A New Sustainable City For 5 Million To Be Built ‘From Scratch’ In US Desert
Image via City of Telosa
Prominent Danish architect Bjarke Ingels is in the process of master-planning a brand-new city to be built from the ground up in the US desert to fulfill a vision of entrepreneur Marc Lore.
Lore’s idea stems from returning unused land to the community, reports Dezeen, after its value increased over time. Its worth would be able to fund the city and its residents through its development.
“Land could essentially go from a barren piece of desert to a modern-day city worth billions,” the entrepreneur states. “It got me asking even more questions and thinking about a potential solution. What if that land had been owned by a community endowment? What if you took that land appreciation and gave it back to the community since they created the value?”
Image via City of Telosa
Ingels’ architecture studio Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) announced the city’s name, Telosa, on Wednesday. It’s going to sit on a currently empty 150,000-acre site in potential locations such as Nevada or Idaho, and become home to a population of 50,000 by 2030.
In the next four decades, however, the number is projected to grow to five million.
Its goal is to “create a new city in America that sets a global standard for urban living” while becoming a “blueprint for future generations.” Living there, the website claims, will “expand human potential.”
Because it’s about to be built entirely from scratch, the city will be able to become “the most sustainable” in the world, Lore says. This includes eco-friendly building materials being used across the architecture of the city, and autonomous electric vehicles and aircraft.
“Telosa’s streets prioritize bikes and pedestrians,” the city declares. “Slow-moving autonomous cars safely share the street with people and nature.”
Image via City of Telosa
Cities today, the company laments, aren’t inclusive, fair, open, or sustainable. It cites housing shortage, water scarcity, and a lack of government transparency as some of the problems that residents currently face.
Telosa’s model, therefore, appears to be a sustainably-built haven of openness, fairness, and inclusivity for modern mankind.
However, the project is insisting that this isn’t the case. “We are absolutely not attempting to create a utopia,” it states, adding that it still has sights on what’s “realistic.”
A huge viewing tower is also planned for a centerpiece, shown in the renderings of the city thus far. Named Equitism, it is envisioned to be “a beacon for the City” and will hopefully be able to “bring visitors and residents together.”
Today, Bloomberg @business revealed @CityofTelosa: a vision of @BjarkeIngels and @MarcLore for a new city in America that sets a global standard for urban living, expands human potential, and becomes a blueprint for future generations. Learn more here: https://t.co/VD4tpZSgtf pic.twitter.com/lvPXkuWiMH
— BIG (@BIGstertweets) September 1, 2021
As BIG states, the “fertile overlap between pragmatic and utopia” will allow architects to develop “the surface of our planet” and adapt their design to “better fit contemporary life forms.”
[via Dezeen, images via City of Telosa]
Also check out these recent news
