Multi-Function Polis
At the height of Japanese-investor mania in late 80s Australia, there was a proposal to build a futuristic city called multi-function polis out in WA. From The Wiki:
The Multifunction Polis (MFP) was a controversial scheme for a planned community in Australia proposed in 1987 and abandoned in 1998. From the Greek word polis, meaning "city", it was imagined as a place where work and leisure, lifetime education and intercultural exchange, research and manufacturing would be uniquely integrated.[1]
The MFP was intended to have an initial population of 100,000, though some modelling was done on the assumption of a population up to 250,000. Futuristic infrastructure and modern communications were expected to help attract high-tech industries.[2] Asian investors were targeted as an important source of funds, with an emphasis on Japanese investors.[3]
Several possible locations were put forward and in 1990 a site at Gillman, north of Adelaide, was selected. The proposal generated noisy opposition in Australia, with some critics claiming it would open the way for a Japanese settlement on Australian soil.[3] The MFP, at least as originally envisaged, never eventuated.
I don’t think anyone can truly appreicate how hilariously hairbrained a scheme this sounds unless one is well-acquainted with high-off-thei-kite forever-bamboozled aussie elites.
Of course it was never gonna work. Because the premise seems to be to get the working class schlubs to bust their balls building this thing in the outback somewhere and then deny them entry to its final result…. And yet it would all be maintained by magic: the roads, the HVAC, the flying-car turbo-thrusters… all of it.
I guess they defaulted down to plan B, which was tio turn the major existing Australian cities into a diet-multi-function Polis. ANd that’s turning out to be just as much of a dud-lemon.
What I like about imagining this thing is how these quiff-hairdoes investors saw this idea in their illustrated brochures or in their heads. One thinks of Cypress Creek, the employee town for the Globex Corporation in the Simpsons. The homeless man replaced by a fire hydrant. WHo takes care of the garbage?
It’ll all pan out alright im sure. No way all those 5g towers will be a future maintenance liability.
IN OTHER NEWS, because it’s a slow news day…
I discovered this site about a year ago, called the Door Of Perception. Please check it out, it’s a lot of fun. Basically it shows a bunch of past and present Surrealist type works in various different mediums and from different parts of the world. A good website to look at when you want to clear your head while stuck at the computer screen for work or other obligations.