My megaproject ideas are mostly pretty standard. I’d build a high speed rail network across North America, and build and expand metro and regional rail systems in and around every city. I’d turn all cities and suburbs into fifteen-minute cities. I’d decommodify housing, and build ten million units of public/social/non-market housing, mostly three bedroom units. I’d link those last three policies together by building TODs around the new Metro and rail stops. And I’d build bicycle networks in every town and city and connect them to the TODs. I’d build bridges and walkways across skyscrapers. I’d put a bidet in every American toilet (uses less water than toilet paper apart from being more comfortable). Fiber internet in every home. A heat pump in every home. An induction stove in every kitchen. Phase out fossil fuels and power everything with Pumped Storage Hydropower and Geothermal. I’d make the US go Metric.
But my truly crazy, obsessive idea would be to bring back the French Revolutionary calendar. Or I’d purge all French influences from English.
My thing would be to give people previously unhoused or disconnected to connect with one another to make villages just large enough to be self-sustaining. And they could do specific tasks or research that personally appeals to them with or without credentials/gatekeeping as far as education in our current systems.
I mean like communes I guess, but more goal focused - like a village of agriculture enthusiasts who want to grow and use local plants and resources to sustain themselves and track success. Or a village of people who want to repurpose old hangars to develop aviation technology or something physics related.
Honestly I just want to group together enthusiasts and see what they can make or discover when there’s no worry about rent, no paywalls, and no profit incentives.
I think I’d like to live in a village somewhere isolated and low tech that focuses on spending large spans of time on personal projects and sharing them in a group setting like once a month. An introvert’s paradise. I think there are cool things we can learn and create when given different safe environments. I know that people would really gravitate towards what motivates them when they have their needs met and given the opportunity to explore.
I’d also like the idea of education in general being freely available with certification only necessary in relation to human safety (medicine, nuclear physics, etc.).
