Dig away the old fill dirt, and place the city of Atlanta on tracks. Then it can be pushed to the coast in the summertime. When there’s a tornado warning, push the city out of the way. Tracks can cross for movement in any of several directions. Move cities together for ease of commute, then back in their spots on the weekend.

When Atlanta, Georgia was razed by General Sherman, the town was moved a short distance and rebuilt. Later, the old town was buried for the creation of viaducts for the train hub, and then built over the fill dirt. This city has a history of travel, which makes it a good test case for this idea.
-- Amos Kito, Feb 10 2008

Croissant for grandeur.
-- baconbrain, Feb 10 2008


Just don't bother with any buffers at the sea end of the track.... Once tested on Atlanta, build the next set under Texas and push hard.
-- xenzag, Feb 10 2008


I suspect that tidal motions might cause the entire city to rock back and forth.
-- bungston, Feb 11 2008


James Blish came up with a similar idea in his book, "A Life For The Stars", although in that case the cities were capable of interstellar travel.

The idea of being able to evacuate an entire city by trundling it off to somewhere else is ingenious and worthy of further investigation.
-- 8th of 7, Feb 13 2008


The entry for mercury (Hg) in the Periodic Table of Science Fiction portrays a city moving over the surface of the planet Mercury to stay at a habitable temperature. Talk about baked!
-- Ford, Feb 13 2008


... and irrational, as Mercury's day and year are the same length; one hemisphere is continuously illuminated.

The place to build a city would no doubt be somewhere in the Twilight Zone.
-- 8th of 7, Feb 13 2008


Ooops, we were thinking of the other one.... errr, what's it called.... axis of roatation is in the plane of the ecliptic..... is that Neptune ?
-- 8th of 7, Feb 14 2008



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