all be separated by large expanses of parks planted with lawns and trees. Cleanliness was paramount and there was to be only light industry and all utility wiring would be buried underground.
These Slumless, Smokeless Cities were designed by Sir Ebenezer Howard, who apparently was the father of the garden city movement (more about that on good old Wikipedia – neat!). These are basically spiraling, self-sufficient hubs that can each operate independently, but are all connected:
Garden cities were intended to provide a pleasant environment with open public land while at the same time contain industry and agriculture… The overall design was to relieve the huddled crowdedness and dirtiness of big cities but still have the feeling of connectivity.
The Minnesota Experimental City (MXC) is in a dome, obviously, which I’m not really digging, but inside the dome there are some really stellar ideas that I’m digging quite a bit:
The city would focus on open spaces such as parks, farms, and wilderness. Only one sixth of the area would be paved… The city would be car-free, with cars parked at the edge and people-movers whisking people into the center of the city. A futuristic and highly advanced automated highway system, in which magnetic, driverless cars were used, would connect people to the outside world.
Perhaps the most drastic and controversial departure from conventional cities was that there would be no schools. Instead, the practice of lifelong learning would be practiced. Lifelong learning states that everyone is a teacher as well as a student and that education takes place through social interactions, observations, and joining groups and clubs among other things.
Yup, I could live in any one of these little havens (minus being in a dome). What’s your favorite? What else would you add to make them even better?
Love,
Amy
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