The Advantages Of Compact City
Compact City - Elimination Of Urban Sprawl - Flexible Construction - Automatic Deliveries - Airconditioning - Easy Recycling - Low / No Congestion

Compact City

1. Eliminates many of the inconveniences related to urban size.

2. Makes it possible to build a modern, convenient metropolis in a natural setting at a low cost, indeed, at costs which can be largely financed out of the savings now spent on transportation in present-day cities, for example, on vehicles, accidents, roads, parking facilities, and gasoline.

3. Saves money. The cost for housing plus transportation for people with a moderate standard of living would be 25 percent less in Compact City than in present-day cities and would result in superior housing and transportation. The cost for good housing and transportation for Compact City would run about 30 percent more than what people with a low standard of living are presently having to pay for poor housing plus poor transportation. For people presently enjoying a high standard of living, Compact City would cost 50 percent less for comparable housing and superior transportation. Moreover, the expenditures for building Compact City represent a re-channeling of investments rather than a new burden. The cost of its construction weighed against the costs of further construction and renewal in today's cities shows that it may be a better bargain.

4. Conserves the use of time. From one to three hours of time spent by wage earners in travel could be saved each day. Assuming 250 working days and $3.50 per hour wages, this amounts to a saving of from half a billion to one-and-a-half billion of lost time each year in a city of 600,000 wage earners. It is a potential portal-to-portal income bonus of between 12 to 36 percent. Mothers would no longer have to spend their time chauffeuring children. Distances will be short and free from danger of accidents.

5. Saves lives. About 500 loves would be saved from death on highways and 6,000 accidents would be avoided each year in Compact City as compared to a present day city, assuming both have 2,000,000 inhabitants. It would no longer be necessary to fence in yards or to engage in chauffeuring in order to protect children fro being run over by cars.

6. Conserves the use of land. The city at maximum size could be built on less than nine square miles of land, whereas a comparable conventional city would require 178 square miles. The 170 square miles or so thus freed for use as farms or recreational areas would be within ten minutes distance of all the inhabitants of Compact City. Calculated at $1 per square foot, about $5 billion worth of land would be permanently preserved.

7. Makes it possible to locate people of the constantly increasing population of the world into cities without the destructive effect urban sprawl brings to the countryside, the environment, or the ecosystem.

8. Conserves use of energy. Redesigning the city would mean a different pattern of use of energy. Compact City uses of petroleum in automobiles would be dramatically reduced, so would be the direct use of petroleum for heating. On the other hand, there would be new needs, for example, yards and interior open areas would need to be lighted artificially, a massive air conditioning system would be required to remove the heat generated by people, light, and appliances. Overall, energy use should go down by at least 15 percent.

9. Conserves material resources. Automobile and gasoline costs per capita today in a neighbourhood cost around $500 per year. For an urban area with a population of two million, there are over one million cars. Transportation costs run over one billion dollars a year. In Compact City, more than a million cars could be replaced with less than 10,000. The round-the-clock use of facilities would also drastically reduce the amount of equipment needed to handle peak loads. Installed equipment would be used more evenly and intensively. It would be renewed and modernized more often.

10. Compact City makes possible flexible construction so that the city could adjust to changing needs. Present building methods are so rigid that it is not economical to relocate parts of the city or to modify existing parts. In contrast, the interior of Compact City would be protected from the weather so that less permanent construction could be used. The need for flexible construction is extremely important in today's fast-moving world.

11. Could provide opportunities for the economically disadvantaged. Basically, because it is new and not bound by past customs, the city could provide a new start. In addition, educational and health facilities would become readily accessible to all because of the short distances involved.

12. Makes a city wide automatic delivery system possible. Such a system might well have benefits for a city.

13. Permits consolidation and centralization of certain urban services. Urban sprawl causes the duplication of hospitals, schools, and many other institutions. The consolidation and centralization of certain urban services makes many specialized services that are presently not economically possible in cities of today because of the time and distance, can be implemented in Compact City.

14. Makes it possible to have an ideal living environment almost anywhere. If Compact City were located in a place with an extreme climate, large populations could live there and thrive, in its comfortable interior climate while taking advantage of economic or other opportunities that might exist in natural surroundings.

15. Eliminates air pollution. Because the atmosphere of Compact City would be controllable, air of the highest quality could, through better waste management, recycling, and air filtering techniques, be in constant supply for all the inhabitants.

16. Makes possible economical water and solid waste recycling systems

17. Reduces noise pollution and congestion because of the round-the-clock use of facilities, the less frequent use of cars, and the use of cars with battery power.