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"We were essentially being shell-shocked by rapid change. That was one of the things you needed science-fiction writers for back in the Sixties, because we could cope with the future."
- Peter Watts
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| King's Free Park | ||
| A park in which anarchy reigned; a very long, narrow park. |
Science fiction writers do more, much more, than merely examining problems of the present. They also help to solve problems we don't even have yet.
| The modern transportation systems cleaned the air and made traffic jams archaic and left the nation with an embarrassing problem. What to do with ten thousand miles of unsightly abandoned freeways? King's Free Park had been part of the San Diego Freeway, the section between Sunset and the Santa Monica interchange. Decades ago the concrete had been covered with topsoil. The borders had been landscaped from the start. Within King's Free Park was an orderly approximation of anarchy. |
| Technovelgy from Cloak of Anarchy,
by Larry Niven. Published by Analog in 1972 Additional resources -
|
People who come to this country from Europe, where land is at a premium, are stunned at the amount of land occupied by our modern highway system. Niven takes a reasonable premise and runs with it in the story.
This solution works with today's version of the "trench" freeway, as well as the freeways that wind through the countryside. However, you probably wouldn't get a very anarchic or liberating feeling in a park made from the first "trench" freeway - the Davison freeway in Detroit, Michigan. Imagine a four lane divided highway squeezed (barely) into a tunnel. Now take just the roof off; that's the Davison freeway.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Cloak of Anarchy
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and Technology by Larry Niven
Tech news articles related to Cloak of Anarchy
Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven
King's Free Park-related
news articles:
- Rebuild Highways - Or Think Differently
- Niven's King's Free Park - In Toronto
| With Mycotecture, We'll Just Grow The Space Habitats We Need |
| Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast |
| LiquidView Ersatz Windows, ala Philip K. Dick |
| Solar House Concept Unfolds Solar Panels Like A Flower |
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