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Bill Gates buys land in Arizona to build 'smart city'
- pmoriarty 9y agoDid anyone else just have a flashback to Transcendence? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendence_%282014_film%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendence_%282014_film%29
- stevespang 9y agoOh yeahhhhhh, I want to sell Gates and Belmont their water supply - - - building a supercity in the middle of a desert . . . .
- pixelpoet 9y agoNon-mobile link: http://www.kgw.com/news/bill-gates-buys-big-chunk-of-land-in-arizona-to-build-smart-city/491135744 http://www.kgw.com/news/bill-gates-buys-big-chunk-of-land-in...
- sctb 9y agoThanks, we've updated it from http://www.kgw.com/mobile/article/news/bill-gates-buys-big-chunk-of-land-in-arizona-to-build-smart-city/491135744 http://www.kgw.com/mobile/article/news/bill-gates-buys-big-c....
- inputcoffee 9y agoSidewalk Labs is making Toronto a smart city, and Amazon is presumably going to develop a second HQ. three investment opportunities, folks
- chrisweekly 9y agoWalt Disney World 2.0?
- tspike 9y agoWould love to read an interview about the decision making process. I'm especially interested if sustainability factored in, given Arizona's relationship with water resources.
- inputcoffee 9y agoThey have some of the best solar irradiance. Free energy would solve any water problems.
- retailbuyout 9y ago> Free energy would solve any water problems. Oh really now? I had no idea we could pull water out of our ass for any number of people at any time with free energy!
- inputcoffee 9y agoDesalination
- boznz 9y agoIn Arizona?
- inputcoffee 9y agoYou pump the water from the sea. With free energy. I’m not the first to point this out. There are pages on it. Please google it.
- inputcoffee 9y agohttps://amp.azcentral.com/amp/74412576 https://amp.azcentral.com/amp/74412576
- B1FF_PSUVM 9y ago> pull water out of our ass Feasible, but out of thin air is easier and less disturbing. Places in Arizona seem to have around 40 or 50% average air humidity. And air conditioners are good at getting water out of air.
- mathgeek 9y ago
- notadoc 9y agoOk, and what’s the plan for water? Harvest the monsoon?
- DigitalJack 9y agoWindtraps and deathstills.
- Stubb 9y agoEveryone wears stillsuits.
- jay-anderson 9y agohttps://www.phoenix.gov/waterservices/resourcesconservation/drought-information/climatechange/water-supply-q-a https://www.phoenix.gov/waterservices/resourcesconservation/... - Phoenix has pretty good water management. That said more water conservation measures in general would be good for the southwest.
- klondike_ 9y agoI don't know if he's using this as a proof of concept or if he actually plans on making a functioning city. If it's the latter, I doubt it'll succeed. Ideas for "utopian" planned cities have existed for centuries (Like Walt Disney's original vision for Epcot) but they almost never get built. If they do, they end up being not much more than a novelty before becoming abandoned.
- goatherders 9y agoDisagree. Master planned communities are nothing new. This is the same thing, just with some "celebrity" behind it and 21st century features. I expect to see more and more of this.
- dogruck 9y agoBrazil’s capital, Brasilia, is a massive master planned city. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bras%C3%ADlia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bras%C3%ADlia
- sAuronas 9y agoThis isn’t a “master planned community” in a traditional sense. The intent matters. I worked for KBHome and Toll Brothers. The builder’s intent determines the outcome - Bill Gates didn’t buy that many acres to master-plan a community 45 miles from downtown Phoenix - not with 3500 acres of office space. No, this is something much more. Perspective: CA is expensive. Seattle is expensive. Phx is not... this is a big deal. Perhaps more so than Google in Toronto.
- astrange 9y agoDisney did build a planned neighborhood in Florida in 1996; hasn't been abandoned yet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration,_Florida https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration,_Florida
- tradersam 9y agoNot even close to the idea of what Epcot was suppose to be, though.
- toomuchcredit 9y agoWould be great if he decides to forgo the capital appreciation, with a lease only policy. If this is successful, speculation in property is the disease we'd like to avoid. Otherwise we'd get another property bubble and inflated costs soon enough.
- aorloff 9y agoFantastic. If someone can figure out a better way to implement the constantly dug up and paved infrastructure, early childhood education, and basic services of the modern economy (electricity, internet, water, sewer and maybe gas) that would help everyone in every city.
- hourislate 9y agoBuilding a city in one the most inhospitable parts of the country? Seriously, is it going to be underground? Bobby wasn't kidding when he said Phoenix was "A Monument To Man's Arrogance. He might as well picked a site on the face of the sun.
- mythrwy 9y agoPhoenix is glorious 4 months of the year, tolerable another 4 and downright nasty the remaining 4. Pretty much like many Northern states but with the seasons reversed. (Give me heat over snow and slush any day of the year.)
- jrs235 9y agoYou can only strip down to naked before requiring external means of cooling. To stay warm you can always just add another layer. Which one is more eco-friendly? (Don't get me wrong, I prefer to be warm.)
- mythrwy 9y agoWhile that is technically true people (generally) will heat with some form of combustion. In the desert you can cool quite a bit with evaporation. But then you need water but not all the oil to produce the fuzzy stuff in parkas so... IDK. Complicated formula with lots of inputs. Aside from the environment (or rather, regarding a much more personal environment), people do die from heat in the desert. But it's not common. As long as you have shade and water you'll survive with no protection. On the other hand, a night outside in Minnesota in January is pretty much guaranteed to kill a person without protective gear. (To say nothing of cars sliding off the road in ice storms). I suspect (although don't know) that it requires less energy to make a livable climate in desert summers than northern winters.
- smacktoward 9y agoThe thing about snow and slush is that they both contain water. Lacking water, much of Arizona is not naturally suitable for large-scale human habitation. People can live there in great numbers today only because enormous quantities of industrial effort have been expended to bring water there from the Colorado River (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Arizona_Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Arizona_Project). Lots of other Western communities pull their water from the Colorado too, though -- so many that the river is effectively "over-subscribed," meaning people are pulling more water out of it than nature is putting in. Current projections are that its water levels will drop so low as to provoke serious crises in the communities that depend on it sometime in the 2020s. Until then, though, enjoy the sunshine!
- dcosson 9y agoOdd that there's no mention of mass transit for a sustainable city, just a new freeway connecting it to Phoenix.
- njarboe 9y agoAutomatic electric cars.
- TulliusCicero 9y agoYeah, I'm curious whether land use/transportation model will be urbanist or more the suburban sprawl typical of the region. America is flooded with the latter (particularly for younger cities), not many with the former.
- dcosson 9y agoYeah it will be interesting to see how it plays out. It also doesn't mention anything about clean energy now that I look at it again. If it's just a Phoenix suburb but with really good fiber internet, lenient self-driving car laws, and a bunch of software contracts for the city & county offices, that doesn't seem very interesting. Another thing I just realized is that in my mind a big part of a new experimental "smart city" would be lots of dense, walkable and bike-able, mixed use neighborhoods (and public transit which also kind of requires areas around stations to be walkable). But it's way too hot to be outside for much of the year in that part of the country.
- UncleEntity 9y agoThe new freeway is supposed to connect Phoenix to Vegas, the site is already next to the I-10. They could push a train of some sort (like the planned one from Phoenix to Tucson) or the metro light rail out that far, dunno?
- adanto6840 9y agoInteresting & unique -- lots of thoughts go through my mind. I'm very curious to hear what transportation model/thinking, (if any[thing unique]), is used. It's not something I'm aware of him weighing in on (ie hyperloop vs rail vs autonomous, etc).
- saosebastiao 9y agoIn Arizona? They're off to a bad start.
- paulddraper 9y agoHow so? They don't have to worry about snow, land is reasonably cheap. Not much water but this isn't a farm.
- saosebastiao 9y agoEven in the current state, it’s not sustainable due to the water situation. Arizona is already fighting with Nevada and Southern California over the water supply of a single lake. And it’s only going to get worse.
- nirv 9y agoNo longer[1]. [1] https://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Omniprocessor-From-Poop-to-Potable https://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Omniprocessor-From-Po...
- snarfy 9y agoThis isn't something that will be solved with technology. Water treatment plants already turn poop into water. Unsurprisingly, Phoenix AZ has one of the highest levels in the world of toilet paper particulates in the water, due to how much treated water is reused.
- gallerdude 9y agoI've always been infinitely curious about how Walt Disney's original vision for Epcot would've turned out. I'll be watching this with interest.
- ronilan 9y agoCelebration, Florida? Disney CEO Michael Eisner took an especially keen interest in the development of the new town in the early days, encouraging the executives at Disney Development Company to "make history" and develop a town worthy of the Disney brand and legacy that extended to Walt Disney's vision of an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration,_Florida https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration,_Florida
- MentallyRetired 9y agoI'm literally typing this from Celebration, FL, where I live. Disney doesn't own the place, they just put forth the planning. They do retain some land in the area through various sub-companies, though.
- silverlight 9y agoDo you enjoy living there overall? My wife and I have talked about moving there sometimes. We have two boys 4 and 6 and like the idea of a close knit community, walking to parks, etc.
- clydethefrog 9y ago"The well-intentioned hope to recreate some version of America’s past has been defeated by the country’s present. The parks, pools and playgrounds in Celebration belong to the residents’ association and are off-limits to non-residents. Sitting on a park bench is considered trespassing. Residents complain about tourists peeking over their fences or the thousands of children from neighbouring areas who descend on them at Halloween. Celebration was founded by Disney on the principle of openness—the school and utilities are public, and the county sheriff’s office provides police patrols. Yet it has become a gated community, just without the gates." https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21712156-utopia-i-4-what-disneys-city-future-built-look-past-says-about https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21712156-utopia...
- gervase 9y agoOne thing that I haven't seen discussed, but I think is something that may be a factor in the site selection, is the future of online presence. Specifically, I think it's plausible that advancements in VR over the next 20 years will drastically enhance the ability of people to work remotely; I believe that was one of the justifications provided by Facebook for their purchase of Oculus, and may also be one of the reasons behind Microsoft's push into "Mixed Reality". A major factor for housing desirability currently is its physical proximity to jobs (SF, NYC, etc.); this could be a way to hedge a bet against that trend. And at $80M, it's really not a huge investment in the grand scheme of things. The biggest question is if VR can bridge the "uncanny valley" of video chat and other current technologies, and make virtual interaction/communication as seamless as in-person communication (or at least, within some acceptable margin). If you're going to be sitting in what's essentially an air-conditioned VR cocoon for 8-10 hours a day, it probably doesn't matter where that's located, provided that the infrastructure is good. Since infrastructure seems to be one of the stated priorities, it could serve as a prototype for a "virtual outpost".
- matt4077 9y agoOne thing that I haven't seen discussed, but I think is something that may be a factor in your comment is that you have lost all that is human within you. Why would we need prototypes for a "virtual outpost"? If you want to connect your spine to your company's backbone, fine. But you can do that anywhere, right? That's the point, isn't it? Then why do it in the middle of the desert? We already have these "virtual outposts". They're called "city". Or "town". It's where people "live" and have fun, "with some acceptable margin".
- Turing_Machine 9y ago>Then why do it in the middle of the desert? Because land in the desert is cheap. > They're called "city". Or "town". It's where people "live" and have fun, "with some acceptable margin". Some people hate "cities" and don't think being forced to be in one is "living" or any kind of "fun".
- 9y ago
- future1979 9y agoSmart city ... no traffic, affordable houses, public transit
- cjcenizal 9y agoFunny coincidence, but this is the same region where Paolo Soleri founded Arcosanti [1], another attempt at a utopian city. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcosanti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcosanti
- dogruck 9y agoSorta. Arcosanti is north of Phoenix, half way to Flagstaff. Belmont is west of Phoenix.
- PostOnce 9y agoEveryone here is so optimistic; no one is talking about a dystopia in which one man owns everything. Obviously planned experimental cities ala Disney are cool, and interesting to think about, and perhaps beneficial, but it's worth playing devil's advocate anyway. We used to have butchers and bakers and vegetable-sellers and dry goods stores, then we had supermarkets, and they employed cashiers and truck-drivers and shelf-stockers. Now we've got supermarkets with self-checkouts, robot price checkers, soon shelf stockers, and sooner still self-driving trucks. One guy owns the warehouse, the supermarket, and the trucks, and employs, essentially, no one. Now, imagine a city owned by one man, you rent your house from him, buy from his stores, work in his factory, and let his cars drive you around. Just because things could work out well doesn't mean they will.
- xor1 9y agoIrvine is the closest thing to this that I can imagine in the modern-day US. Seems to be working out...
- PostOnce 9y agoThere have been benevolent dictators, it does not mean subsequent dictators will also be? Should we not be wary?
- sbmassey 9y agoAs long as people are free to leave, I wouldn't worry about it. If Gates' plans include a large wall, or making it into a single employer 'company town' type thing, that might be an issue.
- PostOnce 9y agoBeing legally free to leave may not mean you're also financially free to do so. In a hypothetical designed dystopia, your wages and employment would be such that you couldn't afford to leave the machine that makes the designer rich. For example, you wouldn't make enough to save more than $5/week, the rest would have been spent on food and power and rent. So, if you missed a weeks work you'd miss a weeks rent. You'd have nothing in the bank to travel to an out-of-town interview. Just a theory I don't expect to happen any time soon, but an interesting thought exercise when a billionaire buys a town.
- matt4077 9y agoRonald Schott, executive emeritus at the Arizona Technology Council, says the land Gates' company purchased is in a good spot, in part due to the proposed I-11 freeway, which would run right through Belmont and connect to Las Vegas. That sentence is such a grandiosely engineered testament to everything that's wrong with urban planning in the US. Bill Gates has done excellent things (after Windows). And this executive emeritus (aka pensioner) isn't connected to the project, and his point, if interpreted with good will, isn't actually wrong. But still: could there be anything more uninspiring than that sentence?
- wmccullough 9y agoIt would be swell if folks in this thread could stop pretending Bill Gates is a moron. I mean seriously, I swear folks with no real experience feel the need to chime in and pretend their ignorance is as good as everyone else’s intelligence.
- soperj 9y agoI guess you start seeing what he's done to education in the U.S, and you make your own judgment.
- bsamuels 9y agowhat precisely has he done to education in the US that makes you doubt him?
- sametmax 9y agoIt doesn't mean he is dumb. It just mean his agenda is not to help people but personal gain. Gates has been engaged in a massive PR campaign on a lot of websites to gain some kind of stairway to heaven for a few years now. You'll find than, while in the 90' we all were strongly shocked by how he managed a company so powerful, and yet engaged in lying, cheating and corrupting institutions. But today you have many supporters claiming he is an awesome person with all his humanitarian work, publicized by social media with quite precise targeting. It seems you can get away with hitting somebody in the face and stealing his money if you come back later with pictures of all the cats you are saving. So no. Not dumb.
- icantdrive55 9y agoIt would be swell if we didn't assume people are geniuses because they make, basically one terrific/diabolical business decision? A business decision we all paid for. If Gates didn't make that one business move, he would be a footnote in history. And fair is fair--Melinda must be a genius, along with all those Trump kids. Let's stop calling them geniuses. They are good at business.
- chiefofgxbxl 9y agoReading more about Disney's EPCOT is quite inspiring and almost felt ahead of its time. We Americans should experiment more and build towns and cities under a different set of assumptions other than cars and gasoline. Why hasn't the past half century been filled with at least trying new things? What happened to laboratories of democracy? Although I admit I have a slight repulsion to the thought of a few billionaires being able to wield almost complete autonomy, and assuredly the tech billionaires have a vested interest to build these cities such that the inhabitants depend on their technology (e.g. what would happen if Google built a city, and look how convenient it is that the ISP is Google Fiber, with Google self-driving cars servicing the roads, etc.). In any case, I wish any effort to re-think how we build towns and cities the best of luck, because it feels like to me we've been grasping this (failing) strategy of car-addiction for far too long now, and it's draining our society financially, environmentally, and socially.
- retailbuyout 9y agoWell, if history does repeat itself, we’re due for company towns and only a decade out from rampant abuse.
- sliverstorm 9y agoThey're back already in the oil fields.
- Casseres 9y agoThat's the idea behind the Seasteading Institute - to experiment with news ways of governance.
- erikpukinskis 9y agoExcept a) the federal government actually doesn’t really interfere much with governance at all, and b) floating on seawater makes almost everything 10x harder. Which means seasteading is pointless unless you are doing something the federal government really doesn’t like. 90% of problematic regulations are city rules, and another 9% are county level, which means most people can just move to a different city and be completely free to experiment with whatever governance they want, and another 9% will need to switch counties, but only 1% at most need to be on a boat. And frankly many of those are actually anti-social people who aren’t experimenting with governance, they’re incompatible with it.
- WalterBright 9y agoSun City is another planned community in Arizona. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_City,_Arizona https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_City,_Arizona
- raides 9y agoTony Stark already did this.
- milofeynman 9y agoI felt like Amazon should do this with their new headquarters. I'm sure the cost is too high, but instead of making one of our crowded cities even worse they could try building a city/suburb. Build it 45 minutes outside of a current city so you could still rely on airports and other necessities until you could build your own. With global warming, I probably wouldn't have chosen Arizona though.
- VeejayRampay 9y agoMaybe the thinking is that the sun down there will provide cheap energy on the long run (solar, batteries, etc).
- justinv 9y agoI was thinking about this the other day at work (at Amazon) - there would be such an incredible array of opportunities by starting to build a city from scratch. I think it would be really different from cities that we know today and there would be a big opportunity to experiment with urban planning. But anyways - I doubt this is even minutely likely. Cool thought experiment nonetheless.
- thisisit 9y agoOne of Bill Gates' investment firms has spent $80 million to kickstart the development of a brand-new community in the far West Valley. The large plot of land is about 45 minutes west of downtown Phoenix off I-10 near Tonopah. The proposed community, made up of close to 25,000 acres of land, is called Belmont. According to Belmont Partners, a real estate investment group based in Arizona, the goal is to turn the land into its own "smart city." Belmont Partners seem to be pushing the "smart city" angle but they are not one of the aforementioned Bill Gates' investment firm. So it's only second hand knowledge? Much more toned down story on the land acquisition here: http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/real-estate/catherine-reagor/2017/11/08/bill-gates-cascade-invests-belmont-real-estate-development-near-phoenix/842280001/ http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/real-estate/catherine-r...
- tghw 9y agoFor those who don't want a giant photo of Bill Gates because the link is to the mobile version: http://www.kgw.com/news/bill-gates-buys-big-chunk-of-land-in-arizona-to-build-smart-city/491135744 http://www.kgw.com/news/bill-gates-buys-big-chunk-of-land-in...
- m3kw9 9y agoCould this be Gates undoing? There is so much variables that can rack up costs, let alone red tapes and fraudsters
- mythrwy 9y ago1) Bill Gates has been around the block a time or two. He's not a fool by any stretch of imagination. 2) It would take and awfully lot of red tape and fraudsters to undo what he has amassed.
- jumpkickhit 9y agoIf there's fiber optic internet with no caps, i'm sold.
- notyourwork 9y agoThat exists in lots of cities already.
- Phanyxx 9y ago"The large plot of land is about 45 minutes west of downtown Phoenix off I-10 near Tonopah." More like Smart Exurb?
- dclowd9901 9y agoJeez, that’s right near where my family lives, and I wouldn’t call it _that_ remote.
- TulliusCicero 9y agoSee, as an urbanist, I still think this could be cool if they included a rail link to downtown Phoenix in the design. But that's, uh, probably not realistic, which means freeways, which means the town itself will probably just use the typical suburban sprawl model typical of Phoenix and its suburbs.
- oldgun 9y agoIs it going to spy on its citizens with all the 'smart' devices? Given Microsoft's record of protecting user privacy I guess I probably won't be wanting to move there very soon.
- wav-part 9y agoMore informative and most likely original source article : https://brewaz.com/hot-news/bill-gates-entity-invests-80-million-to-buy-controlling-interest-in-belmont-project/ https://brewaz.com/hot-news/bill-gates-entity-invests-80-mil...
- arca_vorago 9y agoI don't want to live in a smart city not built on foss. The surveillance and other dystopian issues that are going to come from someone like Gates making a smart city send shivers up my spine. I do wonder though, now he is being more philanthropic, if he would consider allowing his city to be more foss friendly at least, or is he still married to the MS platform? My guess would say the latter but I don't know that.
- ChuckMcM 9y agoNot a lot of information in the article. And apparently Ron Schott didn't realize Biosphere 2 was pretty technological :-). I wish however he would also consider how we can build a village that has a reasonably self sustained ecosystem so that people who no longer can function in a "tech city" would have a place to live that would be supportive.
- ashnehete 9y agoHow much ever we talk about the engineering and technological aspects of this. I think this project still warrants a discussion into the intricacies of the human psychology that goes behind a city/township. Basically, the UI/UX of this whole project.
- sysdyne 9y agoWouldn't have been better if he just gaved money to upgrade a city? Yeah, a lot of bureaucracy but look to other "planned" smart cities! Millions of wasted moneys in some ghost towns, not to mention the ecological effects it has. I'm disappointed in Bill Gates. I though he was better than this. Sure if it's a just a little town it might work and get some profit out of it but i though he was more of a philanthropist, now at his age.
- iwintermute 9y agoSo you don't think he's aware of previous attempts?)
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- Iv 9y agoOh and some other rich guy (crown Prince of Saudi Arabia) announced NEOM, a plan for a sustainable, connected and automated city in which he will invest 500 BILLIONS (not a typo, Google it). Of which 93 are scheduled for R&D in a fund comanaged with Softbank. But yes, this bill gates thing is nice too...
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- 11thEarlOfMar 9y agoI've recently been considering exactly the opposite. A place where I can take a 'technology vacation'. Perhaps extended. Most HNers probably couldn't comprehend a world without Internet-connected wireless computers, but in that time, one could actually think for hours about a single idea, concept, design, desire or plan without interruption. Or one could just read a book cover to cover. Sure, just 'turn your smartphone off', but just knowing that so much information is flowing through it and that something you may 'need to know' might transpire while you've got it powered off makes it a bit like withdrawal. Let's build a 'quiet place' we can share with friends and family that is completely unplugged, with one landline phone downstairs in the hall, a newspaper on the porch in the morning, and a library full of books we've always meant to read.... It would be like re-charging your brain from the attenuation of interruption.
- codingdave 9y agoI don't think quiet places need to be built. They already exist, in the deserts, mountains, and forests. You just need to take the time to leave home and go there.
- adrianN 9y agoHave you considered hiking?
- EastLondonCoder 9y agoIt’s a very good idea, the restorative effects on taking a break from modern life has been practiced a long time in Scandinavia. Both my brother and my father has tech intensive stressful jobs in healthcare and keeps their minds by hiking, cycling, skiing and kayaking. These types of activities or relationship with nature does have a term called friluftsliv. Personally I think the effects are similar to meditation when you are on a long hike. https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/blogs/how-friluftsliv-can-help-you-reconnect-with-nature https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/blogs...
- closeparen 9y agoI have a hard time doing these things without a car. Being able to reach a nature site/park/recreation area on public transit with a huge group of people makes it feel like just an extension of the city and city life. You’re surrounded by a mob of people with their phone cameras out, even if you don’t have yours. How do countries without mass car ownership pull this off?
- pcarolan 9y agoThe decision to do this in Arizona seems odd out the gate. Depending on water from the Colorado is immediately net negative sustainable.
- masklinn 9y ago> The decision to do this in Arizona seems odd out the gate. Desert land is plentiful and cheap.
- fastball 9y agoIt's a "smart city", not a sustainable city. Not the same thing. From the article: Belmont will create a forward-thinking community with a communication and infrastructure spine that embraces cutting-edge technology, designed around high-speed digital networks, data centers, new manufacturing technologies and distribution models, autonomous vehicles and autonomous logistics hubs
- pcarolan 9y agoI would argue you can't call something smart if it isn't sustainable.
- fastball 9y agoOk, but that's not really how anyone is currently using the phrase "smart _____". Smart watches are usually not solar powered. Neither are smart phones. Neither are smart homes. Neither is your smart TV. You get the idea. How about if we have sustainable cities, smart cities, and "intelligent cities", the last of which encompasses the previous two.
- mkhpalm 9y agoPhoenix is mainly supported by the Salt, Verde, and Gila Rivers. not the Colorado. It gets some from the Colorado via canals but most of that water supports emerald valley through to LA via Aquifer. There is quite a bit of water in the valley which is why it was traditionally used for agriculture before electricity and A/C came to the area. (many growing seasons) I think historically it was a major source of alfalfa until Phoenix grew and took over all that farm land with city.
- jhiska 9y agoIt's no longer enough to build some buildings; now they have to be "smart" somehow. It's like my headphones that promise me to "take you places", but my travel agency -- which actually takes me to places -- promises me to "take you into your dreams."
- johnohara 9y agoI'd call it "smart," but not in the technical sense. First, the Central Arizona Project borders to the north, providing good access to water before it reaches Phoenix. Second, it would have access to some of the best solar energy concentrations per meter squared of anywhere on the planet including the Sahara Desert. Agua Caliente is just to the southwest, north of I-8. Third, close proximity to 345-500 kva transmission lines just to its west and presumably access to the main natural gas pipelines that run through on their way to Phoenix. Fourth, open access to I-10 running from L.A. to Jacksonville, FL. and the added bonus of the I-11 corridor which is just getting started to the east (the 303) intending to run from Mexico to Canada. Fifth, a clean slate land-wise to build whatever you'd like. This is a carefully crafted, well researched, and for anyone who's been to the west valley lately, easily envisioned, project to be completed over the next fifteen years. Interesting idea Bill.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- Samahaly 9y agoNot sure if this for personal gain or for charity but others are trying with the same idea too. "This comes after Sidewalk Labs- a company owned by Google- has lately announced its intention to build a future city in Toronto, Canada. On the other side of the world, another smart city, called ‘Songdo’, has already been built in South Korea." Source: https://www.arch2o.com/bill-gates-new-technological-city/ https://www.arch2o.com/bill-gates-new-technological-city/