MarketTowns NZ

In the last century, the Transport Revolution changed how and where people live. In this century, the Digital Revolution is changing it again. Road and rail is being replaced by fibre and wireless. While technology changes, established institutions, public and private sector lag behind. 

Consider this 5 April 2024, RNZ headline “$1 trillion to bring NZ infrastructure up to standard” explaining “Public transport is integral to a nation’s infrastructure.” Wrong. This presumes NZ needs an infrastructure to move people to destinations far enough apart they need transport. That is a 20th century concept that is now obsolete for the vast majority of urban dwellers. Move destinations not people.

As soon as the basic assumption is changed – move destinations not people, $1 trillion can build 500 MarketTowns for 5 million occupants; paid by its inhabitants in their mortgages, not by government taxing the people. Use the power of permission, not more taxation.

If we are serious about the future, stop building transport-based developments

Why do we keep doing the same thing over and over when it is clearly not working?  We do so because there is some form of gain in doing so.  If we want to change to make civilisation work, we must place public interest over private agendas. But to do that, first understand what will work.

What is a MarketTown?

For 1,000 years, market towns were self-contained, self-supporting local economies that only died out with the rise of the Industrial Revolution as townsfolk moved to the gritty cities. The Industrial Revolution gave way to the Transport Revolution. People moved to the suburbs. Now the Technology Revolution is coming full circle as the time for Market Towns has come again: human-scaled communities.

A 21ˢᵗ Century MarketTown:

• Fibre-based not transport-based local economy
• 200 hectare site with 85 hectare urban core
• 10,000 people creates economic critical mass
• For all ages, stages, walks of life
• 20 side-by-side villages around a town centre
• No cars within, no in/outbound commuters
• 4,000 medium-density, attached townhouses
• Target $500,000 median, $200,000 lowest
• 20% parallel market affordable housing
• No infrastructure costs to host council
• No inbound/outbound pipes, all local waters
• No commuters, all work destinations are local
• Buildings manufactured in an onsite factory
• 3 years from start to finish

The answer to our present challenges can be found in a pre-industrial development model called the Market Town. Car free, carbon neutral, zero waste, socially supportive, culturally vibrant and affordable by everyone – a complete, not elite community that thrived for a thousand years until city planners and everyone associated with building communities lost the plot.

A Good Life: To quote Victor Papanek, in former times, planners understood that people built communities not for justice, peace, defence or traffic, but to enjoy what Aristotle called a good life: the social pursuits of conviviality, citizenship, and artistic, intellectual & spiritual growth. Commerce is the foundation of a good life, not an end it itself. We often forget this.

Mass Transport Obsolete: With advent of fibre-based civilisation, Industrial Revolution era transport-based design is obsolete and potentially planet-threatening. Do not reinvent the wheel, reinvent the foot. Look to timeless patterns right for the digital age: the MarketTown.

Human-scaled: The more we digitise, the more we need to humanise. The digital revolution isolates us, just as cars isolated us last century. Humans are social animals. We need the social connections that come from walking in town, greeting others on the street, enjoying their company in cafes and on village plazas. While technology changes how we work, the fact is human nature changes much slower. We are not made to stare at screens all day, we are social beings and we need the kind of social contact that comes from proximity, familiarity and culture.