# Suppose you had to build two great cities from scratch in the continental U.S. ... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 10, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-build-two-great-cities-from-scratch-in-the-continental-u-s/542692 "2010-06-10T19:28:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-build-two-great-cities-from-scratch-in-the-continental-u-s/542692/1 "2010-06-10T19:28:24Z")
You are given orders and commission and authority to build two new cities in the United States from the ground up if necessary. Both will be metropolises that will start out at more than 1 million inhabitants and grow to several times that. You can choose pasture and farmland if you like or you can expand a current much smaller city, but you will be renaming the new cities. Where would you build the new cities and what would you name them? * * * I would choose a city I currently live in and a city I formerly lived in: I’d enlarge the city of Montgomery and rename it Kingsburg after MLK (which I will admit is as much to piss off the racist element here as it is to honor MLK himself). I would purchase through eminent domain thousands of acres of farmland across the river and keep it as close to nature as possible as a public park. Another I’d choose is Milledgeville, Georgia, the reason being that it’s a pretty old town that has zillions of acres that could be developed into a metropolis, has adequate water supply, and the old area of town would be a good nucleus to add tradition. I’d call it Alexandria to honor [one of the most intriguing yet mostly unknown characters](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_McGillivray) in U.S. history and who was instrumental in the history of the town (though it was not built until a few years after his death). Where would you build and what would you name it? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-build-two-great-cities-from-scratch-in-the-continental-u-s/542692/2 "2010-06-10T20:08:24Z")
Jules Verne did this in his novel **The Begum’s Fortune**. He put them both in the Pacific Northwest. that was in the 1870s. I don’t know where _I’d_ put them now. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-build-two-great-cities-from-scratch-in-the-continental-u-s/542692/3 "2010-06-10T20:13:45Z")
This would make an awesome computer game! ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-build-two-great-cities-from-scratch-in-the-continental-u-s/542692/4 "2010-06-10T20:51:23Z")
I hate Disney so one goes in Florida where Disney World is and one goes in California where Disney Land is. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-build-two-great-cities-from-scratch-in-the-continental-u-s/542692/5 "2010-06-10T21:00:26Z")
I’d mess with a some midwest cities. I’d create Bettenport in Iowa and Rockline in Illinois. And they’d each have a kick ass football team. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-build-two-great-cities-from-scratch-in-the-continental-u-s/542692/6 "2010-06-10T21:13:10Z")
The Florida town is named Methuselah. the California town will be Atlantis. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-build-two-great-cities-from-scratch-in-the-continental-u-s/542692/7 "2010-06-11T05:56:17Z")
We can’t tear down an old city and replace it? See, I hate to destroy farmland. And the population, do they have to live there, or can they move out if they want? What type of employment is going to be there, or are you building it and hoping that employers will show up? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-build-two-great-cities-from-scratch-in-the-continental-u-s/542692/8 "2010-06-11T11:10:32Z")
I’d force them all to go to a city that already exists so I wouldn’t have to ruin any more perfectly good non-city land. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-build-two-great-cities-from-scratch-in-the-continental-u-s/542692/9 "2010-06-12T05:08:55Z")
The only thing I know for sure is that one of them will be Detroit. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-build-two-great-cities-from-scratch-in-the-continental-u-s/542692/10 "2010-06-12T13:36:03Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I’d force them all to go to a city that already exists so I wouldn’t have to ruin any more perfectly good non-city land. The other advantage an existing city has is the infrastructure that’s expensive and time-consuming to build. So instead of building a city from scratch, I’d add the million plus inhabitants to it. So one option is a decaying older city, like Buffalo or Detroit. Even better though is a city like Boston, which already has an extensive subway system. And I’ve never been there, but I think St Louis might work as well. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-build-two-great-cities-from-scratch-in-the-continental-u-s/542692/11 "2010-06-12T16:32:44Z")
But it’s much cheaper to build where there is no infrastructure. For example to extend a subway line in Chicago, would cost an millions in just defending a lawsuits. The Chicago Tranist Authority estimates an extension to a subway line on the Brown or Orange would take ten years in lawsuits, rather defending against them. With a new city you can simply dig the ground and put in a subway. This is way cheaper than digging underneath someone’s house or place of business. Also you can lay down the cable for Cable TV, High Speed Internet, Phones and all sorts of things right from the start. All much cheaper than adding to an already existing city. The most important things in locating a new city would, near to fresh water and also having a mild climate. You probably would have to pick something along the lines of Atlanta for climate. Americans don’t want to live in the cold anymore. That’s why they keep moving to TX, FL, AZ and CA over the last few decades. But those places need water. So you have cities like Detroit, Buffalo, Cleveland and Pittsburgh all flush with water and losing population. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-build-two-great-cities-from-scratch-in-the-continental-u-s/542692/12 "2010-06-12T22:35:28Z")
I convert Rhode Island into one big city. Architecture is all Art Deco Streamline. I shall name it _Colossus_ (sp?) 🙂 I shall re-build Baltimore. Googie/Atomic Age/Mid-Century Modern. Emphasis on alternative energy. Perhaps tidal generators. I shall name it _New Athens_. ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-build-two-great-cities-from-scratch-in-the-continental-u-s/542692/13 "2010-06-13T02:54:12Z")
The Oregon Coast needs a bustling metropolis, say around Tillamok or Seaside. Name it Bangor, just to continue the trend 🙂 The other city will be located in western Montana, about where Lincoln is. It will be the most heavily forested metropolitan area in the US. ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-had-to-build-two-great-cities-from-scratch-in-the-continental-u-s/542692/14 "2010-06-14T19:34:40Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’d enlarge the city of Montgomery and rename it Kingsburg after MLK (which I will admit is as much to piss off the racist element here as it is to honor MLK himself). Yes, nothing would honor the good doctor more than pissing off Whitey.:rolleyes: