Japanese Design Futuristic City
Taisei’s Mount Fuji City
Japanese construction companies continue to think big. Taisei Corp., the industry’s largest group with housing, road construction and real estate subsidiaries, has come up with plans for a futuristic city that would be shaped like Mount Fuji and would tower 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) — 739 feet higher. The structure, X-SEED 4000, would provide living space for 500,000 to 700,000 people on 5,000 to 7,000 hectares (12,350 to 23,100 acres) of livable floor space, company spokesmen said. The base would be 6 kilometers (3.6 miles) in diameter and rest on the bottom of a lake or ocean. Construction would take 30 years and cost Y150 trillion ($1.2 trillion).
The structure would be built around a core containing administration offices and facilities for cultural exchanges.
Business and commercial facilities would comprise a central frame surrounding the core. Living quarters would be above the central frame but below the 2,000 meter level. The upper reaches would include a nature and space observation center, an energy
plant and a “sky resort” recreation center.
January 15, 1991. Martin Sumichrast