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Scientifictionist, v. 1, issue 4, April 1946

Page 8

occupation with the advantage and greater efficiency of centralized city facilities. Other determining factors which will help to fix the size and location of tomorrow's cities -- especially centers of industry -- will be the Continental Hydrology system of the Technate, the location of mineral resources and power supply for the industry, and the distribution of goods and services. The location of industrial centers will not, however, be influenced as it is in the Price System by 'lower taxes', 'friendly political administration' or 'lower labor costs' -- for the simple reason that there will be no taxes or political administrations anywhere, and all persons will receive the same income regardless of occupational status or geographical location. 
   After the sites and probable size of tomorrow's cities have been determined, tomorrow's 'city-planners' will be faced with the problem of providing the entire population with the best possible housing at the least possible cost in terms of energy, resources, and human labor. In solving this problem, there are two specifications which it is certain that all buildings in the cities of tomorrow will be designed to fulfill. These two specifications concern the building materials to be used and the methods of construction to be followed. 
   The first specification, if housing is to be carried out on a Continental scale, is that the building materials to be used must be (1) durable enough to last for the maximum time possible with a minimum of maintenance cost; (2) strong enough to withstand every possible stress and strain; (3) possessing a high degree of heat proofing and sound proofing qualities; and (4) abundant enough, and cheap enough from an energy standpoint, to re-house the entire population of the Continent without draining our natural resource supplies. At the present time, the materials which most closely fit these specifications are glass, concrete, aluminum and particularly certain plastics -- and it is probably that the buildings of the future will be constructed of one or more of these materials. It is quite certain, however, that such 'modern' building materials as wood, brick, stone, stainless steel, copper, chromium or nickel will not be used, despite the elaborate advertising campaigns  to the contrary which are being carried on today by interested business firms. 
   The second requirement which must be met is that all dwellings must be constructed at the lowest energy cost, and in the most efficient manner possible. This requirement necessitates that the housing be factory fabricated types where the individual units can be turned out on a quantity production schedule ready for assembly, just as automobiles, are turned out by automobile factories. The units should be 'pre-fabricated' to the stage that only a relative handful of construction operators and mechanics will be required to erect the building on its site. 
   As an additional means of conserving energy, resources and human labor, it is probable that practically all of the population in the urbanates will be housed in a relatively small number of large-size, commodious multi-family residential units instead of in a large number of small single-family dwellings such as predominate today. From an efficiency standpoint, this type of building offers tremendous advantages over the smaller units. For example, it is easy to see that the energy cost per unit of building, servicing and maintaining one apartment for, say 1,000 families is many times lower than the energy cost per unit of 1,000 separate homes, each with a separate heating, air-conditioning, and cooling plant, separate water systems, separate refrigeration, and so on. If the entire population of North America is to be re-housed with the minimum of energy-cost and the maximum of utility, this type of dwelling is the only answer.
   To those unfortunate people who have had experience with apartment house life in the Price System, this arrangement may not seem very attractive. However, with Price System controls removed, all of the disadvantages of apart-
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occupation with the advantage and greater efficiency of centralized city facilities. Other determining factors which will help to fix the size and location of tomorrow's cities -- especially centers of industry -- will be the Continental Hydrology system of the Technate, the location of mineral resources and power supply for the industry, and the distribution of goods and services. The location of industrial centers will not, however, be influenced as it is in the Price System by 'lower taxes', 'friendly political administration' or 'lower labor costs' -- for the simple reason that there will be no taxes or political administrations anywhere, and all persons will receive the same income regardless of occupational status or geographical location. After the sites and probable size of tomorrow's cities have been determined, tomorrow's 'city-planners' will be faced with the problem of providing the entire population with the best possible housing at the least possible cost in terms of energy, resources, and human labor. In solving this problem, there are two specifications which it is certain that all buildings in the cities of tomorrow will be designed to fulfill. These two specifications concern the building materials to be used and the methods of construction to be followed. The first specification, if housing is to be carried out on a Continental scale, is that the building materials to be used must be (1) durable enough to last for the maximum time possible with a minimum of maintenance cost; (2) strong enough to withstand every possible stress and strain; (3) possessing a high degree of heat proofing and sound proofing qualities; and (4) abundant enough, and cheap enough from an energy standpoint, to re-house the entire population of the Continent without draining our natural resource supplies. At the present time, the materials which most closely fit these specifications are glass, concrete, aluminum and particularly certain plastics -- and it is probably that the buildings of the future will be constructed of one or more of these materials. It is quite certain, however, that such 'modern' building materials as wood, brick, stone, stainless steel, copper, chromium or nickel will not be used, despite the elaborate advertising campaigns to the contrary which are being carried on today by interested business firms. The second requirement which must be met is that all dwellings must be constructed at the lowest energy cost, and in the most efficient manner possible. This requirement necessitates that the housing be factory fabricated types where the individual units can be turned out on a quantity production schedule ready for assembly, just as automobiles, are turned out by automobile factories. The units should be 'pre-fabricated' to the stage that only a relative handful of construction operators and mechanics will be required to erect the building on its site. As an additional means of conserving energy, resources and human labor, it is probable that practically all of the population in the urbanates will be housed in a relatively small number of large-size, commodious multi-family residential units instead of in a large number of small single-family dwellings such as predominate today. From an efficiency standpoint, this type of building offers tremendous advantages over the smaller units. For example, it is easy to see that the energy cost per unit of building, servicing and maintaining one apartment for, say 1,000 families is many times lower than the energy cost per unit of 1,000 separate homes, each with a separate heating, air-conditioning, and cooling plant, separate water systems, separate refrigeration, and so on. If the entire population of North America is to be re-housed with the minimum of energy-cost and the maximum of utility, this type of dwelling is the only answer. To those unfortunate people who have had experience with apartment house life in the Price System, this arrangement may not seem very attractive. However, with Price System controls removed, all of the disadvantages of apart- page 8