Aerial City: A City in Harmony with Nature

The way we stage, organize and construct our environment will determine what roles we play in society. If the arrangement is to maximize the revenue and return to bankers, then the society will become an investment game. The focus will become dollars or any number of sophisticated, market oriented strategic economic situations which essentially ignore the spiritual fulfillment of humans living in cities. To live above ground, in flexible, self-sufficient cities, through our technology in order to coexist with other living species on Earth is the core purpose of Aerial City.

Our modern cities are built with materials from the earth and exist within an earthly envelope and therefore are of the same essence as our natural surroundings. Even so, these cities suffer from internal conflicts within themselves and from external conflicts with nature. If this path of conflict is not adjusted, an inhospitable form of nature could emerge that might easily exclude us.

Even though modern-day planners praise the genius and beauty of ancient cities they nevertheless fail to realize that the functional attraction of such cities is in their integration of public indoor and outdoor spaces with nature.

In order for the city to be an active part of the evolution of humans, it must evolve from a static, unresponsive entity to a developed and flexible organism whose adaptability mirrors the complexity of humans and nature. How can this be possible? Is it at all conceivable that human-made environments can evolve to match our collective complex intelligence? Is there a form of city that reflects such ideas? Or are our current cities all that we can hope for as a living organism?

I suggest that the fundamental error in our present planning ideas-both when working with an existing city or in constructing a new community-is to ignore the air space above the city as habitable and available space. I propose that we abandon the constraints of two-dimensional design strategies, and adopt a three-dimensional approach to modern city planning. We have the technology and the materials capable of spanning over 5,000 feet horizontally with bridges and reaching similar distances vertically with skyscrapers, however, such capabilities have not yet found their application in city planning.

It seems to me that the evolution of both city form and of buildings themselves has been from a horizontally expansive form to a vertically oriented structure. The attempt to free ourselves from the pull of gravity via space exploration is another manifestation of this evolutionary impulse.

Evolution seems to push us upwards, towards the sky. This phenomenon is reinforced by human population growth, destruction of natural habitats, and the drastic decline in the diversity and populations of plant and animal species on earth. This force demonstrates itself when a densely populated city such as New York is viewed from the sky. Regardless of what role economic, legal or social forces have played in shaping the city, the shape and form of the city speak of an upward thrust that is nevertheless constrained by building foundations below its ground surface. I suggest that the aim of such an evolutionary force should be the occupation of the atmosphere from between approximately 1,000 to 5,000 feet above earth's surface. This friendly band of atmosphere, rather than "outer space," is the core of my proposal for a suspended city. What I propose could have the same effect on city planning as the Industrial Revolution did with regard to manufacturing structures in the late nineteenth century.

My proposed Aerial City would consist of three great frames enclosing three main functional elements of a city: cultural, governmental and residential. Each structure would consist of towers up to approximately 3,000 feet supporting an open framing roof at a height of approximately 1,000 feet. Various functions of the city would then be suspended from the roof structure, with up to three times greater densities than those which exist in contemporary cities, thereby freeing at least 80 percent of the land taken by the footprints of buildings in current cities. This freed land could be used as parks, recreational areas and educational environments. Parks, recreational areas and farms could be integrated both inside and outside the boundaries of the city in order to harmonize its presence with surrounding nature.

Heights of 1,000 to 3,000 feet above the ground are also ideal for solar energy collection in the form of photo-voltaic cells and wind generators. Every building within the suspended structural system could be energy self-sufficient and independent of any centralized power grid or sewage and water distribution systems.

The panoramic view from such heights could signal the beginning of an era in which the true image of our planet is visually integrated into our consciousness. Views from the Aerial City would be similar to those from an airplane, available to everyone every day. We could live in space without leaving the earth. The Aerial City could be the next evolutionary step we humans take in order to create a living and urban space truly in harmony with nature.

Development Team

Sahba La'al

Steffen Heise (modeling)