Objective: To speculate and design a concept of community with an Utopian approach that conserves the natural environment through technology and urban design.

Tools: Autodesk 123D Design, Photoshop 

Usemite is an Utopian urban design challenge that  upholds the goal to conserve the natural environment for future generations among the 10,000 inhabitant population through technology and urban design. The vision behind the city’s urban design promotes empathy not only toward people, but also the environment. A city blueprint created through Autodesk 123D Design and Photoshop displays  the concentric districts that consist of centralized health care and government facilities with the residential area on the outside, while the public services are easy to access in between. Through urban design, the artifact represents the vision in making daily life in Usemite more easy access with well-rounded facilities, environmentally sustainable, and efficient in sociability with a centralized section.

Dividing the layout of the city into three circles radiating from the center would not be segregating the community, but rather aiming for easy access of public services and equality among the community. Each circle represents a district of the whole city; each district contains three sections of infrastructures built equally apart from each section. Usemite’s infrastructures in each corresponding districts are purposely built to be the similar with the infrastructures of each sections because all residents are promised to receive equality in the high quality of Utopian life. The idea of “homogeneity” suggests an end to injustice and leads all ideas in the same direction towards the core principles of the utopia: empathy, sustainability, and well-being.

The design of the concentric city not only strives for a sense of equality and unity, but also advocates environmental sustainability by incorporating the natural environment with the residential district and implementing an eco-transportation system around the whole city. With residential area on the most outer circle layout, residential apartments are built on one side of the mountain while farm lands and hiking trails are created on the other side. The residential area consists of three sections of apartments that are connected with natural parks and gardens. These natural surroundings that are incorporated in the residential areas promote popular outdoor activities, such as hiking and yoga, to balance health and social well-being. 

​Aiming to eliminate pollution and preserve the environment, the city banned all vehicles besides emergency electrical vehicles such as firetrucks or ambulances. The blueprint displays an electrical transportation system that is implemented all around the entire city to not only allow people to travel environmentally from district to district, but also encourage people to attend more outdoor activities and interact more with nature.

The design of the city layout and infrastructures are meant to be analyzed to learn about the utopia’s cultural and social framework and its values. Each design aspect of the city layout, such as the use of public and private space or the balance with the natural environment, considers the different principles of Usemite that can fit into the community’s daily life style and culture. Urban design will never remain the same as it constantly adapts to new trends with ideas and culture. This constant adaptation explains why urban design directly correlates to the big picture of a utopia through the continuous innovation in business, technology, and commerce in a society. Ultimately as a society progresses, urban design represents the endless process of the societal development and accommodation with new ideal visions.

Project collaborated by CAT3 Spring Class of 2016 at UCSD
Urban design proposed by Vanessa Wong,  Shea Summers, Alice Yu