The Venus Project: part 2

Written by Sandor Stockfleth

Saturday, November 8th 2008

Jacque Fresco's vision for the future may seem far fetched, but we are, in fact, capable of most of his dreams. We currently have the resources and knowledge to build one of the cities he has painstakingly designed all it takes is the commitment to see it through. The fact of the matter is that we need alternatives to the current model of wasteful, haphazard design that is nowhere near conducive to creating any kind of communication within the community.

Imagine a city that is dedicated, through design, to providing for the needs of all of its inhabitants. Fresco's idea is that of a circular city, which houses a main nervous system in its center. This central monolithic structure accommodates facilities providing services such as health care and education. Surrounding this central hub, which Fresco has designated to be a large dome, are eight smaller domes that offer conference centers, science centers, art galleries, music halls, and numerous types of entertainment, which all work together to keep the city running efficiently. Encircling these two inner circles are research facilities and apartments. Then, keeping with the circular design, follows a ring of recreation areas and beyond that is a ring for a low-density residential area. The agricultural ring would be on the outside of the residential area and it is surrounded by an irrigation ring. Parks, golf courses, and the surrounding rural and wild areas are then left to encompass this circular city of concentric civilization . A series of conveyors and other automated transportation systems then connect the different rings of the city each other.

center for design The agricultural ring is setup to be as automated as possible, like much of the city Fresco wants to see repetitive jobs phased out of the human workforce: "We feel machines ought to do the filthy or repetitious jobs or the boring jobs, that man has to be free to do the higher things, [to attain] the higher possibilities of man."

The low-density residential area is designed so that one cannot see one house from another and is surrounded by ponds, small paths, and engendered landscaping to provide a maximum amount of shelter while also mitigating temperature fluctuations.

The houses, in particular, provide for their residents' needs. Each residential structure is under a small amount of constant pressure in order to keep dust and pollutants out of the house. Fresco's bathroom is a single piece of molded polymer and it recycles the water used in the sink for toilet-flushing. And each building is complete with sensors, which monitor everything from temperature to humidity inside it. Already we see that, while Jacque Fresco's vision for the future may seem far fetched, we are capable of erecting this kind of city again, all it will take is a commitment to do so.

home styles Within Fresco's cities are schools for people of all ages. He envisions constant self-research, with aims to improve each aspect of a city's structure, the results of which are then used in teaching others. Technologies that do nothing to improve human lives are, after all, not worth anything, especially when, as Fresco argues, "all people need clean air, clean water, and arable land." We can use such technologies to provide these basic rights for everyone.Â

I honestly believe we, as a society, are capable of creating and maintaining cities such as Fresco imagines them, and the time to start is now. We need to set an example, to prove that people can live this way and live this way well. To do so, however, we need to build a city. Of course, as the first of its kind, it will not be perfect, but it will serve as a prototype. In undertaking such an endeavor, there are almost too many things to count that need doing, but the number one concern is this: obtaining a property for its development. I have estimated that such a property much be at least one square kilometer a lot of land, true, but not when we consider that it is designed to accommodate over five thousand people. With rising housing costs and the economy failing as it is, now is the perfect time to abandon the failing edifices of yesterday and step into the future with a bold step and to meny cities decree that "we will live in a way the helps all those around us, and yet to come!"