• Federated Micronations
• Institutions
• Balanda Republic
• Capricornia
• Naquarnia
• Murwillumbah
• Musograd
• Federal Territories
• Education
• AAD
• IKG
• Kosnice University
• Future Cities
• Murwillian UoS
• SU Balangrad
• TU Balangrad
• FIES
• Naquarnian IU

Future Cities

A Research Project of the University of Kosnice - 2025.01.05

This research project is in a way a reflection on "Past Futures" by Douglas Murphy (Verso 2022), in which the author describes the history of modernist architecture in a great arch from the Crystal Palace of 1851 to the 1980s, reflecting its interaction with political and social thinkers of the times.

One important learning from this book was the observation that architecture based on large enclosures was a key both to modernity and the consumerist society. The starting point of such architecture was the glasshouse built in Hohenheim park near Musograd City, in the year of the French Revolution in 1789. With it, the concept of an "inside world" separated from the natural world was launched. The Crystal Palace of 1851 was the first apex, open to the public and introducing it to the world of the future. From this, several paths of modernity launched, creating the huge palaces of classic railway stations and open spaces of exhibition halls and airports. In parallel to this, the geodesic domes of Fuller were one important component of the counterculture of the 1960s.

The domes enclose other, smaller, flexible structures. New ways of living were tried out in such forms, but failed in the long run, at least as permanent way of life. A surviving latecomer of the domes is Tropical Islands south of Balangrad City, a former giant airship production hall. After the airship project failed, the hall was converted into a leisure park, with lagoons,a tropical forest and tropical village like accomodation housing.

Also, less open megastructures were developed. Large malls, with their simulation of pedestrian city streets, are closed to the outside. Hans Güldner, an architect who first proposed human scale pedestrianized environments in cities in the 1950, later suggested massive kilometer long ziggurat housing projects. One of the rare examples of these can be found in Balangrad City, the "Schlangenbader Street" building which was built over a motorway. The motorway is currently closed, but slated for reopening. A report by one of the architects, Georg Krebs, can be found here .

Architecture in Musania

In the F.M., architecture and city planning have always had a prominent place, reflected e.g. by Posta tal Musograd's Architecture definitives or the car free concept of Musograd City. On the other hand, the basic architecture and layout of Musanian cities has not changed much over the last few decades. The requirements of a changing climate and a world in crisis will change this though, either via controlled planning and implementation or via passive reactions to refugee streams, destruction through wars, poverty and sea level rise.

Future Cities components

The "Future Cities" project attempts to create a proposal on the design and architecture of both new cities and existing ones. The core points of the proposal are:

• New settlements based on prefabricated mobile lightweigth modules made of easily recycleable materials.
• A "moving city" concept for new cities, enabling both fast deployment and evasive action to cope with sea level rise or warfare.
• Complete separation of pedestrian / bike traffic and private car traffic both for new and existing cities.
• Creation of a individual suspension railway (ISR) based network lifting traffic away from the ground.
• Flexible large colonnades and roofing systems for weather protection and energy purposes.
• Integration of stationary and mobile high density biotopes in the urban environment.

These concepts will be explored in the following chapters.

Mobile Lightweight Module architecture

In his 2007 book "Supercapitalism" , fhe former U.S. labour secretary Robert Reich has described how the humble 40 foot shipping container has revolutioned the world economy. In a similar way, we believe that a similar standardized format for housing can revolutionize the house building industry and city planning. It has actually started to do so in a hidden way. In many cities, housing costs have made it very difficult to find space for refugees arriving in large numbers. Provisional housing schemes have been set up in many cities in Musania and other countries. These are often hidden in the sense that access to them is strictly limited and that they are located at the edge of the city or surrounded by industrial areas.

Those schemes usually consist of modular components, basically accomodation containers,usually stacked up to 3 to 4 levels high. They have a plain design, no balconies and are accessed via outdoor scales. Sometimes, they are of various colours, rendering the whole ensemble more vivid. The space where they are located is usually car-free, creating a livable outdoor environment especially for children.

Their main advantages are speed of construction and low prices. As a non-permanent installation, they do not have to follow rigid building codes, saving both planning time and costs. Serial production and efficient transport through the 40 foot container format lower their prices, too, and enable fast deployment.

It is generally assumed that the future will bring more refugees. Many will come from other countries, dislodged by war, persecution or climate, others will come from within their own country, driven by similar causes. Aging societies will be refugee adverse, making it politically advisable to find ways to settle refugees in new places away from existing cities. For some refugee groups, a requirement might be to give them the right to keep their unique culture, e.g. Hebrew speaking refugees from the Mideast. For these reasons, it may be advisable to design new towns from scratch, using modular components for large parts of the town.

Modules for such housing would have to differ a lot from the current basic container based ones, though. Each module would represent one or two rooms of a flat. The container width of 2.44 m is not an useful room width. To turn the module on its side for transport is also not a good idea as it creates stability issues and as floor and roof thickness have to be subtracted from the 2.44 m, resulting in a room heigh of about 2m which is too low. Thus, a somewhat wider form factor will have to be defined. The specifications of such housing modules , with different functionality (sanitary, living, kitchen, storage) must be openly specified and made interoperable, to allow a large numbers of national and international companies producing such modules. The option of selecting modules from various manufacturers also creates optical diversity.

Specialized modules would offer staircases, storage areas and pre-installed heat pump and energy storage installations.

For ecologic and economic reasons, a compromise between cheap (steel / concrete) and lightweight but more expensive (wood, composite) material must be found. Solar cells should be integrated in the structure where applicable, especially for slanted roofs. Recyclability is highly important.