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by lven 1422 days ago
Yes interesting. There are also good reasons to build cities in circles/squares.

1. Minimize the perimeter to area ratio. This minimizes the interface with the outside, such as protective walls and access points. On the other hand, in linear city, everyone gets a nice view, albeit basically the same view.

2. Minimize distance between points. Putting everything on a line means increases the distance for point to point trips. In a 2d city, things are closer together. In a 3d city, even more so. This affects travel, networks, etc. Important / highly frequented things will cluster in the middle.

3. Enhance resilience. If there's a roadblock or problem in a linear city, the whole thing gets blocked. In a 2d city, you can usually just reroute around. This applies to travel, sewage, grid, etc blockages. Linear city is just asking for single point failures.

Many of these points fall apart when you consider American cities are built kind of like 1d cities around highways and such. The linear city is just admitting it upfront.

2 comments

>2. Minimize distance between points. Putting everything on a line means increases the distance for point to point trips. In a 2d city, things are closer together. In a 3d city, even more so. This affects travel, networks, etc. Important / highly frequented things will cluster in the middle.

higher dimensions also increases the length public infrastructure laid down and number of routes. connecting a 5x5 grid needs twice as as many lines as a 1x25 grid.

On 1. now I wonder what is the optimal width for this type of city in place it is build. If we are thinking of protection from things like sand storms or other effects. As at somepoint the walls stop covering what is on other side of them. Unless we are talking about old-school fortications.
One micron.

Needs flat people, though.

Flatten people!