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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

#131

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

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…

I have a coworker who cries about everything the government spends money on because it doesn't directly put cash in his pocket.

How do you explain that things like this are still beneficial to him? That a rising tide lifts all boats?

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#132

Post by dreamcompiler »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #56
wolfretcrap wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Most of that cheap land you are seeing available in the US is not close to what you'd consider farmland. Consider the location of the 100th meridian as it somewhat bisects the continent. West of that line, you cannot really grow anything without irrigation. East of that line, and to some extent there's enough rainfall that stuff will grow on its own, albeit not optimally. Most the cheap available land you will find i…

This. The western half of the US is going to become useless for farming in the next 50 years because all the aquifers are drying up and they take tens of thousands of years to recharge. Which is another way of saying that farming in the western US has only been possible because it harvested fossil water that's now almost gone.

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#133

Post by nanomonkey »

zer0tonin wrote: post #73
panarky wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

Night radiative cooling, the Cosmic Background radiation temperature is 4 degrees K.

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#134

Post by boomboomsubban »

IdontRememberIt wrote: post #107
boomboomsubban wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

These are not private initiatives. They were the will of powerful, bright and respected people.

Private people can't be powerful, bright, and respected? Plus their example was Brasilia, not a private initiative either.

>They were the will of powerful, bright and respected people.

Not the first adjectives I'd use to describe imperialists, colonialists and warlords personally.

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#135

Post by JoshuaDavid »

ginko wrote: post #24
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…

What's more did any of these planned communities ever pan out? There were plenty projects started in the 20th century alone. Guess Walt Disney's Epcot is the most well known failure.

I'd say that Irvine, California panned out.

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#136

Post by mistrial9 »

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…

> .. appointed a world-famous architect to design it"

LOL - this is ignorant ! there are two common Master's tracks in the field, Architecture i.e. the design of buildings and interior spaces, and Urban Planning i.e. the design of multiple buildings in a functional way. Anyone would hire an Urban Planner to design urban spaces, not an Architect.

source: 600 hours of working with Urban Planners in California

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#137

Post by jcranmer »

yongjik wrote: post #117

This doesn't sound like a serious business proposal. Just consider one example: > The building features elevated water storage, aeroponic farms and an energy-producing photovoltaic roof that allow it to "share and distribute all it produces." In other words, this building is going to be freaking expensive: (1) Upper floors of a skyscraper is probably the most expensive place you could store water in. (2) There's a re…

> (1) Upper floors of a skyscraper is probably the most expensive place you could store water in.

Water pipes are pressurized using gravity (there's a reason tanks for water distribution systems are commonly referred to as "water towers"); indeed, water systems frequently measure pressure using the height above sea level it can reach without pumps rather than more natural units of pressure. If the city's water mains aren't capable of pushing it to every floor of your building (which is going to be true for a skyscraper), then you'll have to naturally pressurize it yourself by keeping the main water tank high.

If you don't do that, your options are either to pump the main water main anyways (just without a natural tank on the top), with lots of pressure regulators for the lower flows; several vertical water mains to service different vertical pressure zones; or one water main with lots and lots of smaller (and hence less efficient overall) pumps to keep the pressure reasonable at different altitudes. Keeping the water tank high instead lowers the amount of infrastructure you need, lowers the costs of regulating pressure, and has better fail-safe conditions if the power cuts out for a while.

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#138

Post by ttul »

kiba wrote: post #82
ttul wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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/...

It's better to replace income taxes with land value tax, which doesn't tax the property built on it. Anyway, your proposal still run into the issue of acquiring political will. It may work after it's implemented, but not before it.

Yeah, the problem of political will is paramount. When a majority of voters are homeowners, there isn’t any will to reduce home values…

Re: Plans for a new city in the American desert

#139

Post by dave333 »

nanomonkey wrote: post #133
zer0tonin wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you cool a nuclear reactor without water?

Night radiative cooling, the Cosmic Background radiation temperature is 4 degrees K.

This can be great for houses as well see https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.solarm...
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