Transcending Space and Time: The emerging urban morphosis around spaceports

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Date

2023-03-15

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Publisher

Virginia Tech

Abstract

This thesis investigates the possible development of a new urban form around space launching sites. A city form that is built with the influence of job opportunities offered at the spaceport and its surrounding local conditions-a futuristic company town. The design approach is derived from a multitude of learnings from the past and later it is curated to envision a futuristic aspect providing solutions for better livelihood of people while also advocating for the surrounding environment. The thesis intensively focuses on developing a set of frameworks that could be tailored for building cities around spaceports identifying various obstructions existing around them. And it is later tested with one of its kind – a potential growth site with its very own local contextual conditions. The distinctive design decisions and solutions provided consider the presence of the spaceport as a constant; with changing population and landscapes as variables. The determined frameworks can be applied to any other such potential site. The notion of the new urban fabric is to create a valuable settlement that supports and embraces the co-existence of technological innovation, environmental consciousness, and better liveability, creating resistance against fatal damages and complications. This science-driven city will be an identity for the future urban fabric around space science exploration zones. It aims in achieving its purpose and contributes to cultivating the good quality of life that people would need for healthy well-being while working towards innovative inventions for mankind to sustain on earth and beyond.

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Keywords

Spaceports, Space science, futuristic city, resilient communities, urban design, urban planning

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