Entrepreneur and billionaire Marc Lore has decided to build a desert city from scratch, making it a new urban utopia where private land ownership won’t exist, and the community itself will operate the city of Telosa.
This sustainable metropolis in America called Telosa would be an ambitious 150,000-acre land, promising all its 5 million residents drought-resistant water systems, eco-friendly construction, and sustainable energy production.
The Inspiration
What inspired founder Marc Lore for the $400 billion project of the city of Telosa was the 19th-century economist Henry George.
Both George and Lore have been trying to answer a single question: “With such incredible, material progress over the last 100 years — why are there still so many people just barely getting by?”.
Lore explains that while capitalism has been an incredible economic system, it still has major income and wealth inequality flaws.
The Vision
People and society add value to a piece of land that might otherwise be worthless, but they rarely get anything in return.
This is why Lore has come up with his own new economic model – Equitism.
The project defines Equitsm as “an economic system in which citizens have a stake in the city’s land — as the city does better, the residents do better”.
Telosa is named after the ancient Greek word telos, which means “highest purpose”. According to Lore’s vision, the city of Telosa would provide a fleet of driverless electric cars, indoor farming, high-speed public transportation, education, and healthcare for all of the city’s five million residents.
Means and Location
Lore has opted to take on the problem of land valuation and ownership head-on to do so. He intends to establish a foundation to own the property while allowing citizens to build, grow, and sell their homes.
Although the project doesn’t have a target location, planners are scouting Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Texas and the Appalachian region, according to the project’s official website.
Working on the project are the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), who will be responsible for Telosa’s preliminary architecture, prioritising sustainability and economic equity.
Lore summarises the vision of the city of Telosa like this: the cleanliness of Tokyo, the diversity of New York and the social services of Stockholm.
