What are the most interesting unrealised urban visions?

iVC

Donor
Heh - a Firdos Square (the infamous Saddam statue in Baghdad in 2003) style toppling would be pretty spectacular. Destructive, but spectacular. Maybe in an expy for the White House being shelled by tanks of the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division in a TL where the fall was bloodier...

This would be practically impossible to topple this statue in the traditional way of toppling: because of Lenin's pointing arm the statue would be armor-clad and bounded with the stylobate pretty damn well in order to withstand wind pressure. And don't forget this statue was meant to contain smaller rooms and offices.

It was not meant to be a 'statue', it actuially was meant to be an 'office building' in a form of statue.
 
Richard-Meier-World-Trade-Center-Competition-Plan-NYC-2002.jpg

Some of the alternate ideas for the new World Trade Center site.

left out this
tradectr.jpg
 
This would be practically impossible to topple this statue in the traditional way of toppling: because of Lenin's pointing arm the statue would be armor-clad and bounded with the stylobate pretty damn well in order to withstand wind pressure. And don't forget this statue was meant to contain smaller rooms and offices.

It was not meant to be a 'statue', it actuially was meant to be an 'office building' in a form of statue.

Hence the suggestion of it being a White House expy... ;)
 

kernals12

Banned
Actually I could see that as financially feasible. You'd create a lot of land in the metropolitan Manhattan area, very profitable.
And it had been done before. (this map is from 1965 and was a projection of future reclamation that never happened, so ignore the 1980 band)
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kernals12

Banned
Having visited the headlands and seeing how rugged they are, I can say that this project, when completed, would have been an incredible sight to behold.
Also, if the original plans to bring BART to Marin County had gone through, it would've been an extremely convenient commuter hub and probably wound up as one of the most desirable towns in the Bay Area.
 

Marc

Donor
Two interesting proposals:
First is Wright's "Broadacres". Essentially concentrated housing surrounded by gardens and farms.

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And for pure beauty, one of my favorites by Fuller:

VictoriaW-OldManRiver1.jpg


By the way, both are impeccably designed concepts. Quite feasible, they only suffered from being going up against the inherently conservative nature of society.
 
Also, if the original plans to bring BART to Marin County had gone through, it would've been an extremely convenient commuter hub and probably wound up as one of the most desirable towns in the Bay Area.

Well, if those commuter towns were built, then the BART would have to follow because the Golden Gate bridge can only handle so many cars at a time. Even now there are people who choose to take the ferry from Sausalito rather than dealing with that traffic. By the way, can you imagine how much money those Marincello properties would be worth now?
 

kernals12

Banned
Well, if those commuter towns were built, then the BART would have to follow because the Golden Gate bridge can only handle so many cars at a time. Even now there are people who choose to take the ferry from Sausalito rather than dealing with that traffic. By the way, can you imagine how much money those Marincello properties would be worth now?
Big time, it would probably even top the Bay Area's most expensive towns IOTL like Atherton and Danville. And an alternative to BART would be double decking the Golden Gate bridge:
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or building a second bridge such as the proposed Tiburon Crossing
Tiburon-bridge-aerial-image-4047626058_3082fe0c70_o.jpg

Or, if this a world where Marin County decides to embrace suburban sprawl and the population rises to the 790,000 by 2020 that was projected by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1959, maybe all 3!
 
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Well, if those commuter towns were built, then the BART would have to follow because the Golden Gate bridge can only handle so many cars at a time. Even now there are people who choose to take the ferry from Sausalito rather than dealing with that traffic. By the way, can you imagine how much money those Marincello properties would be worth now?
The rise in property values and San Francisco's insane housing market could actually make construction projects like this economicly feasible in the near future
 

kernals12

Banned
The rise in property values and San Francisco's insane housing market could actually make construction projects like this economicly feasible in the near future
It is economically feasible already. It's laws constraining it, and Marincello is now protected land.
 

kernals12

Banned
Arthur Swanson, a "private citizen", wanted to kill 2 birds with one stone when it came to adding more living space to the Bay Area in this 1959 proposal. He would've had the top of the San Bruno Mountain and several other mountains removed and then used as filling material in the Bay.
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Pretty much any design for Canberra other than the OTL one (which they butchered anyway).

[SNIP]
In similar fashion there was Ernest Gimson's competition submission.

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I came across it by accident via this site a few years back, Leicester museum also has some larger images here and here. I'm not wholly convinced by the design but it would have been interesting to see.


Unbuilt extension of the National Mall in DC:

[SNIP]
In slightly less grand fashion there was also this proposal from 1901 to develop around the base of the Washington Monument.

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The general idea was to both improve the area and try and mitigate the angle that it had been built at relative to the other sites.


And it had been done before. This map is from 1965 and was a projection of future reclamation that never happened, so ignore the 1980 band.

[SNIP]
Doesn't the area on the western side roughly correspond to Battery Park City, or am I misunderstanding the map?
 
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