Land Use

One of the main concepts for Future City Now is that of reserving more natural land and building up and down (instead of sideways). Just as cities presently fight to use a limited amount of space and start building skyscrapers and basments as an afterthought, we need to do this intentionally from the beginning. I even think that small towns should build taller buildings and use more underground space instead of sprawling as quickly and as far as possible until there is no more room or until people choose congregate in a central location.



I envision large, self contained skyscrapers poking up out of a wilderness of trees at their feet, connected underground and through the air with suspended rail systems. The wilderness at the bases will hold walking/running trails and other recreational features and will no longer be clogged with roads, highways, or powerlines. No motorized vehicles will be allowed outside of the manmade structures.



Bill Gates's house in Washington is a good example. I have not seen the blueprints but have read about the concept as I have described above. He built modest buildings spaced throughout his property while retaining much of the wilderness. His buildings are instead connected underground.



Until this transformation is complete, we can start covering existing highways. Think of all of the 12 lane highways you've seen and how much of that is wasted space. We can build on top of them, here and there, to create parks, golf courses, or other recreational places. They will not need to be full-fledged tunnels, but just portions of the highway will run under large covers. One example that comes to mind is the tunnel through Mercer Island in Seattle, Washington. While that is a tunnel, I am just pointing it out as and example of what we can do. There must be many others.



Between the highways and rooftops in the world, it is unbelievable how much wasted space we are throwing away!



Please post pictures or comments of this type of building over existing highways that you know of or have seen.