12 Spiral City at Ecocity Summit 2008

A model of the 12 Spiral City was presented at the Ecocity World Summit in San Francisco in April 2008.
The 12 Spiral City is a vision of developing an ecologically integrated urban mega-structure. It applies Paolo Soleri’s concept of arcology to John Michell’s sacred geometrical plan of the Heavenly City.
Twelve spiraling ramps arrayed in a circle incorporate all the utilities and infrastructure necessary for urban living and are open to individual development of human scale habitations. At the intersection of the spiraling ramps are vertical structures connecting the levels that have large elevators that can transport vehicles as well as pedestrian traffic. It has the potential to provide a higher quality of life to its inhabitants and promote the social, cultural, and spiritual evolution of humankind, while reducing humanity’s detrimental impact on the earth.

12 Spiral City

Arcology is ecological architecture. It is a superstructure housing the residential, commercial and industrial functions of a conventional city in a highly integrated, compact and efficient three-dimensional urban form. The city is an organism, one that should follow the same processes of complexification and miniaturization that are found in natural organisms. An arcology might use as little as 2%of the land needed for a typical city of similar population, eliminating most car usage. It is an environmentally aware and energy efficient solution for infrastructure services such as heating, cooling, water and power. Greatly increased efficiency leads to economic prosperity, and the vast technological and engineering challenges will inspire new industries and disciplines.

The Twelve Spiral City is based on the ancient sacred geometry of the Heavenly City plan, utilizing Paolo Soleri’s concept of Arcology. The plan represents the realm of earth under the influence of the moon. The 12 circles around the central circle become three-dimensional spiraling ramps that are a city block wide, 2160 feet in diameter, with a total of 12 levels. They would incorporate human scale dwellings, gardens and downward sloping streets that would facilitate the transport of all materials and services including water and power, recycling of materials, etc. Vertical structures containing large elevators connecting the levels for upward movement would be at the intersection of adjacent spirals. The process of building the structure and the dwellings would embody the constant flow of materials that is found in living organisms. The 12 spirals would each serve a different cultural function, attracting the appropriate people and activities. It has the potential to provide a higher quality of life to its inhabitants and promote the social, cultural, and spiritual evolution of humankind, while reducing humanity’s detrimental impact on the earth.

Heavenly City Plan

The Heavenly City plan is from John Michell’s book “The Dimensions of Paradise: The Proportions and Symbolic Numbers of Ancient Cosmology”. He has studied ancient sites such as the Pyramids in Egypt and Stonehenge, as well as recent crop circle patterns, and has developed an in depth understanding of sacred geometry and units of measuring distances. Some of his other books include “The New View Over Atlantis” and “Twelve-Tribe Nations and the Science of Enchanting the Landscape”. The Heavenly City plan is based on a circle that is 7920 in diameter and the outer circles are 2160 in diameter. Those numbers are the diameters of the earth and moon in miles. The total of the 2 radiuses is 5040. The circumference of that circle, which passes through the center of the outer 12 circles, is equal to the four sides of the square that contains the inner circle, which is known as squaring the circle. To construct this, (see diagram), start with a circle and draw a square around it. Then construct an equilateral triangle from the base of the square. Where the triangle intersects the circle, it divides the circle into seven equal parts, so a heptagon can be inscribed. Repeat this step for the other three sides of the square, generating 28 points. Twelve circles can now be constructed around tthe perimeter of the circle by using the distance between points of the heptagons as the radius, leaving 4 openings every three circles. Inscribe a circle that touches the inner perimeters of the 12 circles and a square that contains it. That square has the same perimeter as the original circle.