Eco-City

Eco-City.
Population: 100,000 (sub-Divisions) + 20,500(Downtown)
Houses: 25,000 (each house has 1acre plot) in 39 sub-divisions (39 sq miles) + 4.23 sq mile of Road + 3.77 sq miles downtown&strip mall area
Land: 25,000 acres (6.25miles by 6.25mile) + 4.23sq mile of road + 3.77 sq mile of Downtown&strip mall area aka a 7mile by 7miles city
Population Density (sub-division & overall) = 2560/sq mile comparable to http://demographia.com/db-uscity98.htm
Downtown Pop. Density = 6,212/sq mile
Street Coverage of City = 9% (4.23 sq miles) comparable to Europe (Verona, Italy) Data Map
Downtown = an additional 3.3 sq miles/20,500 people

1 sq mile sub-divisions (640acres = 25acre X 25 acre square aka 640house = 2560people)
Each block will have 25 houses on each side of the road, with a alley-road after 12houses.
Each subdivision will have 12 such blocks (12.5 to be more exact)
We can think of a sub-division as small town (640house) and a block as a village(50houses)

The perimeter/outer roads of the 1 sq mile subdivisions will be major 2way roads
The vertical alley road will be a minor 2way road
The regular horizontal roads will be 1way roads in alternating directions.

Services Area for every sub-division (9 acres):
1 Library/MakerSpace (CNC router/3d Printer/etc)
1 Post Office (Dropoff-Pickup Center, Telecom Towers)
1 school (preK-elementary-middle-high-college campus)
1 park/gym
1 acre pond (100 bass, 500 bluegill, 100 channel catfish, Fathead Minnow (to establish forage base) 5-10 pounds)  
1 Emergency service (clinic/ambulance, police, firefighter/rescue)
1 church/Emergency Shelter
1 strip mall-services (restaurant, lounge, meeting space, office space, motel, spa)
1 strip mall-goods (retail, garage, electronic, etc)
Service Areas are located at the + intersection of major road/sub-divisions

Downtown -
Airport/Rail/
Warehouse/Import Center
Collection/Export Center
Factory/Office Space
NightLife
Central Park
College
City Hall
Homeless Shelter/Drug Rehab/Jail-Prison/CourtHouse
Solid Waste Treatment Center.

Homestead Plot - 1acre (180plants with 15ft centers)
Plant 25% of the land in N-fixer at 15ft centers. (alder, serbian pea, autumn olive, goumi, silverberrry, seaberry)
Plant 25% of the land with winter fruits (persimmons, pears, apple, jelly palm, etc)
Plant 20% of the land with nuts (Hazelnut, Almond, Chilean Nut, Chestnut, Yellowhorn, Sweet kernel Apricot)
Plant 10% of the land with vines on coppice firewood (Akebia, China Blue, Yam Vine, Grape, Kiwis, Passionflower, Schisandra, Tasmania)
Plant 10% of the land with shrubs
Plant 5% of the land with regular vegetables/greenhouse/aquaponics/mushroom towers
Cover 5% of the land with house/workshop/outside kitchen-livingroom/
2 Top Bar Hive once a year visit (April), Chicken coop, 3ft+ pond with fish.

Support Systems
Electric - Solar Panel + gas backup + emergency battery charging at MarkerSpace
Heat - Solar Electric stored in mass, Firewood-BioChar Maker/RMH, Gas Tank - Truck Delivery
Cooling - Natural Ventilation
Communication - cell towers (Telecom Towers)
Internet - Telecom Towers/Satellite
TV - Telecom Towers/Satellite
Water - Rain/Well + Storage Cistern with filter system
Sewer - Nitrate-Phosphate removal/Green Filter, Sand Filter, Grease/Mushroom Filter, Septic Tank/Composting/Solar Dehydrator
Trash - Paper Bag and Packaging - composting, Free water bottles all citizens (students+church+gym+makerspace)
Road - Major Road Snow+Trash removal(taxes), sub-division road=cleanup sidewalk/street in-front of your house.

Houses are 2 stories
1st Floor is Workshop (this is bermed on 2 sided so you can walk to the 2nd floor)
2nd Floor is living Space


Outdoor Kitchen
Solar Dehydrator
Solar Oven
Solar Cooker
Patio
Fire Pit
BioChar Winter Space/HotTub Heater.

With Distributed/OnSite Production of:
Food
Housing
Energy
Water
Sewer
Alcohol/Weed/Magic Mushroom/Tobacco
Basic Herbal Remedies
Transportation - Bike/Walk
Trash Composting
Reduce Cost Furniture/Clothes/Electronics/ Manufactured Maker Space (only pay for raw material)

Free/Donated/Tax-funded
Books from the Library
Tools + open source designs at MakerSpace
Workshops at the MarkerSpace
Education at School (including online/distant learning)
Free Preventative HealthCare
Public Transit/Road Cleaning
Trash Collection
Emergency Service


Sadly this city will require that household can read/speak the common language. Know how to operate a computer and learn how to use all the MakerSpace Tools.
Households that dont learn or send their kids to learn will be punish (all kids under 16 will have to go to school=online/homeschool/at the school building)

I wonder how much money each household will need to pay in taxes
And how much they will need to pay for their "imported' private consumables/raw material.

Food: $720
Alcoholic beverages: $48
Housing: $1888
Apparel and services: $1,803
Transportation: $904.
Health care Co-Pay: $461
Entertainment/Pet: $291.
Personal care products and services: $707.
Reading: $118.
Education: $1329.
Tobacco products and supplies: $33.
Miscellaneous: $100
Cash contributions (charity, for example): $208.
Saving/Other: $686
Personal insurance and pensions: $683.
Personal taxes: $1048,
Total Pre-tax Household Income: $8300

Food: $720
Alcoholic beverages: $48
Housing: $1888
Apparel and services: $1,803
Transportation: $904.
Health care Co-Pay: $461
Entertainment/Pet: $291.
Personal care products and services: $707.
Reading: $118.
Education: $1329.
Tobacco products and supplies: $33.
Miscellaneous: $100
Cash contributions (charity, for example): $208.
Saving/Other: $686
Personal insurance and pensions: $683.
Personal taxes: $1048,
Total Pre-tax Household Income: $8300

wow, that would be some expensive living!
that's more than 3x what I live on now per yr....lol
is that per month or year?
also seems kinda crowded but then again you did say city. who wants to live in a city.

bernetta putnam wrote:who wants to live in a city.

I think lots of folks do.  There are some advantages to small cities - concentrating infrastructure, more easily funded libraries, museums, theatre, etc. Concentrating population to allow for larger areas of wild nature (one of the primary goals of Mollisonian permaculture is to return most land to wild nature).

Most of our population live in cities, so if we're to have a big permacultural impact, permaculturalizing our cities is probably a good idea.

If 3 roommates live in that 3bedroom homestead they each have to bring in less than $3,000 per year.
If a couple/parents + 2.5 kids live in the 3bdrm homestead each 'parent' only needs to bring in $4,200 per year.
This would be the median income, with some making alot more, some homeless with zero income.
Signing up for welfare/dumpster diving/trading can bring that number down for some people, likewise other people might have won the lottery and spend millions per year vs a measly $4,000.

Alot of countries/counties/parishes/etc have such a high avg population density that they really can't go any lower than 2,640 people per sq mile.
I am actually happy that we can stuff people so closely, and get the city crowded lifestyle, while still taking so many home off the grid making them more independent.

I am sure that outside the 7miles by 7miles city limits we will have some farm/farmstead land where you can freely hunt deer from your backyard shooting of dozens rounds, but in the tiny 1acre city lot, just shooting of 1 round will at the very least require some annoying paperwork.

Hopefully you can rear some cows (meat+milk+leather) because the city doesn't have enough land (it is also hard to go on a week long vacation with cows home alone).
If you were to grow hay/grains the tiny city homesteads could probably grow dwarf milk goats. Otherwise we will be importing our milk+beef via amazon prime, lol.

All that said I am still brainstorming, and I would actually LOVE, LOVE to bring the homestead 'import' budget down.
So pretty please share your current budget and or a way how you could bring down that $8,200 budget for the avg/median household of 2parents and 2.5kids or alternatively 3roommates.

I am actually worried that people will have to volunteer/taxed a few hours per week. Volunteer Fireman/MakerSpace Teacher/Sidewalk cleaner.
Even the volunteered/taxed monies of $1000 (25million) seems too low to run this small city government and still send some money to the federal gov for national defense/etc

Jailbirds would actually bring in negative dollars, currently each prisoner cost $50,000 per year vs bringing $500/yr in taxes
Will have to find a way to make them pay for their stay, if not 'volunteer' to give back to the community what they have stolen (physical+emotional).
I am thinking road cleanup, trash processing etc. Hopefully we can just exile them to some other city, we will even pay for the airplane ticket.

Uhm, the city can also run a action-house/market place/craigslist website-app.
Where a consumer can request a Uber ride or homecleaning service or chef or tutor or room/etc. (Time+Date and highest price)
And a consultant/provider can accept/bid on the request and the poster gets to check out past reviews and then accept the 'lowest/best' consultant.
The marketplace/app/city will take a 10% overhead if it cost or nothing if it done for 'free' under the table after a out of app phone call.
Volunteer Tokens-Hours can also be used, but one would have to volunteer to the city before they can pay/trade with volunteer token.
Volunteer Token can be used to get 1st class/express/reduce price service at public and private establishments.

Part of this sorta seems like a good idea, until I try to visualize the block housing on acre lots just going on and on.  No offense, but it sounds pretty boring and land intensive for a housing project.  I would think that having more diversity in housing might be a better fit for creating a city.  

For instance, as an example, instead of having ten houses on ten acres, in some cases, a single block housing unit covering an acre with communal cafeteria or kitchens and common lounge, recreation areas, as well as a single large work-space or education center could house the people who collectively work that ten acres or are studying a certain practice or technique such as medicine or carpentry.  If they were studying something that did not have need of the acreage, then that could free up space to rotate your cattle/livestock systems.

I'm more of a de-urbanization person myself.  I think that instead of large block cities that still need to import a bunch of stuff, we would be far better off creating smaller block cities, or clusters of towns.  There is more nature to learn from, more livestock, more garden space, and more playgrounds and swimming holes.    

I don't think I read anything about how this eco-city was going to gain its electrical power, or how it would produce its wood supply.  How much land is devoted to roads?  What about public transportation?  Where is the water coming from?  Maybe I missed those things in my skimming of the thread.

I really like the idea of punishment for not educating my children.  I needs me a good beating every now and then to sort my brain into the idea of the group-think thang.  ;)  just kidding.   If we are to get all corporal in the city, I would prefer some form of punishment for not utilizing the non-housing portion of the acre lot to produce something of common good/use for the city.  Actually, I would prefer rewards for those who do produce something of common good and no punishment at all.

Please read the 1st two post at the top it answers your questions

A 7mile by 7mile city with 2,560 people per sq mile is very dense for the avg city. (True it is no Manhattan, but it it is similar to the west coast/south west/mid-west).
At home everyone produces their own electricity (solar with backup gen) water-well/roof, septic, food (eggs, chicken, fish, nuts, fruits, bulk carbs, mushroom, vegetables, coppice firewod)
This is not a housing project it is an 'intensive farmstead/homestead'. I agree this is not for everyone.

I dont think it will take 2-5 people working hours on the 1 acre to harvest a few fruits/vegetables once the system is established, 30 minutes each in the morning and or evening should be all that is needed for food production, and regular work/school at the 'space station industrial park' in ones cubicle downtown can still happen.

The city is made up of 39 clusters of towns
each 'town'/sub-division  that is 1 sq mile has the following Work/shopping/educational service space, that you mentioned.
Services Area for every sub-division (4-8acres):
1 Library/MakerSpace (CNC router/3d Printer/etc)
1 Post Office (Dropoff-Pickup Center, Telecom Towers)
1 school (preK-elementary-middle-high-college campus)
1 park/gym  
1 Emergency service (clinic/ambulance, police, firefighter/rescue)
1 church/Emergency Shelter
1 strip mall-services (restaurant, lounge, meeting space, office space, motel, spa)
1 strip mall-goods (retail, garage, electronic, etc)
Service Areas are located at the + intersection of major road/sub-divisions

In Most of Europe, Oceania and the Americas it is already illegal not to send you child to school, so this isn't some new crazy eco-city law instead it is a 'federal/national' law.

I don't want to punish anyone either thus the Volunteer Token system to reward people.
The office/mall/school/space is only 1miles away at most, so a 20min slow walk, 4min e-bike ride away. Not much need for public transit or taxi or the hummer. One is free to Pull out a hummer or call a twxi/uber or ask for home delivery or just use Amazon.
Public transit is available on the major roads.  So it is never more than a 10min walk away (0.5miles)

I'm with Roberto. Some diversity in options would be better. 1 acre lots are large for a city, but small for rural living. Standard suburban plot around here is 1/10 of an acre. New house lots are even smaller. I much prefer denser urban/suburban areas surrounded by rural properties. The key is to match the right people with the right properties.

I agree that alot of people like to live on the pent house floor and so living on a 1acre lot where you have to feed 'dirty' chickens is a big no-no.
That said out of the thousands of settlements in the world this would be pretty unique and I dont think it is any worse than the tried and 'true' current system of living in dense NYC or the desert of Las Vegas and importing food+energy from specialized farm/rural areas/countries.
I don't like the idea that we have abstracted and have no connection to the 'disgusting' dirt we depend on, food we eat, water we drink, waste we produce and have no sense of ownership in the process.
Instead we clunk away at computer/cash register, mindlessly adding users/items/sales or cleaning hard drive/tiolets  

That said this eco-city does have a downtown area on one of the 8 additional squares miles (they are used for roads, airport, high-rise downtown, airport, bus depo, waste management, etc).
Where did these additional 8sq miles/ possible 8 sub-divisions/sub-towns. The city is only 6.25 miles by 6.25miles (25,000 acres), but I made it 7miles by 7miles to accommodate downtown/high-rise, city hall, airport, office space, warehouse, etc.  
 

Why on earth is the airport downtown? Why not an electric express rapid mass transit system that enables you to move the airport outside the city limits?

What of electrified rapid mass transit in this plan? Or does everyone drive, walk, or use a bike?

I like many of the points you've made, S, but taken as an abstraction, it doesn't really help us transform our current urban areas into ecocities. I would like to see some real-world suggestions as to how individuals and all levels of government could act to implement some positive change today, in the current and following election cycles, to get us to that place from the situation we're in right now.

As an example of a problem I see, one acre lots are unheard-of in Toronto. For those of you trying to visualise it, an acre square has a side of 208.71 feet. The lot that my parents' semi-detached house sits on is something like 20' x 120'. This is typical of many urban residential lots in the city, and some are far smaller.

One topic that comes up a lot in conversation with my much better half is the problem of giant condo buildings filled with tiny bachelor condos, completely unsuitable for families. In this context, the family unit, whatever its components or bonds, is the quintessential permacultural unit, and the vast majority of housing is being built not for them, but for single and coupled young professionals who see their dwelling only as investment, where food is stored frozen or ordered in, unpackaged and consumed, and where perhaps a bit of pre-pass-out relaxation occurs.

So one huge current problem I see is condos and the profit motive. Building housing for families rather than investors is, I think, a crucial first step.

The observations made are valid, but only really useful if we're envisioning a startup from scratch. What we need is a path from here to where we seek to go. You're describing the mountain looming over the jungle, and I am suggesting we figure out how to slash a path through the hundreds of kilometres to get to where the mountains are.

Great brainstorm, though. Is there a reason why you didn't discuss mid-rise step-back terrace-form mixed use residential?

-CK

You are right a city of 100,000 isn't big enough to have its own international airport, at most just a flight school/hobbies/ "private airport".
Also the entire city is smaller than Denver airport so there is really no space for a real airport, so I am going to scrap the airport idea.

I am hearing everyone request/feedback loud and clear, and that is to discuss more about what Downtown looks like.
It's about the size of 4 sub-Division (each at 1 sq miles). It has to hold 20,500 people so the population Density will be alot high.
The lots will have to be 1/3 of an acre at best case scenario if we were only going to have house and no biz.
We will however have:
Central Park/Arboretum (Movies @ Park, Music @ Park, Holidays @ Park, Ball Court)
Theater/Art District (Art Gallery, Movie Theater, Spoken Word, Open Market, Museum)
Night Life District (Bar, Restaurant, Club, Lounge, Theater District,
Shopping (Retail Shopping, Food Court, Fast Food Restaurant, Cafe, Street Performers)
Education (College Campus, Financial Aid, Bank, Central Library
Government District (DMV, City Hall, Court House, Law Offices, Farmers Market etc)
Factories District (Maybe some food processing plant?)
Office Space District (Software, Back Office for National Green Company-this is our biggest money maker)
Financial District (Bank, Accountants, Vulture Capitalist)
Transportation District (Greyhound/etc Bus Depo, Public Transit, Rail, Parking, Salt, etc)
Warehouse/Import District (U-Haul, Truck Stop, Warehouse, etc)
Waste Management Area (Composting, Recycle, Solid Waste Incinerator)
Rehab, Homeless Shelter, Prison, Police Headquarter,

Solar Passive-Super Insulation designs and natural ventilation will be needed for building, to cut down on HVAC energy needs.
Centralized Greywater System with a separate Black Water System all tiolets will be low flow 0.2L Vacuum Flush Tiolet
Centralized Fresh Water System - Aquifer Well
Hybrid Solar Electric +Solar Thermal Panels
Solar Thermal for Winter Heating and Summer Air Conditioning
Solar Electric which will provide about 20% of the Electrical Needs
80% of Electric Generation will be Natural Gas powered with Waste heat used as District Heat.

We are going to try and get "green" companies to move their headquaters/backoffice/branch office to our Eco-City Downtown.
Even regular companies can move their "green-division aka R&D" branch to Downtown.
We are going to have some Incubator Spaces (with support system aka money, layers, etc) for startup companies
We are going to create a world-class green/eco university, with each student dropping $50,000 per year in our economy.

I am still not sure how high the building will be, and I dont mind giving one of the existing "sub-division" to the college with say another 20,000 students vs just 2,500 regular residents.

I will have to plan out the Downtown area alot more. But I am glad that I have finally thought of something that we can offer the rest of the "world/nation" that we now "export"
And that is a wonderful R&D/startup space, green-washing PR, hopefully "green" college students, and possible green product manufacturing space.

I still have to figure out how much energy, residential space, factory space and office space is really needed.

Just like in my home the citizens will have quite a few products in their homes, these will be produce in :
A) Private Homestead Workshop
B) Community MakerSpace (Shared/Library Model)
C) Industrialized Manufacturing Factories

Homestead Workshop
(Wooden Baby Toys, 3D Printed/Molded Plastic Toys, Motorized/Arduino Small Toys, Clothing, Furniture, Utensils, E-Bikes)

Community MarkerSpace
(Same as above + peer-review/mentorship/education,

Industrialized Manufacturing Factories
Manufacturing/Fabrication Equipment/Devices
Waste Management/Recycling
Fiber(Animal, Plant, Petro-Chemical), Cloth,
Ore, Smelting, Sheet Metal, Fabrication
Plant, Wood Pulp, Paper
Crude Oil, Plastic
Crude Oil/Ore, Purification, Mixing, Chemicals
Crude Oil/Plants, Organic Compounds
Healthcare Industry (Device, Organic Compounds, Knowledge)
Transportation (Devices, Energy, Road Resurfacing)
Electronics/Toys
Software/Automation
Energy

The city need some feedstock
Ore from mines
Wood from forest
Crude Oil
Power Plant Consumables
Advance/Patented Electronics