Aviation City

Forget cars. Live in a city designed for four-seater aircraft.

This city is designed like a low-density, decentralized sprawl, except there are no roads or highways. Instead, each housing subdivision has a small grassy runway in its center, with garage-like hangars attached to it. Business parks and shopping malls are surrounded by a dozen or so mini-runways with "parking" on either side.

Each of these subdivisions is surrounded by a wide "moat" which forms part of a canal system laid out in a grid geometry. This canal system is used to transport heavy cargo and building materials by barge.

The city would be located somewhere that is sunny and free of wind most of the year, such as UAE.

The results:

* No traffic congestion. Airspace can be utilized in 3 dimensions.

* Low density settlement allows the kind of suburban/rural lifestyle most people want, without sacrificing access to employment and services. The average speeds of small aircraft would allow to spread a 10-million metropolis over a 200 x 200 km grid. This would enable everyone to own a large plot of land, undisturbed by noise and pollution.

* There would be no public land, apart from the canal system. All subdivisions would be privately owned, and effectively run like gated communities. The advantage: 1) Almost no crime. There would be no space for beggars, and the moats would protect citizens from burglaries, muggings, and car crime. 2) The lack of public infrastructure would keep taxes low.

* A good ultralight aircraft costs as much as a medium-sized car and is easy to fly, so it's in most people's reach. Mass production of small aircraft would bring the prices down further.