Planning for the first human occupied martian cities is taking its next big step with three 3D-printed test colonies planned to be erected in the Mojave Desert.
Thanks to a Kickstarter funded project, planners, architects, engineers, and others will now have the opportunity to develop what could become prototypes for future martian cities. Vas Panagiotopoulos of Quartz reports that a multi-day workshop put on by the Mars City Foundation this September at the University of Southern California will invite innovators to plan for cities that could accommodate up to 1,000 people. The project is the brainchild of architect and "marschitect" Vera Mulyani.
The workshop, whose speakers include Jim Erickson, project manager of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover, and Madhu Thangavelu, a professor at the Viterbi School of Engineering, will also be attended by Apollo 11 pilot Buzz Aldrin.
... Mulyani says her team’s goal is to look far ahead, to examine “what happens after the first city, what happens after we have a base.” She also sees the purity of Mars as an opportunity to think long-term, something we didn’t do (and arguably still aren’t doing) on Earth.
Panagiotopoulos reports that the Mars City Design team will select three city-design proposals from among 25 finalists to 3D print as test runs in the Mojave desert. The finalists include projects that focus on vertical farming, an indoor river system and a system that uses elements in martian soil to create oxygen, water, energy, and nutrition.
FULL STORY: The future of Mars will be 3D-printed in the Mojave Desert
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
Planning for Accessibility: Proximity is More Important than Mobility
Accessibility-based planning minimizes the distance that people must travel to reach desired services and activities. Measured this way, increased density can provide more total benefits than increased speeds.
Fair Housing Cannot Take a Back Seat to ‘Build, Baby, Build’
If we overlook fair housing principles in the plan to build US housing back better, we risk ending up right back where we started.
LA Metro Board Approves New 710 Freeway Plan
The newest plan for the 710 corridor claims it will not displace any residents.
Austin’s Proposed EV Charging Rules Regulate Station Locations, Size
City planners say the new rules would ensure an efficient distribution of charging infrastructure across the city and prevent an overconcentration in residential areas.
Making California State Parks More Climate-Resilient
A recently released report offers recommendations for keeping state parks healthy and robust, including acquiring additional land for conservation and recreation.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
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.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.