sprawl and historical land use practices. The Unsprawl Team seeks to provide a solution that not only halts the expansion of destructive land use but actually reverses the trend by returning land back to nature.

2.Humanity’s Unsustainable Occupation of Land
2.1.The relationship between humans and the land they occupy can be characterized as not only unhealthy but also as a relationship that is headed towards a destructive end, for all parties concerned. We can view this relationship as having two fundamental aspects:
>Historical Land Occupation Practices
>Projected Global Population Growth

Note: In the context of this paper, when referring to “humans”, we are referring to those historical and social groups that embrace industrial progress as opposed to the disappearing indigenous peoples who live in harmony with the land that they share with other creatures.

2.2.Historically, humans have sought to dominate land and nature in a way that achieves maximum depletion of resources through rapid outward expansion of social habitation. This has become known and Urban Sprawl. (see slide 2/6)

Sprawl is what we see in almost every instance of human habitation on this planet. Sprawling development is the result of unforeseen growth in urban populations and human activities. It is characterized by low density land use in non-agrarian communities. It has lead to building practices and life styles that promote energy inefficient houses that are located far from most of our places of activities. The result is that we have created a situation that propagates two extremely destructive scenarios:

One - We are transforming life sustaining land from its natural state, into a dead asphalt covered substrate that supports our other destructive extreme.

Two - We are maximizing the methods for rapid depletion of non-renewable energy resources while at the same time accelerating our carbon output.

2.3.As we begin the 21st century we are confronted with the realization that we can not survive as a species if we continue our same land use practices.

2.3.1.World population projections indicate that we will exceed 9.5 billion people by the year 2050. (ref. Slide 2/6 While it is true that in some regions we see may see a decline in birth rate, we are also seeing an increase in life span. Some may say that this population increase is acceptable, however the earth has a finite “carrying capacity”. In fact the carrying capacity is actually being reduced. 2007 marks the first time in human history that more people will be living in urban environments and not in rural / agrarian communities. This means that we will see an increase in the rate of consumption of non-renewable resources. In other words as world population increase and technology advances, more people are going to want to have a consuming life style similar to that of the United States. This is not sustainable.

2.3.2.These trends are exacerbated by our inefficient urban habitation which promote rapidly sprawling housing developments. (ref. Slide 2/6) Inefficient city designs generate large carbon footprints and stressful living conditions.

We must change our course ….

3.The Modular Structured Land Project proposes the creation of artificial land as a trim tab solution for steering life ship earth in a new and healthier direction.
The fundamental concept is to create new land via modular structural terraces instead of using and destroying the limited resource of existing natural land (see slide 3/6). This seems like a simple idea but yet it has never been tried on a meaningful scale.

In a broad interpretation, several design configurations are possible. For the purposes of this proposal we have elected to demonstrate a design that resembles an artificial mountain. By creating terraces that are based on a nominal lot size, 50' x 130', with a separation vertically of 30' and a backward offset of 30'. These outward looking terraces of residential lots form the sides of the artificial mountain. The interior of the mountain is available for commercial and civic infrastructures.

3.1.As can be seen in slide 4/6, the Modular Structured Land concept provides a dramatic reduction of land use as compared to a typical middle class US neighborhood. The illustration is only a small slice of the intended structure, and yet it is easy to see an 80% reduction in land use via the Modular Structured Land technology. A full implementation would have an even greater effect on minimizing the impact on land while supporting a greater number of people and human activities.

Additionally, such a structure provides not only an optimal platform for deploying green technologies, but also allows for “smart” integration of all infrastructures and support systems, on both a civic and individual occupant level.

3.2.We can say that the basic concept of Modular Structured Land is to organize the land we use in such a way as to create a smaller footprint with less impact upon natural land, and at the same time provide the opportunity for improved quality life for the greatest number of people.

3.3.The Modular Structured Land, can be viewed as consisting of 2 primary elements; Hardware & Software (see slide 5/6)

3.3.1.Hardware is the main structural frame. This is the core technology. While conceptually it is very much like bridge building, our proposed designs have this frame work function more like a dynamic machine as opposed to a static structure. By this we mean that the structure its self is design to be renewable. There by increasing its longevity and reconfigurability. This aspect of design and engineering is at the core of our next phase of development (ref. Slide 6/6). The Hardware provides the foundation for the Software and would meet and/or exceed all code requirements for supporting typical freestanding structure designs that exist today.

3.3.2. The Software of the Modular Structured Land is everything that sits upon the Hardware. In addition to the residential structures, would also include commercial, light industrial, civic, transportation, and utility. Depending on desired use, the Modular Structured Land could also be used for agricultural purposes.

4.Economically viable,
the Modular Structured Land not only provides a foundation for lower cost of ownership and operation due to increased efficiencies, but it also enables reduced costs of development. This is achieved by its modular characteristics which make use of pre-manufacture components that can be fabricated off site and assembled at the site later. This avoids costs due to weather delays and also provides pre-inspection activities to take place off site.

4.1.Additional economic opportunities will arise in the areas of construction, transportation and environmental management systems. While the Modular Structured Land concept can utilize existing technologies with little or no redesign, it also creates an opportunity for the innovation of new technologies on a large scale.

5.The Modular Structured Land Project is rather large in its scope of development.
In order to actually realize the construction of of such a structure, the participation of many elements must come together. This will involve not only the architecture and engineering, but also political and social commitments as well.

5.1.While it is a long road, our team's next step is to pursue design and development of the components used in the Hardware portion of the Modular Structured Land. Specifically this entails engineering, testing and analysis of patent pending joint that will be used in the Space Frame (see slide 6/6) which is the core element of the structured land.

6.We thank you for your consideration of this proposal and welcome any and all inquires.

The Unsprawl Foundation Team.