15,000km Long Eco City Revitalizes the Silk Road

<a href="http://www.francescolipari.it/">OFL Architecture</a> has just taken first prize in the international competition to reinvent, reinterpret and revitalize the "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road">Silk Road</a>," a legendary trade route connecting Asia, Europe and Northern Africa that was traveled by religious representatives, traders and merchants like Marco Polo for thousands of years. Called SRME or Silk Road Map Evolution, their ambitious design proposes a 15,000 km long city which will stretch from Venice to Xian, Shanghai to Tokyo, and will promote trade via a new <a href="http://inhabitat.com/transportation/">railway system</a> functioning on gravitational platforms. To make use of all of the surface area that this "motor city" will make available, its skin will be lined with <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/solar-power">photovoltaic panels</a> and an air-purifying "synthetic chlorophyll."

OFL's vision for the new Silk Road is made up of two main elements: highly sustainable and habitable towers and a vast railway system.

The <a href="http://inhabitat.com/2010/09/28/vertical-cemetery-is-a-green-lined-final-resting-place-for-mumbai/">towers </a>will be composed of three different types of skyscrapers that will be a median height of 400 meters tall.

The second element, the railway system, will run along the traditional "Silk Road" as well as a new line of public <a href="http://inhabitat.com/transportation/">transport</a> with trains that travel on polarized gravitational fields.

In order to take advantage of the surface area of the SMRE, its skin will be composed of an innovative system made up of a titanium dioxide-based cement that will be able to significantly reduce atmospheric disturbance using a synthetic chlorophyll.

The special substance will be able to generate a photocatalytic reaction that produces clean air - about 500 liters of oxygen a day for every 200 square meters of surface.

In addition to the air purifying skin, an innovative system of piezoelectric panels will be integrated into the tracks of the rail system, capturing <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/energy">energy</a> created by the movement of the trains and converting it into electricity.

The SMRE in Mongolia.

"The studio driven towards the development of the SRME was created following an attentive analysis of the actual condition of the city on a global level. The common problem of large contemporary cities is that of congestion of circulation. This is a natural consequence of demographic expansion, a phenomenon that can be defined as explosive considering the exponential trend that manifested in the 20th century. The "classic" urban structure of cities developed concentrically around a central nucleus is no longer capable of resolving the problematic issues of traffic and pollution. As a result, the model of an ideal city will evolve, placing emphasis on MOBILITY and creating an environment in which displacements are reduced to a minimum and sustainable means of transport are implemented. The key issues of the innovative project of mobility are therefore the growing mechanization of displacements and the abandon of personal vehicles," says OFL of their design.

"The fundamental goal of this innovative project of the spatial city is that of reducing to a minimum the percentage of soil disrupted for construction and urban structures. This also addresses the problems of architectonic development in large metropolises as well as overpopulation and increasing demographics of existing cities. Marginal suburbs and peripheral cities which cause great social problems will disappear."

The skin of the SMRE will vary based on the region it is built in.

A presentation chart showing some of the other sustainable features of the SMRE.

Some of the towers will be cylindrical while others will have a loop design.