One of the first designs of this I have seen, an intentional 15-minute City that is in the heart of Tempe Arizona. They are accepting move-ins this october!
What is this? Looks like a corporate neighborhood or something? It would’ve been much better if it had been created bottom up, by the people. Also, it seems very expensive, $1500 a month for 1 bedroom apartments. I applaud the concept but the execution is just bad.
I think USA is so deep into car dependent cities that even this corporate development is a welcoming change!
The units are owned by a for-profit corporation, but they seem serious enough in their mission. And $1,500 for a one-bedroom is a bargain where I come from. I’m paying $1,750 just for a studio with less square footage
Is there a practical blueprint for building one in a grassroots manner? I would love to have something similar in my area but where does the funding come from then?
I imagine one could start a non profit organization to collect funds and inform people, then proceed to start building it. The first step is to find people willing to contribute to the project and get together. I’m not very knowledgeable in the matter sorry.
I’m not even sure I like the concept of creating such a place from the ground up as opposed to making the necessary changes (public transit, bicycle roads, etc) to make existing places more livable. The solution proposed here feels like isolating a bunch of rich educated people in a private neighborhood so they can feel good about their life. A better goal would be to allow everyone to access such a lifestyle without rebuilding it all.
I’ve been really interested in this, but I have concerns. As far as I can tell, this is a startup. If some corporation owns your social media and turns it to garbage, you can just create an account somewhere else. What happens when the corporation that owns the place you live decides you haven’t been adequately monetized? Or maybe worse, what happens when they decide the whole thing isn’t profitable enough and they need to close it down for the tax write-off?
If not for these concerns, I would seriously check it out.
Because you know what’s really punk? Company towns.
