Designing A Resilient Community

If I had a billion dollars to spend, I might well spend it building a resilient community from scratch.

Community gardens would be spread throughout.  A maze of alleyways would provide thru-traffic for bicycles and pedestrians.  A loop street car system would provide public transportation.  There would be an industrial zone, but zoning would also allow permitted restaurants, retail shops, and maintenance shops to operate out of private residences.  There would be one central park that would be designed after the old French park in New Orleans that takes up a square block and is fenced and has a mandala pattern of plants and paths inside, and is locked after hours.  I love that park.  There would be a downtown commercial zone modeled after an old school Main Street, and there would be several smaller commercial zones spread throughout the community.  The phone system would probably be wireless.  The community would have its own power plant and a closed grid that would be fed extensively by residential solar and wind systems.

Residential lots would face South to maximize sunlight.  Rainwater catchment would be mandatory for all buildings.  A simplified building code would be enforced.  Alternative building methods and materials would be promoted.  Small scale solar electric and solar heating systems would be ubiquitous.  Series hybrid vehicles would be encouraged, as would home charging stations.

A central database would exist that would promote DIY self-sufficiency among the residents via a website.  A program would be set up which would encourage residents to give to the community and create their own community projects.  There would be no paid public officials - all positions would be voluntary.  

A raised berm would surround the community.  It would be fronted by a ditch and topped with a defensive concrete wall.  There would be a set number of access points to the community, each of which could be shut with ease.

While I would want to cultivate a small-town ambiance, there would be one central "super road" thru town which would be specifically designed to allow motorized traffic to get across town as quickly as possible.  Stop signs would be discouraged, and be replaced with traffic circles.  Bicycles would have their own, more lenient set of traffic rules.

The town would be built on, and governed by, several basic tenets, including "Git 'er done", "Do it right the first time" and "Simple don't break".  A general Common Sense ethic would pervade the community, too.  In addition, discretion, courtesy and mutual respect would be embraced as community tenets.

I would want the community to look and be interesting, and I would recreate parts of my favorite places in the town.

The town would also have a public lake or river...with a beach, of course.  :-)