The problem with most urban centers is that they are build along a grid. Grids are no fun. Imagine building a city with internal loops. Downtown could be in a circle around a huge park that you could enjoy a latte in during your break, or just take a very long walk. But, what about residential areas? What if a huge loop that was several miles in circumference was built around high rise apartment buildings. Imagine that the road had stores on it. But, the stores didn’t stand still — they moved.
You could have a railway track and stores on trains. The stores could slowly move at half a mile per hour and make it to your neighborhood. If you worked from home, this would be a convenient way to go shopping. Need a new pair of jeans? The Levi’s store will be in your area at 3:15. Busy at 3:15? You can walk to it at 2:45 and then take a shared cab to your appointment. Everything is possible when we let our imaginations wander like children do. Personally, I go on long drives to other states, and I have plenty to think about!
What if there were miles and miles of gardens that you traversed on your way to wherever you were going? Transportation in cities is no fun. You wait at a dirty bus or train station that smells of urine, get in a cramped bus that has jerky stops, and get off, and have to walk crossing dangerous intersections and waiting for lights. Imagine that you could go wherever you are going by walking through an assortment of unique and beautiful gardens. Imagine that you had a choice of walking, riding a bike on a designated bike highway with no cars to run you off the road, or ride a Segway. Now, imagine that the Segway was something you didn’t need to buy, rent, or fill out paperwork for. You just ride it within the track, and get off after you finished using it and park it next to a wall? For those of you who have never seen a Segway, it is a device with two wheels on an axle that you stand on. Lean forwards and it goes forwards. It manages to stand up and not fall over through an internal balancing system — very high tech and very cool. Sure, it might take longer to get where you are going in the garden system, but it would smell better and be more fun too. Especially if there were different choices of paths you could take to work every day. That way you would see more diverse scenery each time and never get bored.
I also think it would be fun if the stores and cafes we went to were all in an endless sequence of diverse gardens. Who wants to cross pollution infested busy streets, hear honking and risk getting run over. I’d rather take a walk in the park, and buy my Levi’s in a store there.
The issue with small stores on a rotating track in a neighborhood is that they wouldn’t be able to fit much inventory. However, using the several decade old Japanese JIT (Just in Time) inventory distribution technique, they could restock their store several times a day on an as needed basis! Unusual — yes. I think that such a system would be very convenient and fun as well. Additionally, it would stimulate entrepreneurship since all of these tiny stores on the train track would be private businesses under the umbrella of city government management. Interesting idea!
My idea resembles the idea of the taco truck a bit. There is one block in Los Angeles near the museum where there are about eight different food trucks. Get Pho’, tacos, teriyaki, Thai food, or whatever else you can think of. Imagine a city where there is one street, or one part of town where there are one thousand food trucks, and each one of them is unique to a certain extent. Perhaps many serve tacos, but they each have different sauces, or something different about their tacos. In Los Angeles, we have Korean tacos which are the best I’ve had in my life. Forced diversity is interesting because it forces you to innovate. I hope you share my culinary fantasy!