Cities that think

It would be far easier and would require less energy to build new, efficient cities than to attempt to update and solve the problems of the old ones. The Venus Project proposes a city that would use the most sophisticated available resources and construction techniques. Its geometrically elegant and efficient circular arrangement will be designed to operate with the minimum expenditure of energy using the cleanest technology available in harmony with nature to obtain the highest possible standard of living for everyone.

The outer perimeters of the circular city will provide recreational facilities such as golfing, bike paths, and riding or hiking trails. There will be a circular waterway surrounding the agricultural belt, which will be supplied with indigenous plants that will remove contaminants and harmful bacteria from the water. The agricultural belt, with its transparent, enclosed buildings will be used to grow a wide variety of plants in a controlled environment without the use of pesticides. There will be eight sectors to provide and store clean, renewable enefgy through the use of wind generators, heat concentrating systems, and photovoltaics. In addition, readways, walkways, and bicycle paths will be specially designed to collect and store radiant energy from the sun, which will then be used for heating or cooling through a process similar to the "Peltier Effect." Along the edges of the roadways will be removable sections or gratings to permit new installations and upgrades without damaging the roads each time a new installation is made.

The residential belt will be beautifully landscaped featuring lakes and winding streams, and homes will be biomorphous with graceful contours influenced by nature to blend in with the landscape. A wide variety of innovative architectural designs will reflect the diversity and the preferences of the occupants. The exterior surfaces of these homes will be thermally activated so that the warmer it gets on the outside, the cooler it can become on the inside at a rate that is regulated by the occupant. The buildings will be prefabricated with a new type of foam-reinforced material that is strong and light-weight. Their heat-reflective external surface will be relatively maintenance-free, impervious to weather, and fire resistant. Insects will be repelled by sonic and other electronic means. With this type of construction there will be minimal damage from earthquakes, hurricanes, and fires.

Adjacent to the residential district will be the dining areas where one can find a wide selection of food, much of which will be organically grown. Next will be the apartments, design centers, and research labs. The eight domes surrounding the central dome will house the library, science, art, music, research, exhibition, entertainment, and conference centers. There will also be "access centers" where one will have access to a wide variety of products such as cameras, waterskis, recording equipment, boats, etc. in a manner similar to the public library. The only requirements necessary to obtain these items would be to familiarize oneself with the necessary information for the products' safe and proper use.

One of the major reasonsfor this energy efficient new social design is to allocate enough resources to meet the needs of all people so that there will always be more than enough equipment available at any time. The central dome, or "theme center", will house the core of the cybernated system, educational facilities, shopping centers, computerized communications networking systems, health-care, and child-care facilities.