The transitional urban village we propose is a walkable community with a pedestrian core that consists of low, mid and high-rise mixed-use residential structures. The village will provide light industrial, office, and commercial spaces, a shopping promenade and parks with recreational facilities. Such “live/work” multi-purpose developments will bring employments within close proximity to residences as well as facilitate the transition from sprawl to vertical expansion and from car-dependent to car-free and sustainable living. Transitional Urban Villages will not sprawl beyond their designated capacity to preserve the walkable human scale. To satisfy growing demand, additional villages will be built and joined by a high-speed train or monorail.
The Transitional Urban Village will be a mix of commercial and nonprofit developments. The community will provide a car-share program that will help facilitate individual’s transition to a car-free lifestyle. The nonprofit complexes will provide affordable housing by rent reduction through community credit (C-credit) earned through community service. Transitional Urban Villages will also enable the introduction of the hybrid economic arrangement offered by the Holigent Solution.
Residents will practice their existing skills or learn new ones to apply in their community service. Community work may include construction, maintenance, landscaping, environmental restoration, social services, crime prevention, community outreach and mentorship of at-risk youth. The Village will provide various options to facilitate the transition to car-free living as well as provide affordable housing by allowing residents to pay a portion of their rents with community credit earned through community service.
A Generic Layout Plan
Extended Systemic Planning and Arrangement
of the Essential Parts and Players
The Transitional Urban Village
Option 1 provides apartments with full parking facilities. Residents pay all or most of their rent in dollars and have the choice to pay a small portion of their rent with Community Credit (C-credit) earned in community service.
Option 2 will allow car-owning residents to live in the lower-priced pedestrian core of the Village, park their car in the community parking structure for a fee, and take greater advantage of public transportation. Residents pay a somewhat larger portion of their rent with earned C-credit.
Option 3 allows residents to give up car ownership and live in the pedestrian core. They may belong to a car-share program but rely mainly on alternate and public transportation. Car-free living and C-credit rent reduction significantly reduces the cost of living.
Option 4 is reserved for qualified car-free, low-income residents and would allow a substantial portion of their rent to be paid with earned C-credit to obtain affordable housing.
Options for Transition
(From car-dependent to car-free living)
Individual
Employer
Maintenance
and
Security
Community
Assoc.
Developer
Recreation
Car-Share
Outreach
Transportation
Tax
Credit
Employers will be attracted to a
low-stress, high-productivity environment
with a stable and committed workforce.
Park and
recreational facilities
must be part of the
Village to provide quality
of life for the high-density
living environment.
A self-directed program for
maintenance and security will
be provided by community
teams.
The community
association organizes
the maintenance and security teams, as well as the car-share program.
Community outreach
provides training
programs and jobs
involving adjacent
neighborhoods,
particularly at-risk
youth.
Car-share provides the use of cars to members who do not own cars. Paid for by users and tax credits.
A high-speed mass transportation
system joins the no-sprawl
urban villages.
The urgent need to reduce our
oil consumption for environmental and
national security reasons mandates exceptionally generous tax credits and
federal grants to Peace and Sustainability Projects.
A not-for-profit corporation must be the developer, owner and manager of the Transitional Village.
The extended systemic arrangement includes all of the parts and players in the development of a transitional urban village. Extended systemic planning includes physical elements such as high-speed mass transportation, economic factors such as rent-reduction through community service, and organizational and governance elements such as ownership and management by a not-for-profit corporation. This concept also includes social commitment factors such as residents’ participation in community teams to provide maintenance, social services, community outreach and crime prevention.
Extended systemic planning and development provides for reciprocal arrangements among the parts and players, which opens the opportunity to create a highly engaged, self-directed, secure, peaceful and sustainable community.
