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Plans for a new city in the American desert

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Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#71

Post by finnh »

kiba wrote: post #17
mindvirus wrote: post #4

I love the ambition. One thing I've been really amazed about China has been the willingness to tackle big infrastructure projects - building cities like Shenzhen in a few decades and all of the infrastructure projects in the Pearl River Delta in general. I think we need more of that in the west. So I wish them luck - I hope real estate speculation doesn't ruin it. One thing I've noticed with US politics is that thing…

We already have lot of infrastructure projects here in America. It's called roads. Endless ceaseless expansion of roads. I think we need to stop mindlessly expand roads, and reconsider our infrastructure priority before we can start doing massive megaprojects.

Isn't a new city an example of priority reconsideration? I don't follow your argument.

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#72

Post by aaron695 »

This truly looks like a dystopian nightmare.

Fucking glass.

And roads with grass? Will there be robots making sure you neither walk or have drones on the grass? I guess they'd control the vehicle's to keep it pretty but how do they control you?

I don't get the scam here, but it's also a grid city - https://newatlas.com/architecture/telosa-city-bjarke-ingels-...

WTF is with a grid city?

I get all the awful stuff in the photos that make it look pretty, but surely people hate grids both in photos and real life.

Is this some sort of propaganda thing? Grids are allegedly bad for cars, so we self flagellate by creating awful grid cities to hurt the 'car'

If I think about places in every city I've visited or places I loved as a child, being on a grid is not place's I go too. It'll be short cuts and hidden parks in loops and random alleyways. I'm pretty sure psychology also confirms people like living in curved planning mentally.

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#73

Post by zer0tonin »

panarky wrote: post #66
Bayart wrote: post #11

I feel every attempt at community-by-design bears within it the seed of inhumane horror. Forget about the energy equation of building a city in a desert, what's the on-boarding process for prospective inhabitants ? Putting the price of accommodation sky-high to make sure everybody's in the right tax-bracket (or even earns enough to not pay taxes) ? Going through an interview process to only take in people with the "r…

> energy equation of building a city in a desert Solar and nuclear work great in deserts. I'd be more concerned about water.

How do you cool a nuclear reactor without water?

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#74

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

throw0101a wrote: post #67
boomboomsubban wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dubai? Not really something to emulate though. Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taipei also kind of fit.

> Dubai? I have heard that Dubai does not have street names, so giving directions and arranging deliveries can be… challenging. Is this statement accurate?

I think "missing street names" is probably #2879 on the prioritized list of things that make Dubai the best example of a complete modern dystopia.

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#75

Post by kyleee »

nemo44x wrote: post #61

The cognitive dissonance in their descriptions of how things will work and how things will be is amazing. Everything is “inclusive” and “equitisim” and the community has a direct voice in every decision (that will scale to 5 million people!). But yet all this is being dictated by what I assume is the authority over everything in this make-believe place. Everything on their website states as a matter of fact how “thin…

Yep, it feels like it could be satire. The project will likely be a boondoggle, assuming it even gets off the ground

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#76

Post by kiba »

lprubin wrote: post #69
kiba wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it doesn't encourage developers to build more houses, then it does nothing. We care more about the number of people housed, not merely just people who are housed who can afford their bills.

The original question was "How do you get teachers, garbage collectors, plumbers, nurses, all sorts of manual workers ?" Those people all have some amount of money they can afford to pay their bills. Since a city needs some percentage of those workers, having housing they can afford is a big step towards attracting them.

If you want affordable housing, then build houses.

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#77

Post by xerxes777 »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #35

I'm very curious, have there ever been any "cities from the ground up" projects that don't turn out to be total shit that end up just reflecting the urban planning fallacies of the day? (Looking at you, Brasilia) I mean, all of the cities that are most "livable" in my mind are old cities that were designed before the car and thus have enough density and public transportation to make things both close and also the kin…

Saint Petersburg

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#78

Post by ac29 »

lprubin wrote: post #21
Bayart wrote: post #11

I feel every attempt at community-by-design bears within it the seed of inhumane horror. Forget about the energy equation of building a city in a desert, what's the on-boarding process for prospective inhabitants ? Putting the price of accommodation sky-high to make sure everybody's in the right tax-bracket (or even earns enough to not pay taxes) ? Going through an interview process to only take in people with the "r…

One idea is an expansion of a law already on the books in many cities. When you create a new building / housing complex (which will be 100% in a new city), you require X% of units to be "affordable housing". I could see the city just increasing the required % and then giving tax credits to developers to offset the lost revenue to them. Given that this city would be built in stages, it will give them time to hone in o…

The problem is "affordable housing" isnt actually affordable for many. I qualify for it in the city I live in, and despite working full time for significantly above minimum wage, the rent on a 1bd apartment through this program would be about 75% of my take-home income.

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#79

Post by R0b0t1 »

wolfretcrap wrote: post #29
mindvirus wrote: post #4

I love the ambition. One thing I've been really amazed about China has been the willingness to tackle big infrastructure projects - building cities like Shenzhen in a few decades and all of the infrastructure projects in the Pearl River Delta in general. I think we need more of that in the west. So I wish them luck - I hope real estate speculation doesn't ruin it. One thing I've noticed with US politics is that thing…

It's mind blowing how much land the US has. I live in India and here finding farmland is not easy to say least, while I see lot of cheap land available in the US all time with much more facilities than a small city in India would have. I've always wondered why America has not built many more cities with all that available land.

The goal isn't to pack people on the planet like sardines.

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#80

Post by ttul »

kiba wrote: post #19
pcurve wrote: post #8

"The cleanliness of Tokyo, the diversity of New York and the social services of Stockholm: Billionaire Marc Lore has outlined his vision for a 5-million-person "new city in America" and appointed a world-famous architect to design it" "The mission of Telosa is to create a more equitable and sustainable future. That's our North Star." I admire their ambition, but they are underestimating people's preference for inequi…

What would it take for the middle class homeowners of America to prioritize housing for everyone rather than the price of their home?

Maybe replacing income taxes largely with property taxes? If the home is not seen as a source of tax free imputed income, then other things become more attractive, like investing in startups. It’s not a crazy idea. Switzerland taxes the imputed rental income on your own home.

1. https://www.credit-suisse.com/articles/private-banking/2018/...

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