Sort of like China who also has cities without people, but for a different reason.
New Mexico, home to several of the nation’s premier scientific, nuclear and military institutions, is planning to take part in an unprecedented science project — a 20-square-mile model of a small U.S. city.
A Washington, D.C.-based technology company announced plans Tuesday to build the state’s newest ghost town to test everything from renewable energy innovations to intelligent traffic systems, next-generation wireless networks and smart-grid cyber security systems.
Although no one will live there, the replica city will be modeled after a typical American town of 35,000 people, complete with highways, houses and commercial buildings, old and new.
Pegasus Global Holdings CEO Bob Brumley says the $200 million project, known as The Center, will be a first of its kind in the U.S., creating a place for scientists at the state’s universities, federal labs and military installations to test their innovations for upgrading cities to 21st century green technology and infrastructure in a real world setting.
“The Center will be a first of its kind in the U.S., creating a place for scientists at the state’s universities, federal labs and military installations to test their innovations for upgrading cities to 21st century green technology and infrastructure in a real world setting.”
It’s not a real world setting if there are no humans inhabiting this city.
Sounds like this will become another waste of taxpayers money.
Couldn’t they just use parts of Detroit? I’m sure there’s enough abandoned areas of the city to be used for testing purposes.
And, if the tests are successful, people will re-populate the area.
So now they get their ideas from Indiana Jones?
It’s just a cover story to build the Eureka of SyFy fame! 🙂
$200 million my ass! I think they mean to use a “B”.
I don’t believe it.
Silly Hoomans.
#2 Ah-Yea said
“Sounds like this will become another waste of taxpayers money.”
Or it could be a case of private industry financing (with their own money) a project that will create jobs and will allow industry and academia to conduct much more real world testing.
Here is a link to their press release:
http://pegasusglobalholdings.com/press-releases/center-for-innovation-testing-and-evaluation-010911.html
From the press release:
“Pegasus Global intends to privately finance The Center and anticipates 350 direct jobs and 3,500 indirect jobs, to be created in its design, development, construction and ongoing operation. The State of New Mexico is providing non-financial resources and assistance to Pegasus Global in order to facilitate the feasibility study.”
It appears to me to be a MINIMAL outlay of taxpayer money, but don’t let that stop knee-jerk reactions.
They should fill it with corpses to see how will the infrastructure will fare after a biological warfare attack happens.
SO say 35000 people translates to 20000 driving age adults. This means they can test a roadway system that can handle 10000 4×4’s and 1000 more SUVs simultaneously. Cool.
One can only hope that if space aliens decide to invade Earth they will inadvertently land in this make believe city, assume that this is just a dead planet, and go plunder elsewhere…
@#8 Cap’nKangaroo … Yeah,… Than you study financial background of the Pegasus and find that it is paid by DOD… It is money-washing scheme. DOD pays Pegasus, Pegasus “invests private money” to build this abomination. DOD does studies on it…
If spending GOVERNMENT money on this scale, why not build city for real people who need it and give it to them. Cut DOD budget for that amount.
Now liberal states have a new place to send their homeless people.
Two words: concentration camp.
They’ll make a fortune renting it out to tv/film production companies.
Hey dusanmal, don’t confuse Kangaroo with your Facts and Reasoning!
He might think it’s a “knee-jerk” reaction.
Now they have a place to send the targets of the next major hurricane in a city that is below sea level with a dam built by corrupt contractor who uses cheap materials that collapses while sandbags hold.
I hope that the results of these tests are put to good use to provide wise upgrades to cities and to promote wise policy. I’ve seen plenty of cities that seem lacking in such wisdom. It may not be such a bad idea to test these things out before implementing them widely.
#12 dusanmal said
“It is money-washing scheme. DOD pays Pegasus, Pegasus “invests private money” to build this abomination. DOD does studies on it…
If spending GOVERNMENT money on this scale,…”
Please provide some links that Pegasus is being paid to build this “city”.
If by paid you mean it does business with the DOD for other projects, then I fail to see how being a government contractor equates to a money-washing scheme. Boeing, Lockheed and any number of other companies receive money from DOD for government contracts. How is this company any different?
#16 Ah_Yea
Please feel free to provide any facts of your own on this company and the use of taxpayer money to build this “city”.
Sounds like its the biggest ever Toy for boys project. They’ll build it, fool around with it for a time. And then blow it up (the military needs to test nuke effectiveness somehow). With all the spending cuts Congress is supposed to be thinking about making. Why isn’t this idea scraped? I mean, what the hell are super computers for, if they can’t model cities, without actually building one. And will any of what’s learned, really be put to use? Like redesigning the sewers and water supply lines? I serious doubt it. I will just languish in some text books. Because it just costs to much to redo any city’s vital infrastructure.
Oops, damn typos. Meant 10K 4x4s and 10K SUVs simulataneously.
#20 – it would be cool if we started above ground nuke testing again. As far as supercomputers go, cities are a hell of a lot simpler than the climate. If they’re realy saying they can’t model cities…
#20 Glenn E. said
“With all the spending cuts Congress is supposed to be thinking about making. Why isn’t this idea scraped?”
Because Congress isn’t paying for it. The company says they will raise the money themselves to finance the project. See the link in post #8 to read their press release.
It sounds like the Obama administration. One stated the obvious problem.
Um, it’s a big lab. $200 million is actually chump change for major research. Nothing wrong with that if there is a good cost-benefit analysis and they provide good access to researchers, not just their friends.
How can they say it’ll be the first of its kind in the ‘States?
As a “for reals” example there was Alamogordo New Mexico which blossomed with the development of the nuclear bomb.
As a facetious example there’s the fictional town of “Eureka”.
#23 doewll
Careful. Someone might think you were equating the Obama administration with Capitalism. What with a private, high-tech company risking their own money on a project.
Talking about a Boondoggle and complete waste of money.
Who is going to believe any testing, experiment or trial that isn’t reflective of a real-world environment, i.e; with crowds of bleary eyed rush-hour people trying to get to work, talking on their cell phone, putting on their make-up….
Any work, setup or test is by definition inconclusive and just a waste of more tax-payer money.
#2 will this will create jobs.. someone’s gotta build that. Most likely illegal mexicans.
Excellent idea and investment.
This compares much better than the Republican pork spent by the defense department to hurl a volkswagen at the speed of sound – which failed.
#27 noname said
“Who is going to believe any testing, experiment or trial that isn’t reflective of a real-world environment”
I thought that was the reason that the company was proposing the test city. To closely mimic real world conditions while still retaining the ability to repeat tests: i.e. without the constant change of people.
Suppose you want to test something in the electrical grid at a specific time of the day, say at 8 AM. A Real World test allows you to do it once a day at best. A test city allows you to repeat the test all day and to test Best Case and Worst Case and everywhere in-between.
It does not eliminate Real World testing, but to my mind it would allow much more focused testing.