Japan's Arcology

[Bailey]

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence...teractive.html

there'll be problems building this, but if they can pull it off...

[Red Fighter 1073]

there'll be problems building this, but if they can pull it off...it would be incredible. it would be like the perfect utopian kind of society. though, it would NEED a utopian society to build. what with terrorism and natural disasters. i would sure love to see it built, but im a little skeptical on how long it will last.

[Wolf99x]

Well, that was a nice pessimistic view, but also slightly realistic as well.

In all fairness, yes the Sky City will face problems. but mostly not in the form of terrorism. I think the only major Terror attack that has ever hit Japan was the Sarin Gas attacks in their subway.

Also, it's not like terrorists across the globe will see this city and say "let's knock it down". No, they need a politically motivated reason. Right now, I doubt that they have one. Of course, should terrorism take root wthin the city...but I digress.

As for natural disasters, I bet they're taking earthquakes into consideration. also, large mountains usually are only slightly affected by quakes, so I'm guessing the sheer size of the Sky City will play into it's resistance to natural disasters.

Also, it's not like their trying to create utopia per se, just make the world a slightly better place by doing numerous things.

Personally I think this is a good way to solve the urban crowding problem, and if it could be pulled off...then all the more power to 'em.

[Lockeownzj00]

How would it be a utopian society? Because it's in the air? That doesn't make sense.

It's not even about making the world a "slightly better place..." it's just another architectural advancement.

And why no terrorism? Remember that one Cowboy Bebop episode? Yes, it is fiction, but it holds a very real point: eco-terrorists, and those who view the expansion of cities to be a form of power-hungry consumption. I can see this being under fire.

[Wolf99x]

If you noticed, I changed my post to relflect that terrorism would possibly occur. Also, on that info page on the sky city they pointed out how it would have a decreased temperature profile, thus making global warming slightly less.

Ergo, world becomes slightly better place.

[Nique]

Meet George Jetson...
Jane, his wife!
His boy Elroy...

This is a really good idea. I would totally live in that, and work at (deep voice) 'The Core'

You would need deep anchors in the earth to support and protect the structure... We'd need some really advanced technology for some other big problems like falling debris etc..

[adamark]

I didn't see what scale they are planning to build this on, but what if they found a triangular mountain range, where each mountain would be the base of the foundation? that wouldn't be practical, it would take 100 years to build it.

if they were to build it, they should build it over thermal vents so that geothermal energy was it's source of all its energy needs. also, have parts of the outside covered with solar panels.

[MFD]

Three times as tall as the Eiffel Tower.

[Nique]

I didn't see what scale they are planning to build this on, but what if they found a triangular mountain range, where each mountain would be the base of the foundation? that wouldn't be practical, it would take 100 years to build it.

But it would be very, very awsome.

The scale is pretty large- i think they compared ONE of the cilendrical towers to the effiel tower, and it was like 2 -to- 3 times the height or more.

[Wolf99x]

yeah, and I don't think they're building it on top of mountains.

however they're going to build it, technological advances are definetely necessary, especially in building material.