13 May 2024

“An architect’s skills are completely wasted on making buildings.” Liam Young, an architect and film maker, warns of the “catastrophic nature of business as usual.”

Before we look at the housing issue in Canberra and how it will affect voting intentions in the upcoming ACT election, take a few minutes to look at Planet City, a story of a fictional city for the entire population of the earth.

Photo: Liam Young delivers a TED talk against a background of his futuristic city. www.ted.com/talks/

Australian Liam Young has a grand concept. He says it evolved organically from his travels and from discussions about how the world could respond to climate change.

So, a giant city housing all the world’s population on just 0.02% of earth? A self-contained, high-tech democracy where everyone has what they need and no more?

The giant metropolis would have a similar density to the existing city of Manila, where 1.8 million people live in an area of 15.56 square miles. It would be built of existing materials and no new resources would need to be mined or extracted.

The United Nations estimate is that there are more than 110 million people worldwide who are homeless by having been forcibly displaced from their homes due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, and events seriously disturbing public order.

The creation of the metropolis would allow a slow retreat from the world we know and allow the earth to slowly heal by returning to wilderness. Stolen lands would be returned, divisions would fade.

YouTube, The World Around: A city for 10 billion people. Liam Young presents Planet City, https://youtu.be/CL3g5OPLnoc

Pam Blakeley