Urbanate

An Urbanate is the name given by Technocracy Incorporated to their proposal for a new living environment, which is envisioned to replace traditional cities in a possible future technate.

Overview

An Urbanate is an assembly of buildings, or perhaps one large building, in which people would live and work. These places would have all the facilities needed for a community, including schools, hospitals, distribution centres (shops), waste management and recycling, sports centres, and public areas (parks and gardens), and would also have easy access to the surrounding country-side. The exact design of an Urbanate has not been specified as this would be far better done by the engineers and architects of the technate, if and when they come to build one. [Ivie, Wilton "A Place to Live: 1955 Technocracy Digest]

Design and proposed benefits

Technocrats propose that Urbanate buildings be as energy efficient as possible, and be designed with safety in mind, with every building material being completely fireproof and resistant to almost all natural disasters. It is envisioned that Urbanates will be manufactured rather than constructed in the traditional sense. Standardized, prefabricated components will be produced in automated factories and transported to the desired location to be assembled into whatever design is required with a minimum of human labour used.

Urbanates are to be designed to give each citizen the highest standard of living possible within a sustainable resource base. This would be made possible, according to Technocrats, by using a system of Energy Accounting, [http://telstar.ote.cmu.edu/environ/m3/s3/05account.shtml Environmental Decision making, Science and Technology] based on a Non-market economics concept. Urbanates in design, could be something akin to resorts, with all sorts of leisure facilities included. In other words, these structures would be built with a view to practicality and non commercial (Price system) concerns, and protection of resources. [Cutler J. Cleveland, [http://www.eoearth.org/article/Biophysical_economics "Biophysical economics"] , "Encyclopedia of Earth", Last updated: September 14, 2006.]

Getting around in an Urbanate would be inherently easy and efficient, with every kind of major facility placed within walking distance or an easy commute of a housing complex.

Urbanates would be connected via a continent-wide transportation network envisioned by the Technate design (Technocracy Study Course), which would involve a High-speed rail network (possible Maglev) linking every Urbanate, the Continental Hydrology (a massive Canal network), and air transport. These systems would also be connected to the technate’s industrial sites, consisting of automated factories, for easy transport of goods to consumers and to all recreational and vacation areas of the continent.

A replacements for cities

Technocrats propose that older cities now existing could be gradually "mined" for their resources. This would involve recycling resources—steel, concrete, glass, plastics, etc.—which would then go into building Urbanates and other projects, thus reducing the need to extract and process new materials and lessening environmental damage.

The reason given for all this restructuring of urban life is that modern cities are often extremely poorly planned and built in a haphazard way leading to major inefficiencies, waste, and large numbers of social and environmental problems. Technocrats believe that rather than trying to solve all these problems within the framework of existing cities, it is best to start anew with creative thinking as to design, as relates to environment and resources. [http://www.eoearth.org/by/Topic/Ecological%20economics]

Urbanates would be constructed in the best possible location for their functioning within the overall scheme of things in a Technate, so that they could fit into the rest of the infrastructure easily and so that citizens would be close to their area of employment. For instance, to service a major port.

Technocrats suppose there will be great environmental benefits to recycling some current cities and adopting Urbanates. Urbanates will take up much less physical space than cities and will not have polluting cars or industries. Roads and highways, major ecological hazards with their thousands of kilometres of concrete and tarmac cutting through natural landscapes, will be absent in this plan, and nature will be able to reclaim vast tracts of land.

Urbanate recreation

Excerpt from an essay by Wilton Ivie (member Technocracy Incorporated).

:Beyond the Urbanates would be large, open spaces, such as woodlands, mountains, lakes, and seashores. These would be free to public utilization without the interference of ‘Private Property —No Trespassing’ signs all over the place. Both public and private transportation would be available to all at all times. For those who have the time and inclination, long leisurely voyages on the waterways of the Continent, in comfortable accommoda­tions atop water-trains, could be enjoyed. Such trips would be made by the school-age children as a regular part of their education.

:With a large majority of the population of the North American Technate freed from functional employment at any one time, much attention will be devoted to providing places for living with emphasis on avocational and recreational features. Thus, many places on the Continent, which are suitable for pleasant living but not essential to the functional operations, will be developed into comfortable, convenient, and safe places for enjoyable living. Being free of the plunderers of organized politics, business, crime, and ‘welfare,’ the Urbanates of Technocracy will provide the basis for a culture that is dynamic, challenging, and interesting, as well as pleasing — a culture with intrinsic merits, as contrasted with the commercialized sham of the Price System. [Ivie, Wilton "A Place to Live: 1955 Technocracy Digest]

ee also

*Technocracy Incorporated
*Energy Accounting
*Technate
*Arcology - Somewhat similar idea, though not directly related to Technocracy Technate ideas.

References

* [http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfx7rfr2_29n46jr9 A Place To Live In. Wilton Ivie Technocracy Digest] Essay discussing Urbanates by Wilton lvie - Technocracy Digest, Nov. 1955
* [http://www.technocracy.org/Our%20Archives.html Technocracy Inc. Archives] Multiple articles and essays, some concerning urban living.
* [http://www.technocracy.org/Archives/Time%20For%20Decisions-r.HTM 'Time For Decisions' essay mentioning Urbanates, John Darvill 1998] Commentary on possible Urbanates and the future.

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.technocracy.org/ Technocracy, Inc.] (official website)
* [http://ecen.com/eee9/ecoterme.htm Economy and Thermodynamics: Borisas Cimbleris (1998)]