Floating Cities and Resource-Based Economies

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floating cities in costa ricaThe upcoming Envision Festival is in some ways reminiscent of an event that took place in Santa Teresa and Playa Hermosa in 2009. Both events catered to audiences interested in nature, ecological conservation, yoga, and electronic dance music. The 2009 Breathe Foundation summit in Playa Hermosa, however, was unique because of two documentary films screened that year: Breathe – The Documentary and Future by Design.

The 2009 Breathe Costa Rica event and the screening of the documentaries in the paragraph above introduced many Ticos to the concept of resource-based economies and the possibility of living in floating dwelling structures. Future by Design is a film that was selected the winner for Best Documentary in the 2006 Australian International Film Festival. The film explores the work of Jacque Fresco, a colorful man who is the futurist thinker and structural designer behind the Venus Project.

The Concept of Resource-Based Economies

Jacque Fresco was born in the second decade of the 20th century. He is an avid autodidact and forward thinker who has always shown a passion for structural design and a love of nature. During the social and cultural revolution of the 1960s, Fresco turned his attention to prefabricated structures and services for city dwellers that could be automated. He was particularly attracted to circular designs.

In the 1970s, Fresco began to envision smart cities where technology and energy conservation strategies were used to benefit humanity. He called the idea Sociocyberneering, and eventually incorporate a business entity under that name. He lived in South Florida at the time, and circular structures continued to dominate his designs. Sociocyberneering, Inc. purchased farm land in Venus, an unincorporated region of Highlands County near Lake Okeechobee. On that farm, Fresco conducted different types of research on futuristic dwellings with Roxanne Meadows, his closest colleague. The research would eventually grow into the Venus Project, a vision of a truly free society that operates under the principles of a resource-based economy.

In a currency-based market economy such as Costa Rica and most other countries around the world, the accumulation of money essentially determines how much access to resources individuals can attain. In a resource-based economy such as the one proposed by the Venus Project, money does not exist. Some elements of the market economy remain, such as supply and demand, but the availability and sustainability of resources are the driving factors. All resources needed to sustain the quality life of all inhabitants are allocated, calculated and distributed by technological advancements such as computers -a real technocracy.

The Venus Project

Jacque Fresco is now in his mid 90s, and to this day he is still an alert and spry researcher who is involved in moving The Venus Project past the heuristic stage. Fresco’s vision, in practice, begins with the dwellings adequate to house humans in the future. A high sense of uniformity and circular and dome design dominate the architecture of the Venus Project. Residents would be given a number of choices in terms of residential design; thus avoiding the criticism of cookie-cutter neighborhoods.

At the Venus Project land in Florida, residential building structures resemble the moisture farming facilities and homes of Tatooine in the Star Wars Universe. The homes are prefabricated and built to accommodate future societal improvements related to sustainability. For example, the electrical wiring of the house would be designed to form part of a grid that is powered by wind, solar or hydroelectric power. Each dwelling can be easily modified to accommodate a growing family, and all homes must be erected in a way that goods and services can be easily transported door-to-door.

The Venus Project favors development of new cities rather than improving upon existing ones. A smart city will be developed following footprints that point towards circular design to improve the efficiency of pedestrian, vehicular and service traffic. Vehicle traffic would be kept at a minimum, and hydroponic farming belts to be tended by residents would form part of the many sustainable undertakings that of the envisioned city systems. Not all cities created by the Venus Project would be developed on land, either. Some would float out in the oceans.

Floating Cities

As the increasing rate of global population growth continues unabated, the Venus Project isn’t the only initiative to promote offshore living. When American publication Details magazine published a profile of billionaire dot com investor and PayPal founder Peter Thiel last year, the work of the Seastading Institute entered the mainstream consciousness.

The Seasteading Institute is a California-based think-tank that shares some points of doctrine with the Venus Project. Both organizations believe that population growth and resource depletion on Earth are causes for concern, and that radical changes -such as moving people to live out at sea in floating superstructures- are required in order to sustain human life in the future.

While the Venus Project echoes a doctrine of highly idealistic socialism and democratic foundations, the Seasteading Institute has more immediate and specific goals in mind. By moving floating cities out to sea, the Seasteading Institute will be conducting research that goes beyond scientific inquiry. The institute plans to test out some societal and political ideas designed to influence governments around the world. This plan has caused a bit of controversy among observers of the project, and it has a lot to do with Peter Thiel’s interest.

Peter Thiel is a staunch supporter of the Libertarian Movement, a political ideology that is represented in Costa Rica at the National Assembly. Over the last few years, Tico libertarians have managed to make significant political gains in our country, and together they are the biggest threat to the powerhouse National Liberation (PLN in Spanish) ruling party. While the libertarians have been relatively well-received in Costa Rica, such has not been the case in the United States, the country with the highest number of supporters of the movement.

When Peter Thiel made a donation to the Seasteading Institute in excess of a million dollars, many people naturally thought of the floating cities as floating think-tanks of libertarian doctrine that can later be unleashed on the unsuspecting two-party system of the United States. It was speculated that the floating cities (known as “seasteads”) would embrace some of the principles of American libertarians: relaxed gun control measures, absence of minimum wages, lack of government-funded social welfare programs, etc. Thiel’s donation immediately mobilized the public relations department of the Seasteading Institute, and Senior Director Randy Hencken released a statement that sought to distance the institute from Thiel’s strong political views.

Future Residential Initiatives in Costa Rica

One could think that our country’s interest in sustainability, environmental conservation, social welfare, and the Libertarian Movement makes it a likely target for initiatives such as the Venus Project and the Seasteading Institute. The reality is that Ticos are probably not ready to embark in a floating city to leave their beloved country behind. There are, however, some current practices that point towards some of the philosophies previously described in this article.

Carbon neutrality, sustainability and land conservation are already strong initiatives in Costa Rica. Eco-friendly housing is a good fit among Ticos, as evidenced by the success of Industrias Luna Sol and EcoCasas, a company dedicated to the manufacturing of modular and prefabricated homes made with sandwich panels. These panels are made with recycled or recyclable aluminum that is durable and performs well in most climates in Costa Rica. The company behind these structures is a joint Tico-Chinese venture, and a house model can be appreciated in La Uruca.

Another example of Tico futurism when it comes to housing can be appreciated at the upcoming International Design Festival. Local architect Benjamin Garcia Saxe is sure to be one of the major attractions at the festival. He is responsible for one of the most interesting residential structures in Costa Rica: the Containers of Hope project, in which old metal shipping containers and recycled materials are turned into smart and stylish homes for about $40,000. There is one such home outside of San Jose, and the layout is strategic in the sense that it allows year-round natural lighting and ventilation, thereby minimizing the use of electricity.

The proposed floating communities of Project Venus will be expected to grow a lot of their own food, and to this extent Ticos have always been interested in agricultural farming and gardening. A floating city would be obligated to observe horticultural practices and techniques such as hydroponics and aquaponics. In Costa Rica, organizations like Corazon Verde are dedicated to educating the public about the joys of sustainable gardening and organic farming in unlikely areas such as urban spaces and perhaps floating cities. Mastery of aquaponics and hydroponics will surely be a highly sought-after skill in future floating cities.

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