Self-sustaining City

I am a conceptualist and a generalist. I believe we should create self sustaining cities, scalable from a village for a hundred to a city of 10,000.  We currently have all the technology we need to make this happen. Creating the cities would help solve the problems of health, education, clean water, healthy food, and economy. I don't have a degree in anything, but I can see all the wonderful systems, technology, and products that are available to be put together to advance the millions living in poverty. Let It be our will.

I believe we can lift people out of poverty by creating Hi-Tech smart Earth friendly cities.

There are many concepts for futuristic living. This is mine. Imagine an Aztec pyramid with people living on each side of it. Inside the pyramid is where you have Manufacturing, vertical farming, education, retail, health and city services. The entire structure is a water recovery system with Hydro panels and a water well to supply the water needs. Now imagine 24 pyramids arranged in a large oval around a Central Park. Ringing the entire city with agriculture and livestock.  

Using the great young minds of our Nations, working with government, and philanthropy. Applying all of these systems available to us will help bring communities out of poverty, provide health, education, commerce, security, and economic advancement. It will take action on a large scale to solve large scale problems.

I'm not trying to solve one specific  problem .  They are all wrapped up together . It's only when we address them  together that we find the solutions .  We have all the parts and pieces they just need to be put into place .  I read a study on poverty with a gave three groups each an asset. Of course they found out that none of these assets lifted any group out of poverty. If you give someone goats, a machine to tfrocess the milk, and cash to buy feed and have the ability to buy and sell, then you have lifted them from property somewhat. Then add the baker the Candlestick maker, the teacher, the Healthcare System, all in a city well-designed for the future  for lifting the millions we have living in poverty. This kind of project can be scaled and manipulated to fit any size community. Each community would be created using a selection of systems and technologies with each community adding their own geography, needs, and culture at the forefront of the design. How can we best serve them in the environment in which they're living.

Let me give you an example of one of my Concepts. In the past year we have seen coming to the United States refugees from South America. I don't see refugees I see a mass of human resource. They would be more than glad to help build their new City.  We can fit these cities with our best Technologies and designs to create a clean self-sustaining environment. During the entire process the residence can have computer tablets pre-loaded with all the educational materials for children and adults. We can also use them to train the workforce. When people are given a safe and healthy environment, and the tools, there is no end to what they can accomplish. We can affect the lives of all people living in poverty by using our technologies and knowledge. By bringing people into new cities we will be able to address all of the problems that we wish to correct. We must also make sure that these communities are set up to continue their prosperity. Even on the smallest scale these projects are enormous. It's only with a great concert of collaboration that we would be able to achieve such great things.

Poverty is universal, luckily so is technology. We can take any group of systems that are needed, in any situation, and use them for the community advantage. Our inner cities will present different challenges than our rural communities, and many communities are somewhere in between.  One of the greatest needs of people living in poverty is the ability to build equity in themselves. "Let them pay rent" equals "let them eat cake". We must replace the bottom two rungs of the Equity Building ladder for anybody to advance out of poverty. 

None of this can happen without the full blessing and cooperation of the community in which it is to serve. They should be involved from the first to the last moment of development.  We must also make sure that they can sustain it into the future. If there is a food desert let us grow food there, turn public housing into co-ops so we can build equity. A tribe in sub-Saharan Africa will need an entire city. Every place would have different needs, different assets to work with, problems to solve.

When we use every asset, whether it is technological, geographical, cultural, social, or economic, we can reduce poverty.

This is a multi-dimensional project that involves every aspect of the lives of the people we need to help the most. It's not just food it's not just water it's not just education it's not just Health it's all of it together. I'm an insufferable generalist and have a hard time separating one problem from the other as they are hand in hand. Poverty does not present itself as one problem. Poverty is generational, systemic, and communal.

Let us remind the great capitalist that poverty is preventing half of the world from being their customer. 

I'm a conceptualist, and work solely in thought. So it is quite easy for me to find a problem in the world to solve and put my mind to it. I'm a generalist in that I am interested in everything from physics to farming. I also build machines in my head to what extent I can. So I put my mind to how I would build cities that can lift people out of poverty and hunger. In Fredericksburg, the town I live in, you can't buy house for how much under 300K. This prevents our teachers, and First Responders, from living in Fredericksburg. This affects everybody making under 50K a year. My concept was to create an off-market nonprofit that can sell a 1 bedroom house for 80K over 10 years. Using a work-study program to train and certify the workers we need, and giving them a place to build equity in themselves. The community has greenhouses, clean energy no cement or asphalt yet modern capabilities such as solar, Internet, water conservation, etc. A bonus would be to add a tool library and Shop, daycare, and access to expensive software like engineering, animation, etc.

I just think there's a better way to approach the problems we face. Sometimes you just got to get your boots on the ground and get on with it.  Personally I would love to spend the rest of my life in good service to a good cause. I have no obligations to prevent it. I also have no degrees or accomplishments to warrant any prize, other than the ability to adapt to any situation. I hope you will consider my ideas as you continue your work, beyond any prize or award.

I don't have any exceptional skills or degrees with which to accomplish this project. Concerning project management, I can see the central hub that connects to the community we are working with, local and national government, universities and corporate contributions, and templates of basic configurations of systems and structures.  Those in the hub have to look at what land we have to work with, what is the situation of the people, what do they need, what systems will work there, which one doesn't, what can we replace it with, is a problem really a problem or is it actually an asset being looked at backwards. The inclusion of the people themselves, their culture and art, what they need to express is a high priority.  

I know there are many other people who could put this together better than I could. But I would be unafraid and willing to confront such a challenge. As a generalist I can see all that it would take and all that it would affect from beginning to end. As a conceptualist I can use all of the assets available to overcome any deficit or challenge in any community. Knowing that beyond physical systems and structures, the community advancement is priority.  

We can see the challenge, we know we have the tools to meet it, it is up to us to solve it. No matter who is to lead, it will take a Great Fellowship of humanity.

I am not a competitive person so failure has never brought me any shame. Knowing why something fails is just as important as knowing why something works. The process of success and failure creates the envelope in which we can succeed. In physically creating new cities that process can be done in simulation. A fully completed simulated New City would give us the opportunities to avoid systemic failures. The most likely place I see failure in a project like this, would be in the interface with the community. The community support and participation is critical in any attempt. By assessing the challenge, presenting it to a team for assessment and correction in coordination with the community and its government, we can prevent much of the failure we might have encountered. In any and Enterprise so large as new cities there will always be challenges and failures to overcome. Complications can also come in dealings with governments, other entities, contracts and Corruption.

 I have been told that persistence is the only key to success.

I can't think of one other than General leadership roles in the workplace.  

Just a civilian