RBE10K/City

Overview

A RBE10K City is a settlement that makes part of the RBE10K project, i.e. a settlement consisting of roughly ten thousand people, living voluntarily under the principles of The RBE10K Project understandings for a Resource-Based Economic Model.

Description

10,000 inhabitants per city

The population per city is imagined at this stage as an ideal magical number of ten thousand. The numbers will likely change in the future, however in its first incarnation, and to have a clear goal and a number that simplifies a plan and a projection, it has been set arbitrarily at 10,000. This is a number small enough to be realistic as a two-year-long international activism project, and also small enough to allow every person to feel related to everybody else. The number is also large enough to permit a necessary variety in skills and knowledge to permit self-sustenance.

Identifying a fixed number of inhabitants per settlement will assist with the very important goal of achieving population sustainability, i.e. the human world population must not grow any further in as much as practicable. The only consistent approach to assist with reaching this goal is personal responsibility, especially that of childbearing humans (women), choosing as a mater of personal responsibility having no more than two children capable of reproducing. However another strategy will be to maintain a stable number of settlements worldwide, and maintain a stable number of citizens per city, not imposed, but well known that that is the rule to achieve sustainability.

Budget

The budget for the first settlement is at this stage arbitrarily set at AU$100 million, which is roughly the same as Euros, US$, CA$, NZ$, and other currencies that maintain near parity between them. This budget requires each volunteer to donate $10,000 to the project, which is an amount that can be sourced by anyone with a little effort, by not paying rent (e.g. living with friends) for 3-6 months, or selling the car, or jewellery or other superfluous collectibles from the perspective of a RBE mindset.

The budget of AU$100 million would be distributed between, the following:

• a supply of sufficient Internet bandwidth for two years
• an aptly chosen sustainable power generation device, e.g. a solar tower
• a maritime transport vessel, e.g. a solar boat like PlanetSolar, but intended for carrying capacity and robustness rather than luxury!
• enough low-cost highly nutritious food to cover the caloric needs of the whole population for two years
• water collecting and purifying materials and technologies
• the most cost-effective materials to enable sufficient production of food for self-sustainability within two years
• the most cost-effective computer systems to enable a RBE10K systems-based social organisation, intellectual development, and communications
• the most cost-effective materials to enable full recycling of all waste produced
• a number of open-source machines to get the job done, e.g. from Open Source Ecology project and Open-Source Hardware like 3D printers and Arduino machines
• cost-effective construction materials to build a small number of common building for research, development, treatment, work, study, etc., e.g. Earthship buildings
• materials for building of very low cost and quick deployment temporary accommodation for all citizens, e.g. considering options from tents to bedding honeycomb structures
• first aid materials
• other essential resources to be defined

Infrastructure and Technology

Especially during the first and second settlements, RBE10K cities will most likely look more like camps than cities, since their activities and resources will be focused on developing sustainable systems within a life based on RBE values. Whilst the society would still be highly supported by automated software systems for communication, coordination and organisation, goods and services are likely to be only basic to ensure optimal health of their citizens.

Once the project reaches a lifetime of eight cycles (16 years), the number of RBE10K cities would be in excess of 100, and a total population surpassing one million people. In those conditions and with more than a decade to develop, the conveniences and comforts in RBE10K cities will begin their way to matching our current middle-class lifestyles.

After another eight cycles, the number of cities would exceed 30,000, and the global RBE10K population would consist of more than 300 million, i.e. roughly half the current population of Europe. It is expected that the conditions in such environment will be very favourable to amply exceed the current comforts enjoyed by middle class Europeans, and the technology used within the cities will begin their way to matching that proposed by The Venus Project in their imagined round cities.

Differences with The Venus Project's Round City

Unlike The Venus Project's round city, RBE10K Cities may have a variety of shapes and arrangements, depending on efficiency for the conditions of the settlement, i.e. available resources, topology, climate, idiosyncrasy of its citizens, etc. The cities will also not necessarily be high tech, or look alike: for example there may be RBE10K cities devoted to a monastic life, like gungfu training cities, devoid of most forms of technology, whilst others may have an idiosyncrasy more aligned with life in the middle ages, others be a single very tall building.