DELTAPOLIS
THE SHAPE OF CITIES TO COME
APOLOGIES – This chapter was to have had no more than a handful of sub-tabs giving a brief outline of the idea. However, there are now many more (some are duplicated elsewhere on the site) because the possibilities and potentialities of Oasis-Cities are so many and exciting that I feel compelled to put my thoughts on the record. And, since some topics defy easy categorisation, I use this space as a convenient “temporary” parking spot.
CAR-FREE, COMMUTE-FREE, CARE-FREE & CRIME-FREE..!
NOTHING IS MORE POWERFUL THAN AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME – Victor Hugo
Britain’s eco-zealot energy commissar – comrade rEd Miliband – thinks the planet can be saved if we dutifully adopted these oft-parroted “eco-solutions” –
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- ELECTRIC CARS
- BETTER HOME INSULATION
- HEAT PUMPS – at £12,000 average installation cost, and what about flats?
- BETTER PUBLIC TRANSPORT – yawn..!
- USE YOUR CAR LESS – hmmm, when the average car is only used 1 hr a day..?
- “15-MINUTE CITIES” idea is based on a “15-minute bike ride”, i.e., 45-60 minutes for walkers
- MORE CYCLE LANES – cycles and walkers don’t mix, flashing past sans a cheery ting-a-ling..!
- LOW EMISSION ZONES (one of many creeping motor traffic restrictions)
- DIAL DOWN YOUR HOME HEATING THERMOSTAT
- PLANT MORE CITY TREES
- WIND AND SOLAR FARMS LITTERING THE LANDSCAPE
- PV PANELS ON EVERY ROOF
- SMART METERS
NOT A SINGLE ONE of the above “solutions” would even be necessary were we to widely adopt Oasis-Cities which, without any interventions and exhortations, such as those listed above, would reduce our domestic energy consumption by 60-80%, and resource consumption possibly by a similar amount.
The greenest form of energy is the energy we wouldn’t use in Oasis-Cities.
ITS NOT JUST THE PLANET WHICH NEEDS SAVING…
The more I pondered the problems facing us, it dawned on me that ecological threats – serious as they are – are just the tip of an enormous CRISISberg that threatens to sink western civilisation itself..! OASIS CITIES could be the solution not just to pollution and waste, but a whole host of seemingly intractable issues which are steadily piling up. I believe the OA-city concept can be the blueprint for the survival of Western Civilisation*. It is also the master key that will unlock a series of hidden doors opening onto an infinite range of possibilities and innovations in ECOLOGY, ECONOMICS, EDUCATION, ENERGY, HEALTHCARE, POLITICS, SAFETY & SECURITY, SOCIETAL HARMONY & TRUST, SUSTAINABILITY, TRANSPORT and – you name it, OA-Cities can probably fix it..!
As the cherry on the top, OA-Cities will even finesse the problems and discomfort caused by BAD WEATHER..!!!
For a LONG list of ALL the many advantages of OASIS CITIES click below..
PRO’s ‘n CON’s
Oasis-Cities are the ONLY practical way to solve – or at least greatly ameliorate – the entire litany of un-resolved – and otherwise un-resolvable – environmental, social, political, and economic issues that have been piling up for decades. If we, by which I mean “western civilisation”, are ever to achieve a SIGNIFICANT and MEANINGFUL REDUCTION in our prolific carbon-footprint – and our horrendous land usage/degradation/wastage – Oasis-Cities is the simplest and the most ESTHETICALLY ELEGANT way to achieve these goals.
ITS THE NO-BRAINER OF ALL NO-BRAINERS
a “one-stop-shop” solution..!
“There are three types of people: those who see immediately, those who see when they are shown, and those who simply don’t want to see.” Leonardo Da Vinci
Once a few prototype Oasis-Cities have been established – and visited by millions of curious (fee paying..!) sightseers, most of whom will immediately realise what an amazing lifestyle improvement they represent – it will launch the BIGGEST BUILDING BOOM in history..! But, due to the great demand, decades may pass before most of the population (of advanced countries) make the smart switch from OB-Cities (Obese Cities, geddit?) to OA-Cities, and thus are able to ride out the chaos without. Decades could be pessimistic – it could happen much more quickly if one recalls that the “Coming of the Railways” launched an equally rapid infrastructural and societal change when, for the first time in history, ordinary people were able to travel beyond their immediate horizon. Within just 30 years of the first passenger train in 1830, 90% of the UK population were regularly taking train journeys. If such a change could happen so rapidly 200 years ago, the enormous infrastructural and societal paradigm-shift represented by Oasis-Cities could well take hold even more quickly. All it will take is a SINGLE PROTOTYPE.