Oicopolis (schools, architect, population, park)

[CAllenDoudna]

I would like to suggest what I call the "oicopolis". It has some other name that I can't remember so can't look it up, but "oikos" is Greek for "house" and "polis" is Greek for "city" and the idea is an entire city in one building. Imagine a tower that measures four blocks by four blocks and is half a mile (a kilometer) or more high.

Every 100 feet (30 meters) is a balcony half a block wide going around the tower. Everything in a residential area would fit on that half-block balcony even as it now fits from the street to the alley: All our homes and apartments would fit there. The street and front yard would be near the tower. The back yard would look outward away from the tower. Each corner would be a park. Inside the tower would be malls, shopping centers, office buildings, churches, schools, hospitals, hotels, police, fire, sports fields, and factories.

A city bond issue would pay only for building the shell of the tower along with providing utilities. Developpers would then buy lots on the balconies and in the tower and build on them as they do now, paying a base price that covers the bond issue. Construction of homes and businesses would proceed as they do now. The balconies would hold a population 3-5 times greater now living in the 16 blocks the oicopolis would cover and they would live in what would amount to suburbia but in the heart of the city.

[nybbler]

Usual name is "arcology".

[wburg]

Look at the ideas of architect Paolo Soleri:

Arcosanti - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia