CENTER FOR RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

3.1. Overview

The Venus Project has begun development of its next phase: the Center for Resource Management. This facility will act as a stepping stone towards the development of our proposed network of cities.

Primary goals:

The Center for Resource Management will utilize The Venus Project’s holistic, systems approach to social betterment. This approach looks at the entire social system as one whole. This is in contrast to today’s typical approaches of companies and governments who focus on isolated elements of the social system (which we could call an elementalistic approach). The following table outlines some main differences between the two approaches:

As part of its systems approach, the Center for Resource Management will include food & agriculture, water management, renewable energy, housing, education, collective use and sharing of items, tourism, media production & outreach, and more – all in an integrated plan. One other highly innovative aspect, that is again a part of the larger social plan, is that all residents of the Center for Resource Management will have entirely free access to housing, food, energy, water, education, common items, and more.

The location of each component and building in the site plan is likewise a part of the systems approach. The Center for Resource Management utilizes a circular arrangement, with all its components arranged in five rings. The systems approach makes it much easier to lay out the energy grid, the water piping, the landscape and other elements of the urban plan. Another aspect is the use of many similar architectural components which can be duplicated. This conserves energy and resources, which is important for enabling all people to have a higher standard of living.

The five rings and eight slices allow for efficiency, replicability and modularity.

This is however not a cookie-cutter approach. The images below show The Venus Project’s current Center in Venus, Florida, where 10 experimental buildings are totally immersed within the natural environment:

Treating the entire complex as a single system also allows us to reuse many of the materials and resources, such as food waste for composting and recycling of the wastewater. The following diagram outlines the use and flow of energy and materials (metabolic plan) within the complex:

Center for Resource Management – Flow of energy and materials

A scalable and replicable social blueprint
The Center for Resource Management will test and advance the social blueprint The Venus Project has been developing for decades. By social blueprint we mean the collection of all the design principles, architectural and infrastructure blueprints, procedures and processes, educational courses, reference information and data, business model, and more. This social blueprint will continuously evolve through the work and feedback of the Center for Resource Management’s residents, outside participants, as well as through input from visiting researchers who examine how well the entire complex is working. A set of metrics can be used to assess how well the social blueprint is performing in each of the following areas:

The social blueprint will allow for subsequent cities to replicate and scale up the functioning of the Center for Resource Management, while at the same time tailoring it to their local circumstances and needs, as well as contributing to improving it. Ultimately, this social blueprint will lead to The Venus Project’s long-term aims and goals described under our Phase 4.

3.2. Tourism

The Center for Resource Management will welcome visitors from around the world. The complex will be located near a major tourist area and an international airport. The main purpose is to provide visitors with a lived experience of a different way of organizing society, and to show them a vision of a world where everyone enjoys a high quality of life and people symbiotically co-exist with one another and the rest of nature.

The Center for Resource Management’s visitor experience will be a further development of the tours which The Venus Project’s current Center in Venus, Florida holds regularly:

Starting from the outer ring and moving toward the center of the circle, the visitor experience will begin with a pass through of the agricultural belt, energy sector, and living premises. The visitors will see how the complex is growing food in clean and healthy ways, conserving and reusing water, utilizing efficient housing, generating clean energy, and how all the residents enjoy accessing the benefits of this at no cost.

Reaching the central ring, the visitors enter the Exhibition of the Future. This unique facility is comprised of several buildings and walking paths between them. It shows, through many types of interactive exhibits, scale models, and virtual reality, what can be achieved when we direct our resources and efforts toward worldwide social betterment and sustainability.

Tourism will be one of the main revenue generators, enabling the Center for Resource Management’s residents to purchase from outside all materials, products and services that are not produced and provided internally at the time.

3.3. Food & Agriculture

The purpose of the food and agriculture program is to provide a healthy and nutritious diet for all residents and visitors of the Center for Resource Management, all year round. This is to be accomplished in clean, symbiotic ways, and using only the most environmentally sound practices.

The Center for Resource Management includes an agricultural belt for producing as much of its own food as possible. The agricultural belt will utilize the Polydome concept as developed by Except Integrated Sustainability. The Polydome creates an ecosystem of many different types of plants and animals and utilizes the symbiotic relationships between them. This is in an enclosed environment, removing the need to use pesticides or other toxic chemicals.

Polydome greenhouse. Source: Polydome book.

Polydome greenhouse interior – a polyculture symbiotic ecosystem. Source: Polydome book.

Food is provided in a Restaurant where residents of the Center for Resource Management can dine at no cost. The meal plans are prepared by nutritionists.

Restaurant building in the Center for Resource Management

Excess agricultural produce will be sold to the local food market. The revenue from this will help accelerate the project’s rate of development, and it will help bring more sustainably grown food to local food markets. This model of exporting excess food can readily be used by subsequent cities, helping to change the world’s food systems.

3.4. Water

The primary purpose is to provide clean, safe drinking water to all residents and visitors. This is accomplished through capturing and cleaning rainwater, conserving water, and recycling wastewater.

Another main purpose of water is to provide places for recreation, relaxation, swimming, and social gathering.

The Venus Project’s current 21-acre Center in Venus, Florida includes beautiful ponds and lakes:

The Center for Resource Management will similarly have many beautiful ponds and lakes throughout its landscape.

Lakes and ponds will be throughout the complex.

The drinking water requirements and harvestable rainfall for the entire complex have been estimated as follows:

3.5. Energy

The goal of the energy program is to ensure sufficient energy for electrical, heating and cooling requirements is provided all year round through sustainable generation. Energy includes electrical and thermal (heat) energy.

The anticipated peak electrical demand of all buildings and infrastructure in the Center for Resource Management is 18.4 MVA (estimate includes a high safety margin). This will be supplied by the energy belt which at this time is planned to consist of solar panels and batteries for storage. This setup will provide sufficient energy for the entire complex for most of the year.

A smart microgrid will distribute the electricity throughout the complex. Connection with the main electrical grid will provide a backup and supplementary electrical supply, as well as a way to export excess electricity generated from the energy belt back into the main electrical grid.

A GeoExchange district energy system will provide heating and cooling for the buildings.

3.6. Sharing Of Products And Services

Today, the practice of checking out books from a public library, reading and then returning them is well established. The Center for Resource Management’s social blueprint utilizes a similar concept, and extends it further to include not only books but a variety of common items. These will be available in the Access center, or in other access locations.

The Access center is one of the dome buildings in the amenities belt.

Products such as bikes, tools and cameras will be available for use from their respective access locations, and will be shared between all residents. For single-use items, residents will be able to obtain a range of those from the Access center at no cost. The need for single-use items will however be minimized through intelligent planning of the overall system.

Shared products will be maintained and kept in top condition by the expert teams who are responsible for that particular area of the social system. These teams will also track the demand for the various products and services to ensure they are available without waiting lines.

3.7. Media Production & Outreach

One of the major goals of the Center for Resource Management is to help usher in a global collaboration towards the restoration of the Earth’s ecosystems and a transition to a society where everybody is housed, clothed, fed, and has their needs met.

One way of spreading and initiating this vision will be through media production and promotion throughout the globe. A dedicated Media center building will serve to help the creation of many different forms of media: TV shows, interviews, short clips, documentaries, comic strips, books, cartoons, songs, and more.

The Media center will be located in one of the domes in the amenities belt.

3.8. Medical Care, Recreation, and More

A medical care facility capable of handling acute operations will be available for residents and visitors. This facility will also be used for regular medical checkups for residents. Healthcare professionals participate in the design and operation of the whole Center for Resource Management complex, to help make it an environment that promotes a healthy lifestyle and wellbeing.

Various sports facilities will be provided: a swimming pool, tennis courts, a fitness center, and more. The whole environment is more akin to a garden or a forest than a city. It is full of walking paths, bike paths, lakes, and more:

There will be no trees in a row but rather a natural environment similar to our existing Center in Venus, Florida:

Natural environment within our Center in Venus, Florida.

Other elements of the Center for Resource Management’s social blueprint not described in the previous sections include education, transportation, architectural modeling, art & music, and more.