Discover Telosa - America's Futuristic $400B City
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- The Vision Behind Telosa
- The Master Planner: Bjarke Ingels
- Equitism: An Economic System for Equality
- Location: Building in the Desert
- Sustainability and Energy Generation
- Urban Design and Transportation
- Phases of Construction
- Funding Challenges
- Conclusion
Telosa: America's Version of the Line
Imagine a sprawling metropolis in the middle of the American desert west complete with futuristic infrastructure and carefully planned roads and streets filled with autonomous electric vehicles. A city that combines the sprawl and diversity of New York, the efficiency and connectivity of Tokyo, and the governance and sustainability of Stockholm. An insane multi-billion dollar plan to Create a futuristic city similar in Scale and ambition to Saudi Arabia’s The Line. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the future city of Telosa: America’s Version of the Line.
1. Introduction
The city of Telosa is a planned development that promises to not just be the city of the future, but also to be a completely new model for society. Similar in vein to megaprojects like Saudi’s Neom, these planned megacities are a response to the emerging problems of today’s world which includes overpopulation, pollution, and climate change. These future cities aim to redefine what it means to create a thriving city from scratch that is designed to be sustainable, resilient, inclusive, and equitable for all of its residents.
2. The Vision Behind Telosa
The name “Telosa” comes from the ancient Greek word "telos" which can roughly be translated to “the greatest purpose”. First unveiled to the public in September 2001, Telosa is the brainchild of American billionaire Marc Lore. Shortly after stepping down as president and CEO of American retail powerhouse Walmart, Lore announced his ambitious goal to create the planned city of Telosa. Through this visionary project, he aims to “create a more equitable and sustainable future that can become a blueprint for future generations”.
3. The Master Planner: Bjarke Ingels
In charge behind the master planning of Telosa will be world-renowned Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, who has previously been commissioned by Toyota to create a smaller smart future city in Japan. The Core concept behind Telosa and the reason why it is being planned in the first place, according to Lore, is to create a city with the needs of the people serving as its foundation. With Ingels' expertise, Telosa has a chance to become a city that truly caters to the needs and aspirations of its residents.
4. Equitism: An Economic System for Equality
At the heart of the plan for Telosa is an economic system known as equitism. The idea behind this system is to create a community wherein the people will directly benefit from the growth of the city. Telosa will own all of the city’s land while its citizens are given the freedom to build and sell homes on top of this land. Ideally, as the city grows, land values will also grow alongside it. These generated funds will then be invested back into the city through public services, transportation, education, and healthcare, ensuring that all citizens have equal access to high-quality services.
5. Location: Building in the Desert
Although the final location for the city of Telosa has not been decided, the people behind it are planning to build the city on desert land in the American West in the states of Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Arizona, or Texas. One of the main reasons for this decision is that there is plenty of cheap and readily available undeveloped land in the American West. And with Telosa’s plan of reimbursing increasing land values back into city services, this cheap land has the potential to pay for itself as the city grows over time.
6. Sustainability and Energy Generation
Telosa is planned to be fully powered through renewable sources of energy. Each building in the city will have photovoltaic cells installed on their roofs, while strategically placed wind turbines across the city’s borders will provide additional capacity to power Telosa. The city is planned to generate more power than what it consumes, making it a self-sustaining city when it comes to electricity generation. Additionally, at the heart of Telosa will be the Equitism Tower, the city’s tallest structure that will serve as an iconic landmark and a beacon for the city. The tower will house an observation deck, an elevated Water storage system, and aeroponic farms that will supply the city with fresh produce.
7. Urban Design and Transportation
Telosa's layout includes an urban design and transportation system that ensures residents are always within a 15-minute commute of key locations and services. Unlike The Line, which will be completely pedestrian-centric with a focus on mass transit, Telosa will use a mix of carefully planned transit systems and autonomous electric vehicles. The city will make use of the “superblock” concept of urban planning wherein HEAVIER traffic is concentrated over on the borders of the block while bikes and slow-moving EVs will be given priority on inner streets. This achieves two goals: ensuring easy movement between blocks and keeping residential areas away from major streets to avoid excessive noise.
8. Phases of Construction
The construction of Telosa will be divided into two phases. The first phase is ambitiously set to be completed by the year 2030, capable of housing as many as 50,000 residents over an area of 6 square kilometers. Once completed, the Second phase aims to fully build the rest of the city over the course of the next forty years. Over 5 million people are expected to live within the city by this point. In total, the entire project is estimated to cost as much as $400 billion USD to complete, with funding primarily coming from potential private investors and federal and state grants.
9. Funding Challenges
With Telosa's highly ambitious plan and vision for the future, Marc Lore and his team have to overcome one of the biggest hurdles with the construction of planned cities like these - funding. Despite all the mounting environmental and financial challenges, and with no construction work having been started more than a year after the project was first announced, Marc Lore and his team are still optimistic and determined to fulfill their vision of the most sustainable and inclusive city in the world by the year 2030.
10. Conclusion
Telosa represents an ambitious vision for the future of cities, aiming to tackle pressing global issues while creating a model of equality, sustainability, and inclusivity. With its unique economic system, sustainable energy generation, carefully planned urban design, and long-term construction plans, Telosa has the potential to become a transformative project. However, achieving success will require overcoming funding challenges and navigating the complexities of building a city from scratch. Only time will tell if Telosa can fulfill its grand vision and become a reality.