City-Park
There is obvious need for development of new cities in areas
poorly suitable for living – shortage of water, occasional destructive storms,
earthquakes, etc. Following is an outline of how this could be done.
Inexpensive land is an
economic foundation of a new growing City. As development goes, prices of land
grow and this serves as a foundation for new investment and as basis for
lending to City developers. As long these prices grow, the City has room to
grow.
The City has to be
developed with the City Development Company, which buys land perpetually and
quickly. As it develops some of it, it sells it together with developed City’s
infrastructure and buildings and buys new land around growing City. When that
process becomes not profitable enough, this would be a sign that the new City
reached limits of its expansion on land and this is time to focus on other
venues of expansion.
Large amount of land,
where it is possible to erect large buildings, provides an opportunity to
create a unique new City with tall buildings, standing at substantial distance
from each other, and space between them filled with the park.
Eventually, the park should
be owned by the City and buildings and land under them should be owned by
private entities.
When a part of the City is
complete, the City Development Corporation should start selling it to
appropriate entities and recovered funds it should use for further expansion of
the City. The City, when it is formed as an entity with taxing power, should gradually
buys City’s Park with land under it.
Since the City is built
from scratch it could easily avoid usual problems of city traffic. Its Streets
do not need to be straight, they could fit into terrain. Streets should be very
wide, with traffic in different directions divided with a broad Divider. Later,
this Divider could be made narrower to accommodate more traffic.
Streets divide the
space into Blocks, only unlike usual blocks of the city, these blocks should be
long and broad, and buildings should be placed there with substantial distances
between them. All that space between buildings should be filled with trees.
On the edge of the
Block, around the Block, should be a relatively wide Block Road, where speed is
restricted and parking is permitted. This is where bus stops should be.
A Block Road and parts
of Streets adjacent to the Block should form one system. One could imagine the
Block Road as a lane of the Street closest to the Block. There are two
limitations:
-
near the corner of the Block, it is forbidden
neither to leave the Block Road nor enter it (this maneuver should be done far
from the corner by merging the traffic)
-
traffic on the
Block Road is one way, which matches everywhere the traffic on adjacent lane of
the Street.
To bind parks in Blocks into one
City Park, there are tunnels for pedestrians and small vehicles between Blocks
separated by a Street. It should be one such tunnel between adjacent corners of
the block, it should be in the middle between these
corners to stay away from busy Street crossings. These tunnels should have low
incline to accommodate small vehicles and should not have stairs and should be
tall and wide to accommodate cleaning machines used to clean the Streets.
In any city, potable
water is a major concern. In a city built in area with shortage of water it is
a crucial issue.
Water of precipitation
should be collected, processed and securely stored. Salty water should be
accessed, desalinated, processed and securely stored.
Usually, all this done
in a centralized manner by the city, and when water is stored, it is stored
unprocessed in some reservoirs.
This City cannot afford
such approach. It has to deploy massively decentralized system to assure
reliability of the potable water supply
Rain water or snow
could be collected on the roof of a building, if a king of a “tab” placed
there, preferably a tab taking up entire roof.
Desalination system
using heat of the Sun for evaporation also needs entire roof for itself. Hence,
either such system or a tab should be on the roof.
Desalination system
using high pressure does not need the roof and even could be used in addition to
one taking up the roof.
Thus, roofs of almost
all buildings of the City should have some kind of a Water Plant. In addition,
space in some buildings should be used for a Water Plant, which does not need
to use the roof.
Water produced this way
requires some enhancement (adding minerals, some disinfection) and, in some
cases, some preliminary filtering. This processing should be done in place, in
the same building, which produced it.
Water should be stored
in the same building, which produced it. It should be stored in cylindrical
water tanks, which, most likely, should be made with reinforced concrete, and placed
in dedicated rooms on some floors of the building. These rooms do not need
windows and should be somewhere on the middle of the building. This would
require buildings to be longer and wider than usual buildings providing the
same space for people. The City, where buildings are placed at large distance
from each other, could afford that.
The City would provide
universal quality control of the potable water and its redistribution: it would
buy water from buildings, which produce it and would sell it to buildings,
which consume it.
Water desalination
plants leave brine, which is either disposed into the sea, or is channeled into
evaporation ponds for salt production. Special pipes are needed to move brine
from the desalination plants to ponds, because brine is corrosive.
Evaporation ponds
should be outside of the City, as the City grows, they are moved further out,
while area used for old ponds is used for buildings and the Park, this should
be taken in consideration in long term City planning.
Trees of the park and
small ponds in it, which are needed to sustain birds of the park and other its
creatures, need to be watered. This could be done through a system of tanks
buried in the park and pipes interconnecting them and connecting them to trees
and ponds. Tanks are filled during the day and water is slowly released to
trees and ponds overnight.
Ponds should be
regularly drained and cleaned to prevent increase of number of harmful insects
in the Park.
Since water is
expensive, some water, used by people, should be recycled for watering the park
and providing water for birds. For this purpose, a system of Clean Sewer should
be created, where the water from building’s pools, tabs, showers and alike is
directed. In the building this water is filtered, chemicals are added to
neutralize soaps and it is enhanced and passed to the Park Watering System. All
this should be done under supervision of the City.
The City pays for this water. When
it needs more of it, it raises the price it pays and the building starts
diverting to Clean Sewer some of the water it produces (before it goes through
filtering and enhancement to become potable).
Underground, water
moves through water permeable layers separated by water impermeable layers
(like clay).
During ordinary
construction, water impermeable layers are perforated and water from higher
water permeable layers drains into lower layers. This could be a desirable
effect on many construction sites, but it could be disastrous for trees of the
Park.
Hence, in this City,
buildings should be designed and erected in the way that it is not detrimental
to the Park. Water impermeable payers should seal themselves around buildings’
foundations. Most likely, this means avoiding having basements in the buildings
of the City.
Similar problem exists
with laying various pipes, power and communication lines, etc. For those,
special technical tunnels should be created, with protection of underground
water system in mind. All new installations, additions and changes in the
system of pipes and cables should go only through such tunnels. Access to these
tunnels should be restricted, obviously.
Buildings on the
perimeter of the Block are easy to access from the Block Road, where there is
space for parking. Hence, most of them would be used as commercial buildings.
For buildings inside the Block
special access system is needed. It should have access roads – narrow, with
speed limit and decorative – it is in the Park. In addition, “walkways” should
be created for pedestrians and small vehicles. They also should be narrow and
decorative.
Vehicles’ maneuvering near a
building (loading and offloading passengers and cargo, taking garbage,
delivering building materials, etc.) is problematic and should be facilitated.
First, buildings should have
“ports”-niches, where a truck could back-up and upload or offload something.
For example, a garbage track could back-up into a specialized port and take
garbage dropped from the second floor of the building into it.
Second, the First Floor of a
building should be a special floor, a Lobby. In addition to doors for
pedestrians it should have gates for cars and trucks on opposite sides of the
buildings. A car should be able to enter the Lobby through one gate, offload passengers
and exit through another gate on the opposite side of the building. Access
roads should be arranged accordingly.
Parking of cars should not be
allowed in the Park outside a building. It is recommended to have a special
multilevel facility in each building for parking small vehicles (carrying not
more than two people). These vehicles should be placed in special crates and
these crates should be stored in vacant “niches” of the facility.
Well developed cities create
environment of streets similar to one in an apartment or an office – organized,
clean. In this City, environment outside the door of a building is nature, with
dust, dirt, insects, mice, etc. The Lobby has to become a place, where these
environments are separated.
First, a Washing Station is needed,
where one entering the building could wash shoes, before walking into an
elevator. The same Washing Station should be used to wash small vehicles,
before they are stored in specialized building’s facility or ridden into an
elevator (for example, a vehicle used by handicapped).
Second, Guardian Cats are needed.
These are cats, specially selected for their ability to catch mice and alike, these
cats should live in the Lobby and should have free access outside the building.
They need to carry identification collars, and should have some degree of
protection.
To provide
redistribution of potable water or water for the Park, the City needs a special
infrastructure – a system of interconnected Hubs.
A Hub is a small
building, to which buildings near to it are connected via a technical tunnels. It
should be one or more Hubs in a Block and every building of the Block should be
connected to one Hub on the same Block.
Some Hubs are connected between
themselves via Hub-connecting technical tunnels. For any pair of Hubs in the
City should be a path through these Hub-connecting tunnels, which connects this
pair of Hubs.
A Hub houses equipment, which
allows water taken from one building to channel to another building or to
another Hub. This equipment is controlled from a central place by the City.
This is done for potable water and for Clean Sewer water.
This arrangement is sufficient to
redistribute water any way the City wants.
This system of Hubs is used also to
provide electricity, gas, communication, steam, Dirty Sewer, to transport brine
from desalination plants to evaporation ponds, etc. All needed switches
(electric, electronic, valves, etc.) should be housed in these Hubs.
Communication equipment and computers to preprocess information are housed in
these Hubs.
Initially, the Hub
system is developed and owned by the City Development Corporation and City pays
for its use, and eventually, it is sold to the City.
What goes on city
streets is usually seen and heard by many people. Not so in the Park. Hence,
technology is needed to provide similar environment.
External walls of all
buildings should be equipped with Observation Stations collecting visual and
sound information, measuring air temperature, detecting smoke, etc. This
information is passed to the building’s Information Center and from there to
the building’s staff, to building’s apartments or offices, and to the Hub, from
where it could reach the City’s Information Center, other buildings, etc.
Quality of such
information system is increased, if it is augmented with information filtering
and integration. For example, since locations of all Observation Stations are
known, that could be used to compute exact location of observed objects and
events, and this would be work of information integration system.
With such information
system, parents could see and hear, what their children are doing in the Park,
City could quickly detect fire in the Park, etc.
Additional Observation
Stations should be installed in public places in a building, but this
information is not passed to the Hub, it is used by building’s staff.
Similar Observation
System should be installed around Streets to monitor traffic and environment on
the Streets. This information should be passed and integrated through the Hub
system to City’s observation and control centers.
Weather conditions in different
places call for corresponding adjustments to design.
When climate is too hot, southern
side of the building heats up more than others; when it is too cold, northern
side child more than others. This should be compensated with making windows
smaller and walls thicker on corresponding side. Inside these walls should be
installed elements of air conditioning system (for example, air channels) which
allow adjustment of the walls temperature.
There are regions, with regular
periods of rain (snow) and periods of drought. During rain (snow) periods water
is stored (in ponds, cisterns, etc.) and this stored water is used during
drought periods, it is often used this way even for agriculture.
In such regions, City buildings
should have rain (snow) collecting water plants and buildings should be longer
and wider than usual to provide ample space in their water tanks. In addition,
artificial ponds in the Park should have roofs, to reduce water evaporation
during dry periods.
Note that even in regions with
periods with strong rain (snow), could be years with low precipitation. The
City could hedge with placing desalination plants in buildings, belonging to
City, which it activates in such dry years to add water as needed.
In this City, one has
to cover unusually large distances to accomplish simple everyday tasks. This
will bring proliferation of small self-propelled vehicles, which could be used
to ride on the Streets, and in the Park. They will emerge in mass, and it is better
to regulate and standardize them from the beginning of the City.
These vehicles should be designed
for one person only. It is desirable for them to have a light cabin and
accommodation for cargo, because they will be used for shopping, long trips, etc.
They should have four soft broad wheels or two soft broad tracks to minimize
damage to vegetation and soil of the Park.
They should be boarded from the
front and the driver should slide back after that, thus the driver’s door
should be in the front. Cargo and emergency door should be in the back. Controls
should be under hands, no steering wheel, seat belts. It should be possible to
quickly take apart the cabin from inside in case of emergency.
Instruments readings should be
displayed on small flat screens, which could be repositioned.
Observation Station(s) could be
added to the vehicle, with information from them passed to screens and
speakers. They could be connected wirelessly to the City’s network of
observation stations, especially for special vehicles deployed by police,
firefighters, etc.
In a process of development of the
City, new companies should be formed to facilitate it.
Some will acquire expertise in the
system of Hubs. These companies will be able to use this expertise to produce
needed equipment and to design and install similar systems in other places.
Others will acquire expertise in
production and repair of small vehicles. This could become another developed
industry.
Production and installation of
Observations Stations, providing means of transmission, integration and
presentation of observed information, all that should facilitate emergence of
yet another developed industry.
This City cannot afford
to forget where it is built. It has to enact strict rules of how it is built,
maintained and governed, which allow mitigation of losses in case of quite
possible disasters as fires, storms with floods, very strong winds,
earthquakes, etc.
Each building has to
have industrial strength fire suppression system, using water stored in it. In
addition, it has to have ability to spray water from its external walls on the
ground around them to suppress fire in the Park.
The Park is first of
all an oxygen-making “machine”, the rest is secondary. Following should be
forbidden in the Park:
-
making fire
-
setting camp
-
sleeping overnight.
Sick or broken trees in the Park
should be quickly removed and replaced with new (small) trees.
Metal “Shields” should be placed
over all windows in all buildings in anticipation of strong winds. When windows
are large, these shields should be modular and they should be assembled during
their installation.
It should not be possible to open
any window in the City; an integrated air-conditioning system should be used in
every building.
Floors, which do not need windows,
should not have them; particularly, the first floor (the Lobby) and the top
floors (serving Water Plant on the roof, the building under them, etc.), should
not have windows.
Water tanks in the buildings, where
produced in the building water is stored, have to be placed in enclosing rooms
(as it is described above) with possibility to channel water spill first into
Clean Sewer system, and when it is full, into usual (Dirty) Sewer, and when
that is full, directly into the Park.
Water Plants on the roofs of the
buildings should have special system deployed, when a heavy storm is
approaching:
-
they have to have foldable roofs, which are usually
folded, but unfolded before the storm
-
they have to
have movable walls, which are usually lowered down into the top floor of the
building, but, before the storm, should be lifted up to the roof.
In areas, where hurricane strength
winds are possible, buildings of the Block have to be arranged in a particular way
that they could shield the Park. They have to form concentric “walls” with tall
(two-three floors) arches. Arches have to have metal “gates”, which role is to
turn movement of the wind through them from laminar (coordinated) into
turbulent (disorganized) one. This arrangement should reduce speed of wind
below roofs of building to level tolerable to the trees. It should be no
windows in arches; hence width of the “wall” should be much smaller, than width
of a standalone building. Placement of tunnels between Blocks should be
coordinated with location of arches.
Strong rains could cause short-term
flooding in the Park and erosion of its soil. This is unacceptable; hence
capacity of Dirty Sewer, which removes runoff from Streets and Blocks, should
be increased – its channels should be large, and it should not rely on gravity
only – pumping stations should be in it, which speed-up movement of sewage and facilitate
moving the sewage over some obstacles.
To service external walls of the
buildings and various installations on them, as:
-
windows (cleaning,
assembling and placing shields over them and removing them later, replacing
window glass, etc.),
-
Observation Stations,
-
water jets used to suppress fire in the Park,
buildings need External Access
Elevators, the complete set of them.
These Elevators are moving on
vertical rails, which are embedded into the walls of the building (between
windows of the building), gripping these rails and hanging on the cables. Cable
drums are housed in one of top (service) floors of the building.
Only the side facing the wall of
such Elevator should be open, three other sides should be closed (they could
have some windows, though).
These Elevators should be a
permanent feature in the building. To house them, a few top floors of the
building should be somewhat longer and wider than the rest of the building (as
if there is a “hat” on the building). The part of this “hat”, which extends
beyond the building below it - a “brim of the hat”, should have a niche, where Elevators
are lifted and stored protected from weather. This place creates also safe
environment to move between an Elevator and the building.
Since Elevators are not deep, the
“brim” is not large and entire system could be made highly reliable and safe.
We had to impose unusual
requirements on buildings of the City. Now, we will try to make the best of it.
We had to specify “industrial”
internal space of the buildings without windows in it and with water tanks and
Water Plants. We will call it the Core.
The space around the Core with all
windows of the building in it, we allocate for apartments or offices. We will
call it the Perimeter.
In between these two spaces, there
is an excellent place for various corridors of the building. We will call it
the Joint.
First, we harden the building
against earthquakes. We will require water in tanks to be filled, drown and to
be moved between tanks in the way that empty and half full tanks are
concentrated closer to the top of the building. We will require also, that
designers of the building use this three component structure of the building to
provide better survivability of the building during earthquake. This should be
possible to do, because these components of the building vibrate at different
frequencies and that could be used to minimize amplitude of building
oscillation during an earthquake.
In addition, we will require that
all vertical shafts in the building, all staircases, all vertical components of
the system of pipes and the system of cables in the building were limited to
the middle part, to the Core.
Pipes and cables going horizontally
through the Joint and the Perimeter should go in special channels in a floor or
in the ceiling, before they are diverted to their final destination.
The special place in the Core,
where vertical and horizontal pipes or cables meet, we will call Auxiliary
space; this is where dedicated equipment serving an apartment or an office is
placed. Thus, every apartment or office located in the Perimeter should have
Auxiliary space in the Core across the corridor from the apartment (office). It
is easily accessible by building’s staff. Also, it is the space, where one
would want to park small vehicles used by handicapped and have some additional
storage space.
Having Sea Shore in the
City promises plenty of opportunities and challenges.
Easy access to sea water
is great for desalination plants. Ability to dedicate Blocks of the City on the
Sea Shore to hospitality industry and resort is even better. Beaches should be
adjusted to serving many people then. When access to them is difficult,
elevators should be installed and operated.
The City should be cautious with setting
up a sea port, even a passenger only port, though, as a port would pollute the
water.
The main problem of
setting the City on sea shore would be sea water inundating the land during
hurricanes. If it possible to set up the Dirty Sewer in the City, which can
handle regular events of this sort, then inclusion of Sea Shore in the City
looks like a great idea. If it is not, then it is possible that entire idea of
the City in this place should be abandoned.
Disposal of garbage and Dirty
Sewage is a difficult problem everywhere and it should be solved well in
advance. The new City built in arid area should have some dry land at
substantial distance from it. After some utilization of garbage and its disposal
to fill depressions in the ground and utilization of sewage’s sludge, the
remaining liquid component of Dirty Sewage could be used for irrigation of some
area of that dry land. That area should be seeded with grasses and shrubs and
designated as a wild life refuge with restricted access.
When all depressions in the land a
filled and healthy layer soil is created in this area, another area, further from
the city should be used for garbage and Dirty Sewage disposal, while this area
should be irrigated with Clean Sewage.
As the City grows, it could use
this reconstituted parcel of land for its expansion.
Cities, which we know,
grew through long periods of corruption, bad governance, and testing of crazy
social ideas on their citizens. Many attempts to create cities were
unsuccessful. It is doubtful that this City has any good chance to survive traditional
mismanagement, because it has to overcome serious natural obstacles. Hence, its
management and self governance have to be designed and implemented very
carefully.
Initially, it is
managed and governed by City Development Corporation, which has strong material
interest in City’s long term success. At some point, it introduces new management
and governing structure and passes power to it. It has all initiative to do
this as quickly and as carefully as it can, because to make profit it yet has
to sell a lot of land and infrastructure to the City, and the City has to
collect enough taxes to buy it, yet. Even when the City borrows money to pay
the Corporation, the lenders have to reasonably sure, that they could be repaid.
The City Development
Corporation starts building future management and governance structure from the
very beginning of the entire project. Managing structure emerges first and the
Governing structure (including the City court system), emerges later.
Management structure
should be set as decentralized as possible, to limit so pervasive corruption in
large bureaucratic systems. This could done by hiring different
management companies to manage distinctive and relatively independent areas of
the City activity.
First, City Management Department
is created as a part of the City Development Corporation. It sets rules and
regulations and arbitrates appeals of actions of management companies hired to
act on its behalf.
Next, management companies are
hired by City Management Department (they all could issue fines, which are
collected by City Management Department):
- a group of security and fire
protection firms; they detain for short periods of time;
- a water management firm, which manages redistribution of
potable water and water for watering the Park, and it manages Park Watering
System;
- a Dirty Sewer management firm;
- a traffic management firm, which sets
traffic rules and signs, installs and controls traffic lights;
- a Park Management firm, which takes
care of the Park;
- a Hub System management firm.
Arbitration of
decisions of these firms, of fines issued by them and of temporary detention
made by them is mostly done remotely according to procedures set by City
Management Department.
Following activities
should be managed by sections of City Management Department and should be
performed by individuals employed by City Management Department due to danger
of their jobs and need to provide for them and their families in certain cases:
-
policing, including active investigation of crimes
and detention;
-
management of detention centers;
-
fire fighting.
When City management system
achieves some maturity, the City Governance system is introduced. This system
should include City Court system.
In addition, it provides oversight
of City Management Department, which at this point is still a part of the City
Development Corporation.
Initially, the City Governance
system is appointed by the City Development Corporation with advice and consent
of citizens of the City. Gradually, these positions become elected for long
term of holding the office. Simultaneously, rules and procedures are
introduced, which govern removal of an elected official from his office before
expiration of his term.
Hopefully, the City would have
enough time to hone this governing system to fit its unique circumstances.
Eventually, City Management Department
of the City Development Corporation becomes independent from this Corporation
and responsible to the City Governance system, and City Governance system
appoints its top management according to procedures it sets for itself.
At that point, the City Development
Corporation relinquishes all responsibility for managing the City and all its
relationships with the City become governed by a system of contracts.
Most likely, the City would
want to have two types of specialized buildings. One for parking of vehicles,
and another to grow produce.
Both types of buildings
should adhere to above outlined structure with the Core containing Water Plant
and water tanks. This would provide additional source of income to their owners
and additional water to the City.
A building for parking
should have no windows – modern lighting systems are inexpensive.
A building for growing
produce needs special windows – large, with frame accepting relatively small, easily
replaceable pieces of glass. The glass has to be quartz, transparent to UV
light. The building would need some system of natural (gravity) ventilation in
addition to air conditioning system.
An industrial building
could be long and narrow to accommodate a given industrial process. Exhaust of
its air conditioning system should be filtered.
Blocks of the City should have
shape similar to a square, this way space in the middle of a block acquires
special properties – it is quiet, not too many people walk there, etc. That
space should be attractive to people with small kids, whom they could let play
in the Park, to retired people, who could live there in full service hotels, to
people not pressed by schedules, etc. Apartments in this area could be large
and expensive. Special buildings could be constructed housing hotels, resorts,
etc.
Space without windows,
between a corridor and a room with windows, requires special attention. Buildings
of the City should be toll, because they have to be placed at relatively large
distance between themselves to allow sufficient space for the Park. This leads
to the need to better utilization of living space of each building – space
outside the Core. Hence one has to make rooms without windows more attractive.
This is possible because of integrated air conditioning system, but some
substitute for windows is needed. Fortunately, it is easy to arrange in this
City with the Observation Stations and the system to integrate information from
them.
A building should have
an Information Center, where information from Observation Stations through the
system of Hubs and their Information Integration Systems is delivered.
Information from the Building Information Center should be passed to Auxiliary
Spaces of all apartments and from there to apartments themselves. From that
point, large flat screens and speakers on the walls of a room could serve as a
substitute for windows. They are even better than windows, because it is
possible to change a view on them or switch to some TV channel, movie, etc.
In this City, beauty of the Park is
not sufficient alone. In the same time, many usual methods of beatification of
the buildings are unavailable to buildings architects, because of the Core and External
Access Elevators. Nevertheless, buildings themselves need to be strongly
differentiated and beatified, at least to improve orientation in the Park.
Colors and flat
textures and images should be used on the buildings. Some could be permanent,
as backed into ceramics, other temporary, for example, on a thin film
temporarily attached to a building.
Such City enhances living; in
essence it is a Life Enhancing Machine:
·
the Park produces oxygen, reduces level of carbon
dioxide, increases air humidity and decreases strength of winds;
·
water stored in buildings provides stable supply of
drinking water and reduces range of temperature oscillation;
·
ponds of the park provide drinking water for birds;
·
desalination ponds increase humidity of the air;
·
garbage and sewer disposal system reverses erosion
of the land and stimulates regeneration of the soil;
·
in dry area,
City’s location could be selected in the way, that land around the City
sufficiently saturates with water sipping from the Park and it become suitable
for agriculture.
Alexander Liss, 3/24/2019, 5/22/2019