Urbanism in Mars colonization (freeways, issues, Walmart, park)

[Asderfut]

The potential colonization of Mars seems like it's been in the news lately, so I felt that the best thing to do is to open up the discussion on whether or not density is necessary for walkability.

I'm joking of course. What I'm really interested in is a discussion of how the built environment will come to be in an environment with unforgiving conditions and incredibly scarce resources.

Will there be isolated compounds? Clusters of them? Arcologies? Biomes? Earth-style urban forms? Will rural areas ever develop? Please share your thoughts.

[Bunjee]

Originally Posted by Asderfut

The potential colonization of Mars seems like it's been in the news lately, so I felt that the best thing to do is to open up the discussion on whether or not density is necessary for walkability.

I'm joking of course. What I'm really interested in is a discussion of how the built environment will come to be in an environment with unforgiving conditions and incredibly scarce resources.

Will there be isolated compounds? Clusters of them? Arcologies? Biomes? Earth-style urban forms? Will rural areas ever develop? Please share your thoughts.

Sure, I'll bite. I think the lower gravity would necessitate artificial gravity, like the spinning space stations in 2001: A Space Odyssey. That means environments would have to be small. Travelling from spinning pod to spinning pod would be a chore. Physical effects of lower gravity would still take their toll on the human skeletal and circulatory systems, and organs, so it would be a lifetime of constant specialized physical exercise.

Food would be the other survival activity, and perhaps the "farms" would be the only non-spinning modules. Therefore they'd be bigger as plants that adapt to zero gravity would have been developed. Some kind of algae. Social activities would revolve around the food modules since they're the only places large enough for communal gatherings.

Even reproduction would be risky. How could a healthy child develop in such low gravity? Though sexual activity loses reproductive consequences, I envision a very solitary, ascetic lifestyle.

[OuttaTheLouBurbs]

Obviously everything would have to be meticulously planned in order for any such colony to survive. They wouldn't pop up spontaneously like settlements on Earth; our cities here have all been constructed piece-by-piece over time in a hodge-podge manner. Mars colonies would contrast in that every single part of them would be planned from the start, and would be more rigidly planned and less adaptable than their Earth counterparts.

[Katarina Witt]

I do think these issues should be resolved soon!

[NorthStarDelight]

I've given a bit of thought about this subject, as I think it's important for humans to settle on other planets someday, so all the eggs aren't in one basket, so to speak.

However, to have a successful settlement on Mars, people would have to tackle the issue of economics, as Earth-style economics simply won't work on Mars. There's no way you could have a homeless or criminal class on Mars, as space would be at a serious premium, and I hate to think they'd be shoving people out the airlock because they couldn't pay the rent.

Rather than creating a free-for-all, libertarian"paradise" that many might dream of, a Martian colony would have to be more or less communist in nature, to ensure everyone enjoys the same standard of living and does their part to keep the community functioning. Granted, you'd start off with a society composed of 100% highly intelligent, ambitious individuals who will each do their part to keep the community going, so hopefully this kind of system would work. To keep the cycle going in the following generations, children would have to be genetically engineered to ensure they're just as intelligent and ambitious (and emotionally stable...lol) as their parents, as well as making sure no psychopaths are allowed to be born and grow up. After all, it only takes one nut with a grudge to punch a hole in the dome, and psst, all the air is gone and everyone dies.

So yes, you would have to have a very tightly-knit society of highly conformist individuals who put the common good ahead of their own, 100% of the time in order to make a Martian settlement work. Mars will NOT be a place for freedom-seeking, individualist types, that's for certain...lol.

Are humans ready to settle on the Red Planet? Not yet, in my opinion. A hundred, perhaps 150 years from now, maybe.

[cisco kid]

Mars won't be habitable anytime soon, but there could be other earth-like planets in the galaxy that are. But I don't know if I would want to see humans colonizing any of them. Because we would probably end up paving them over with Walmart strip malls, car-choked freeways and parking lots, etc. And these planets would end up meeting the same fate as earth.