Walking City, from Archigram

When considering the economic flexibility and “freedom” created by mobile settlements, we might look to the avante-garde Walking City concept from architect Ron Herron of the Archigram group as an example. Ron’s concept is something that has been in the mind of the architects for a long time.

The Walking City was an idea proposed by British architect Ron Herron in 1964. In an article in the avant-garde architecture journal Archigram, Ron Herron proposed building massive, artificially intelligent mobile robotic structures that could freely roam a post-apocalyptic world, moving to wherever the structures’ resources or manufacturing abilities were needed. Various walking cities could interconnect with each other to form larger ‘walking metropolises’ and then disperse when their concentrated power was no longer necessary. Individual buildings or structures could also be mobile, moving wherever their owner wanted or needs dictated.
 

Therefore, although this is not a proposal for a floating city, the mobile structures share the same concepts as a moving city like a seastead as they are autonomous and self-sufficient, they can interact with other moving cities, and they operate in a world where no boundaries exist. “Walking City imagines a future in which borders and boundaries are abandoned in favor of a nomadic lifestyle among groups of people worldwide.”

More info can be found at the official website of the University of Westminster, here.

A Youtube video about the project can be viewed here.

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