From what I understand the Elias Moses original idea came from Camelot. A white city on a hill that was the envy of the rest of the world. Now that may have been a starting place but the main ideas for cityland came from the work Moses had done with his Amusement parks and the solutions he saw for practical living.
With the rise of cheap fusion-atomic power and the discovery of micro-silicon computer chips, Moses new that the time had come for his future city project, later to be simply Title “Cityland”. After the 1964/65 New York worlds fair, he had gathered the greatest minds and wealth of the United States and made the following proposition, “ I want to do this thing, a future city that can be a beacon for the world. I can’t do it alone and I need help from all of you. What do you say, do you want to change the world with me?”
Now this is not an exact transcript but from all my interviews this was the basic’s of the opening statement. One by one the giants of industry at the time all agreed to help cover the costs of this future city and take shares in the company that would build and maintain it. The argument was that it would be an attraction unto itself.
Unlike camelot, the city would not be build on a hill, as that was deemed impractical for the infrastructure. They found the 45 square miles they wanted in middle America, a place with as mild weather as could be asked for and close to multiple, natural, water sources. The first two years were spent digging out whole that would contain the bottom 10 floors. All traffic would be routed under the main part of the city as to allow it to keep its person centric aesthetic.
The first sections of the city would be the three great living complexes, the great glass commercial center (now known as the Crystal Cathedral) , and the engineering block would at first house all the industrial needs for the city including; the sky train intercity transportation system, the medium level tram system that would be piloted not by humans but by the central city computer, and the major citywide grid of power, waste, and water.
The living complexes and engineering block would form a loose cross with the commercial center in the middle. Connecting each major block section would be the Sky level train for block to block transport and the tram system for local transport. Each station of both the Sky level and medium trains would also have lower level connections to the streets and connections out of the city.
The three living complex blocks were each considered separate entities unto themselves that would house up to 100,000 people. Its hard to describe the size of each of these blocks but there were large cities housed within a monitored ecco system. It’s said that they could withstand a nuclear holocaust. Thankfully we never had to find out.
The three blocks were called, Imagination, inspiration, and fantasy. While each megastructure was a copy of the others, the separate buildings were decorated into different motifs. Imagination as a out of this world motif, Inspiration as a retro-future motif, and fantasy decorated with the legends of the world.
Construction of the blocks and the commercial center took ~7 years. At the unvieling of the city Elias Moses gave his famous speech about the future starting now and how the people inside cityland would never want and would turn their dreams into reality.
After the grand opening phase 2 was begun. Phase two was to push out the borders of the city and create large estates for those who did not want to live in the city centers and the construction of the hyper-magnetic train line that would connect Cityland and the rest of the United states. This magnolev train system was incredible in its own right using the latest technology in computing, magnetics, and fusion based atomic power. This train would allow anyone from any walk of life to come to Cityland and even apply to live there.
Immigration started slowly. Most people were wary to move their entire family to a giant building that could come crashing down. The first 5 years after the grand opening the city was at half capacity, ~150,000 residents. The big rush starting during year 6 was a mix of panic, good fortune, and commercial genius.
The rise of the atomic power of the soviet union was already causing the United States to panic. As this “cold war” escalated its citizens were looking to protect themselves and their families. Cityland with its great living complexes seemed an easy solution and when the magnolev train system was turned on, it gave many of these people easy access to leave their homes and move.
The city council also made multiple changes to their immigration policy that further enticed the population; guarantee of a job that would allow a family to live comfortably, job training for all levels of civil service from store clerk to city engineer, and a free education program that would allow children to enter the trade services or enter the College of Dreams, in the city center.
After 10 years Citylands living centers were full and phase 2 was complete. By all accounts the city was a Marvel, a wonder for the ages. Men had dreamed it, men has built it, and now men controlled it.
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