China Looking to Build New Cities

Well China is looking into building some new cities. Considering its Massive population and rapidly industrializing nature it is probably no surprise they are looking for a way to learn from the mistakes of heavily congested centers that grew up out of other industrialized processes. This brings up an interesting proposition. Namely the ability to design from the ground up a city to handle the needs of a 1st class modern urban center. '

So what would you do if you designed a city from the ground up? I know the number one thing on my list to solve. TRAFFIC. The city would be designed from the ground up to seperate different classes of traffic to enable all means of traffic equal access to all points (at least as much as is feasible). How might this be accomplished ?

Well the same way major highway interchanges have been managed. You have you use more than one plane to move traffic in. My idea would be essentially to build the city on top of its traffic circulation system. Down town buildings would have a common floor for pedestrian right of way for an elevated tube system for walking among the buildings. Outside of major commercial areas there would be a linked system of pedestrian right of way (greenways). These would at no point impinge on vehicle traffic nor would vehicle traffic be impinged by it. You would keep them out of plane.

To make that easier I would design the primary means of personal transport right of way to be for light vehicles. Think on a scale where something on the order of a Mini Cooper would be SUVish. Strict hp to weight limitations and design requirements determined by the ability of safety technology to prevent death in the worst case scenarios in the closed right of way. A lot of the problem of designing a safety system for current roadways is because there is a wide range of possibilities. IE you might encounter vehicles several times your size/mass at horriffic combined velocities. The power of a mass in motion increases acording to an exponential function rather than linear. Thus past a certain point it becomes essentially impossible to make a survivable safety system. Conversely there is a range of operation where if you control a few elements it makes it relatively difficult to die in a wreck even using reletively simple safey equipment..

To do this you need to keep vehicles in the same relative class. IE mass ranges need to be close and relative speeds need to be kept close. The limitations for the light class would be determined by the ability to survive all possible crash scenarios. IE head on against a wall, head on against another vehicle traveling at max allowed speed (a max speed determined by power to weight allowance), and intersecting vehicles (T-Bone wreck). Also roll scenarios etc. The light class would by no means be grounds for large styling changes. Also you would utilize out of plane traffic systems to keep differnt directions of travel from intersecting. IE cloverleafs and other continuous motion interchange systems. Light vehicles would make for far less structural requirements making it cheaper to create such interchanges. Additionaly limit this class to non polluting systems of power. Electrical/hydrogen etc...

Two, make your primary arteries for heavy traffic run underground. For two reasons. ONE less structural issues with a tunnel. Not saying it is easier but this would also limit eye sore factor and also enable you to channle exhaust for disposal rather than have it dispersed throughout the city. Again keep any intersecting traffic to an absolute minimum. This reduces the need for speed limits well below what the vehicle can handle. Also keep regual personal traffic seperated from larger more massive freight traffic. Again keeping vehicles withen a safe range of mass and always heading in the same relative direction at similar relative speeds. This eliminates an awful lot of the danger of traffic acidents. While it won't eliminate them it will reduce the number of serious acidents.

Lastly design a city from the ground up with a comprehensive public transportation system. One which has access to most destinations on a consistent predictable schedule in all its elements.

Done right then light vehicles and public transport would be the primary means of people moving for people that live in the city. Daily commutes in current car technology would be mostly for those with 20+ mile commutes (Golf cart that can go 45 miles and hour can cover 20 miles in under 30 minutes if there is no congestion ) and those who live in areas with low enough congestion that it just isn't a problem. Freight lines would be designed to reach commerical districts or perhaps distribution points that used lighter vehicles for last mile pallet delivery (smaller businesses).

Solving the traffic problem would be a major step to increasing the effiecincy of urban centers. Also making for more friendly pedestrian connection would make it easier for people to meet. IE they can meet in golf cart settings and in the massive pedestrian right of way infrastructure allowing easy access to public transportation and nearby points of intrest. Highways could be updated along a similar principle with a more complex run that included multiple right of ways which did not interfere with one another. Heavy traffic would likely remain at ground level (easiest place to support the weight on long runs. You then move the lighter traffic over/under it as it is easiest... probably over it since then you don't have to worry about the heavy support of the the freight traffic. Only the support of lighter vehicle traffic. I would suggest even including a minimal pedestrian right of way for hiking/biking.