Plans to Build a City in America’s Desert Revealed: $ 400 Billion Needed

(CNN) – The cleanliness of Tokyo, the diversity of New York and the social services of Stockholm: Billionaire Marc Lore has outlined his vision of a “new city in America” ​​for 5 million people and has appointed a world-famous architect to do it. I designed it.

Now you just need a place to build it, and $ 400 billion in financing.

The former Walmart executive last week laid out plans for Telosa, a sustainable metropolis that he hopes to create, from scratch, in the American desert. The ambitious 60,702 hectare proposal promises environmentally friendly architecture, sustainable energy production and a supposedly drought resistant water system. The so-called “15-minute city layout” will allow residents to access their workplaces, schools and services within a quarter of an hour from their homes.

Although planners are still looking for locations, possibilities include Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Texas and the Appalachian region, according to the project’s official website.

The ad was accompanied by a series of digital renderings by Bjarke Ingels Group, the architecture studio hired to bring Lore’s utopian dream to life. The images show residential buildings covered in greenery and imagined residents enjoying the abundant open spaces. With the banning of fossil fuel vehicles in the city, autonomous vehicles circulate on the sunlit streets alongside scooters and pedestrians.

Another image shows a skyscraper project, called the Equitism Tower, which is described as “a beacon for the city.” The building has elevated water storage, aeroponic farms and a photovoltaic roof that produces energy and allows you to “share and distribute everything you produce.”

The first phase of construction, which would house 50,000 residents on 607 hectares, has an estimated cost of US $ 25,000 million. The entire project is expected to exceed $ 400 billion and the city to reach its goal of 5 million people in 40 years.

Funding will come from “various sources,” according to project organizers, including private investors, philanthropists, federal and state grants, and economic development aid. Planners hope to address state authorities “very soon”, with a view to welcoming the first residents in 2030.

A new urban model

In addition to innovative urban design, the project also promises transparent governance and what it calls a “new model of society.” Taking its name from the ancient Greek word “telos” (a term used by the philosopher Aristotle to describe an inherent or higher purpose), the city will allow residents to “participate in the decision-making and budgeting process.”

Meanwhile, a community endowment will offer residents shared ownership of the land.

In a promotional video, Lore described his proposal as the “most open, fair and inclusive city in the world.”

Lore founded jet.com before selling it to Walmart and joining the retail giant as America’s head of e-commerce in 2016. He left the company earlier this year, affirming that his retirement plans included working on a reality show, advising startups, and building a “city of the future.”

On the official Telosa site, Lore explains that she was inspired by the American economist and social theorist Henry George. The investor cites the “major shortcomings of capitalism”, attributing many of them to the “model of land ownership on which the United States was built.”

“The cities that have been built from scratch to date are more like real estate projects,” says Lore in a promotional video for the project. “They don’t start with the people at the center. Because if they started with the people at the center, they would immediately think, ‘Okay, what is the mission and what are the values?’ Telosa’s mission is to create a more equitable and sustainable future. That is our guide. “

BIG’s founder, Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, says Telosa “embodies the social and environmental care of Scandinavian culture, and the freedom and opportunity of a more American culture.”

It is not the first new city to be projected by Ingels’ company, which made the installation of a ski slope over a Copenhagen power plant and has co-designed Google’s new headquarters in London and California. In January 2020, Japanese automaker Toyota revealed that it had commissioned BIG to create a master plan for a new town of 2,000 people on the slopes of Mount Fuji. Although it is considerably smaller than Telosa, the project, dubbed Woven City, promises trials of autonomous vehicles, smart technology and robot-assisted living.