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Part of the power of cities is that they balance density and modularity. You don't need an enormous capital outlay to build a city all at once. It can grow an

by nrp 7y ago

Part of the power of cities is that they balance density and modularity. You don't need an enormous capital outlay to build a city all at once. It can grow and shrinks organically at an individual building, street, and transit line level based on the needs of the population and industry, and can update itself piecemeal as new materials and construction techniques come into play. Building an integrated "community dwelling machine" seems to disregard all of that, and the practical reality if it would even have been possible to fund the thing in the 1980's would have been an incredible, outdated, derelict hulk in East St. Louis by 2019.

pontifier 7y ago
When I read the name I envisioned a snake-like high density megastructure with 2 constantly growing and expanding ends. Having a maximum set size requires that the entire thing be planned at once, which could be far more difficult. With constant but semi-unplanned growth, a megastructure like this could slowly wind it's way across the land. I think Bucky liked his domes a bit too much.
topkai22 7y ago
I don’t the modularity is necessarily lost with a mega structure like this- interior remodeling of office, residential, and space happens all the time. As for the updating- East St. Louis had extremely out dated housing stuck in the 1980s when this was proposed and it hasn’t gotten better AFAIK. I think the real problem (outside the aforementioned capital outlay) lies in the issues with the interface with the rest of the world/community. The Arcology is just to self contained and reality isn’t. It’s often hard enough to find locations within a current large office building or complex, it would be even harder inside this concept. That’s really going to limit the retail and service industry inside a mega structure like this. The circle shape is also a problem- circles don’t pack well, so there is a natural stand off are between the Arcology and the rest of the community. Integrating the internal and external transport networks and infrastructure would be darn near impossible.

by nrp 7y ago

pontifier 7y ago

When I read the name I envisioned a snake-like high density megastructure with 2 constantly growing and expanding ends. Having a maximum set size requires that the entire thing be planned at once, which could be far more difficult. With constant but semi-unplanned growth, a megastructure like this could slowly wind it's way across the land. I think Bucky liked his domes a bit too much.

topkai22 7y ago

I don’t the modularity is necessarily lost with a mega structure like this- interior remodeling of office, residential, and space happens all the time. As for the updating- East St. Louis had extremely out dated housing stuck in the 1980s when this was proposed and it hasn’t gotten better AFAIK. I think the real problem (outside the aforementioned capital outlay) lies in the issues with the interface with the rest of the world/community. The Arcology is just to self contained and reality isn’t. It’s often hard enough to find locations within a current large office building or complex, it would be even harder inside this concept. That’s really going to limit the retail and service industry inside a mega structure like this. The circle shape is also a problem- circles don’t pack well, so there is a natural stand off are between the Arcology and the rest of the community. Integrating the internal and external transport networks and infrastructure would be darn near impossible.