Groups of 50 Communities

In the NewVistas system, 50 adjacent communities, each with up to 100,000 people, form an association called a NewVista, which thus can have as many as five million inhabitants.

To average half an acre of farmland for each resident,¹ a 50-community NewVista occupies an area as large as 3,900 square miles, with each community about 50,000 acres in size and with about 10 miles between each community’s central grid.²

If a NewVista were a perfect square, it would measure about 62 miles by 62 miles, but most NewVistas will adopt an irregular shape that fits into the local terrain, such as in mountainous areas.

The 50 communities in a NewVista coordinate through a council comprised of each community’s capital bank presidencies. Each capital bank presidency has four individuals, so a council of 50 communities is staffed by 200 individuals.³

A NewVista council of 50 formally meets each quarter to coordinate inter-community transportation,⁴ utilities, and common areas, including nearby wilderness areas.

In addition, the council meets informally as needed to coordinate regional projects. NewVista council decisions are made by a 60% majority vote, and the council cannot impinge on any individual community’s autonomy.⁵  

1. With intensive farming methods, allowing half an acre for each resident provides enough acreage for each community to supply adequate food; communities can increase their food variety by trading with each other.[↩]
2. If world population reaches 12 billion as predicted, communities will need to shrink to more like 33,000 acres, meaning that agriculture would need to become more efficient to feed the community’s population.[↩]
3. Capital bank presidents have responsibility for community easements and are in the best position to commit the community to providing 1/50th of capital requirements needed for the council’s cooperative projects.[↩]
4. Ultimately, humans will no longer use energy-consuming, polluting cars, trucks, ships, and airplanes. Transport of people and cargo could ultimately be via high-speed vacuum tubes. See, for example, “A Real Tube Carrying Dreams of 600-M.P.H. Transit,” New York Times, Feb. 18, 2019.[↩]
5. Council decisions need the approval of 30 of the 50 capital presidencies, and all communities must contribute equally to the project unless 30 of the 50 also agree that one or more communities are exempt from a project or justified in paying less than full share. For example, a road or other large infrastructure project may benefit only 30 of the 50 communities, and so 20 communities might legitimately be excused from participating in that project.[↩]