Robodistricts

Preface

In this line of inquiry I ponder how a human-scale neighborhood could benefit from an offsite supporting robodistrict, and what that robodistrict would look like. Supporting infrastructure is already typically pushed out of the human-habitable part of the community, think wastewater treatment plants, solid waste collection and processing, power generation, logistics, manufacturing, and other classically industrial uses. as the number of automated services rises, there will be more pressure on land uses close to neighborhoods. For example, so-called ghost kitchens supplying the need for push button food delivery have moved into vacant commercial spaces or even shipping containers in parking garages.

Characteristics of robo land use

I expect the market will want to build facilities for autonomous last mile delivery and garages for autonomous vehicles. The common denominator is that these land uses:

• Large, blank buildings
• Lots of trip generation
• Want to be close to population centers

Hypothesis

Consolidating robo land use into compact districts will improve their performance internally and improve the condition of the human districts.