Minnesota Experimental City
Encyclopedia
The Minnesota Experimental City (MXC) was a proposed planned community
to be located in northern Minnesota
(near Swatara in Aitkin County). Proposed and studied beginning in the 1960s, it would have been constructed as a public private partnership. In contrast with many of the model cities
of the time, the MXC was to be experimental, trying new things rather than proposing to select from the best of the existing practice.
It was designed for 250,000 people over 60000 acres (24,281.2 ha). In the plan, only 1/6 of the area would be paved, the remainder would be open space
: parks, wilderness, and farms. The plan called for the MXC to be partially enclosed by a geodesic dome
. It would contain a branch of the University of Minnesota
and 3M
Corporation.
Among other proposed features were:
Planned community
A planned community, or planned city, is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are less frequent in planned communities since...
to be located in northern Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
(near Swatara in Aitkin County). Proposed and studied beginning in the 1960s, it would have been constructed as a public private partnership. In contrast with many of the model cities
Model Cities Program
The Model Cities Program was an element of United States President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and War on Poverty. The ambitious federal urban aid program ultimately fell short of its goals....
of the time, the MXC was to be experimental, trying new things rather than proposing to select from the best of the existing practice.
It was designed for 250,000 people over 60000 acres (24,281.2 ha). In the plan, only 1/6 of the area would be paved, the remainder would be open space
Urban open space
In land use planning, urban open space is open space areas for “parks”, “green spaces”, and other open areas. The landscape of urban open spaces can range from playing fields to highly maintained environments to relatively natural landscapes. They are commonly open to public access, however, urban...
: parks, wilderness, and farms. The plan called for the MXC to be partially enclosed by a geodesic dome
Geodesic dome
A geodesic dome is a spherical or partial-spherical shell structure or lattice shell based on a network of great circles on the surface of a sphere. The geodesics intersect to form triangular elements that have local triangular rigidity and also distribute the stress across the structure. When...
. It would contain a branch of the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
and 3M
3M
3M Company , formerly known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation based in Maplewood, Minnesota, United States....
Corporation.
Among other proposed features were:
- a pedestrian zone, cars were to be parked on the edge with a people-mover connecting them to the center. An automated highway system would connect the town with the outside world.
- no schoolSchoolA school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s. The city itself would foster lifelong learningLifelong learningLifelong learning is the continuous building of skills and knowledge throughout the life of an individual. It occurs through experiences encountered in the course of a lifetime...
, with everyone both a student and teacher. - waterless toiletToiletA toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
s