Planetizen's Nate Berg posits that Burning Man, the yearly freak festival in the Nevada desert, has become "a highly planned, intricately organized and fully functioning city" of 50,000 people.
Berg presents the piece as a journal, his record of his visit to Burning Man last year. After arriving late at night, he wakes to find a 160-block city laid out around him:
"With so many people living together on federal land, outside the jurisdiction of any local government and without any services, Burning Man has necessarily taken on the form and functions of a city. To turn the "party in the desert" into a city, albeit one that exists for only one week at a time, organizers have developed a set of operational and physical guidelines. With its high-resolution urban plan - which resembles the prescriptive master plans of designers like Ebenezer Howard and Le Corbusier - and its departments created and run by volunteers, Burning Man feels like a slice of modern urban life, and in some ways an improvement."
FULL STORY: Burning Man and the Metropolis
There Goes the Neighborhood: Oh No, Not Burning Man!
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Let the year-round party commence.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
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Trump Approves Futuristic Automated Texas-Mexico Cargo Corridor
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Austin's First Single Stair Apartment Building is Officially Underway
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Atlanta Bus System Redesign Will Nearly Triple Access
MARTA's Next Gen Bus Network will retool over 100 bus routes, expand frequent service.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
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