Buzz
In a city covered by a dome, we would no longer experience snow days, build snowmen, or watch snowflakes fall.
Digital Vision/Getty ImagesMain Points to Remember
- A covered city refers to the idea of building a protective structure over an urban area to shield it from unfavorable weather, pollution, and other external dangers.
- The structures may vary from clear domes to retractable roofs, offering residents a controlled atmosphere while still allowing for outdoor spaces.
- While the concept offers advantages like better air quality and protection from the weather, it also comes with challenges such as high costs, feasibility, and potential environmental effects.
In one of their famous comic strips, Calvin and Hobbes have a hilarious conversation, which goes like this:
Hobbes: It looks like a new decade is just around the corner.
Calvin: Oh, great. Another decade. So where are all the flying cars? Where are the moon bases? Where are the personal robots and zero-gravity boots? You call this the future?! What happened to rocket packs? The disintegration guns? The floating cities?
Hobbes: Honestly, I'm not sure humans have the intellect to handle the technology they currently possess.
Calvin: Seriously, look around! We still have to deal with weather?! Give me a break!
CALVIN AND HOBBES © Watterson. Reprinted with permission of UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE. All rights reserved.
People envision domed cities because, as Calvin points out, we still haven't mastered controlling the weather. If every place on Earth could enjoy weather like San Diego, it probably wouldn't be such a concern. Unfortunately, in major cities like Buffalo, Minneapolis, New York, and Chicago, the weather is far from San Diego's mildness -- especially during winter!
The idea behind a domed city is to take a large metropolitan area and enclose it so that:
- The temperature remains constant all year long.
- No rain or snow to disrupt outdoor activities like picnics or weddings.
- Outdoor activities are free from the harmful effects of the sun.
Continue reading to find out if domed cities have been tried before.
Small-scale Domed Cities
The Mall of America is like a small city encapsulated in glass.Numerous attempts have been made to build miniature domed cities. Take a look at these examples:
- The Mall of America, located near Minneapolis, is a tiny city under a glass dome. It spans about 80 acres of floor space (covering 27 acres of land), housing over 500 stores, 80 restaurants, and even an indoor amusement park.
- Biosphere 2 is a vast, entirely sealed laboratory that covers 3.15 acres.
- The Eden Project in England consists of two geodesic domes that together cover approximately 5 acres.
- Any dome stadium generally spans between eight to 10 acres.
What if we were to take these ideas further, expanding them on a grand scale to encompass a city-sized area, covering around 650 acres -- roughly a square mile? This would mean covering a plot of land about one mile on each side, or a circular area with a diameter of 1.13 miles, with a full cover.
The first challenge would be deciding which technology to use to cover such a massive area. Here are three possible options:
- The Mall of America employs standard mall construction methods, such as concrete and block walls, trusses, skylights, and more. The architecture isn't particularly glamorous or awe-inspiring (there would be many support posts and walls, rather than the grandeur of a vast dome), but it's easy to imagine using these same techniques to cover a square mile.
- The Eden Project uses a geodesic dome structure with hexagonal panels, all covered by several inflatable layers of lightweight plastic foil. The weight of the geodesic frame and panels is roughly equal to the weight of the air inside the dome.
- The British Columbia Place Stadium is covered by a Teflon-coated fiberglass fabric, supported by air pressure. The air pressure inside is only 0.03 psi above the normal atmospheric pressure, with 16 fans, each providing 100 horsepower, creating the extra pressure.
For a project like covering a city with a dome, the buildings might serve as part of the structural support for the dome. For instance, six tall buildings at the center of the city could act as pillars, supporting the central dome, with additional buildings throughout the city acting as shorter supporting pillars.
What would life be like?
2007 PhotodiscClearly, with the mall technology and possibly the other two methods, creating a protective shell over a square mile would be feasible. Here are some of the intriguing questions that would arise if someone were to attempt such a project:
How many people could reside in such a city?
Let’s assume the interior of the dome is built with an average height of 10 stories. Some buildings will rise higher, while parts of the city will be parks or undeveloped areas, but the average height remains 10 stories. This would give the city roughly 280,000,000 square feet of floor space. If each person requires around 500 square feet for living space (typical in suburban America), plus another 500 square feet for things like hallways, parks, walkways, elevators, and communal areas, this city could accommodate nearly 200,000 people. However, real estate inside the dome is likely to be highly valuable, which means people may live in much smaller spaces than they do today. In that case, each person might only occupy 500 square feet, allowing the city to hold over half a million people.
How much would it take to construct this dome?
Currently, the cost of space in a skyscraper runs about $400 per square foot. The Eden Project’s greenhouses cost around the same, so we can apply that figure here. The total cost for the project would likely be in the ballpark of $140 billion, which equates to around $250,000 per person. When you think about it, that’s not too outrageous.
What would be the cost of heating and cooling such a massive structure?
It's difficult to give a precise answer because the cost would depend on the type of construction, location, and other factors. That said, it's worth noting that the Mall of America doesn’t require additional spending on heating, even though it’s located in Minnesota. The lights and the people inside generate enough heat. The main challenge would be cooling this enormous structure, particularly when the sun is shining. A possible solution could be to build the domed city in a colder climate.
How will residents move around?
The farthest distance between any two points in the city will be about one mile, meaning a person could walk anywhere in half an hour or less. Walking will likely be the primary, and possibly the only, method of transportation for city dwellers. There will also need to be systems in place to transport food and goods into the city. Underground train systems or truck routes could be the most practical solution.
The more you think about the idea of a domed city, the more it seems plausible. It’s quite possible that we could see such a city built in the next decade or two. At long last, people might be able to plan their weekends without worrying about the weather!
