Hi, my name is Oliver Manias and this is my passion. I have always had a passion for city building, and when I was just six-years old, I decided to build a model city in my bedroom.
Oliverland City
Because of my interest in cars, the city was made up into a puzzle of roadways connecting all the city areas. However, as time went on the city began to see a rise in congestion as the city streets could no longer cope with the traffic! A new method of transport was needed to cope with the high traffic volumes and that’s when my passion for ‘sustainable transport planning’ started. The model city has been a medium for me to experiment with more efficient transport ideas and repurposing underused areas of road space into community spaces such as parklands, as well as public and active transport routes to provide a more sustainable city. I hope to use the knowledge I have gained from my model city to try and solve some of the world’s most challenging problems!
About the City
The city of ‘Oliverland’, located in my bedroom is double and triple-decker in some areas. It was created using a combination of balsa wood, lego, paper, cardboard, 3D puzzles, and a number of other materials. The city consists of eight suburbs, that each hold their own significance to me. The names of these suburbs are: Duckston, Marnsfield, Hennington, Whistle, Skaledale, Village Hamlet, Bynstar and Oliverland City Centre. The city houses a number of public infrastructure and amenities, including; a public library, Central Park, Town Hall, cathedral, two schools, a preschool, courthouse, war memorial, German and Canadian Embassies, an airport, university, public transport depot and more. Each of the roads are signed, and the bus routes spanning across the city are marked according to their route numbers.
Over time, the city is striving towards the celebration of the natural world, by incorporating more trees and wildlife, as well as increasing the amount of green spaces around the city. These green spaces are growing, as less space in the city is needed for roads, due to the pursuit of lower emissions. This is being managed by providing high frequency and free public transport to give people a positive incentive to use sustainable transport, thus eliminating the need for people to enter the city in cars. This is also possible, because on the outskirts of the city are a number of multi-storey car parks next to the transport depot, therefore allowing people to park their car outside the city centre, and then take public transport for the rest of the journey. As well as this, a network of bikeways has been created using glow-in-the-dark technology to allow for easy day and night access in and out of the city. Also, the number of bicycle parking facilities has increased massively over the last year and a new end-of trip facility in the city centre. A number of projects have been implemented into the model city to provide pedestrian infrastructure and dedicated routes to connect more areas of the city together.
After studying geography as an elective subject over the past three years, I have recycled the knowledge that I learnt in class to make the city increasingly sustainable into the future. One of the projects I created in the city was to establish a sustainable neighbourhood near the city centre. This consisted of turning a two-way street with five car parking spaces, into an ecologically sustainable precinct. This was done by installing a planting dome that cools itself with very little resources, with a ‘fan and damp textile’ technique, to provide the same effects as an air-conditioner, however using less power. That power is collected from the large solar panel that roofs the carport for electric and hydrogen powered vehicles. The solar panel and the roofs of the houses in the neighbourhood are angled in such a way that it aims to collect the most water possible, which is then stored in the neighbouring water tanks. The space where the road used to stand, was converted into a grassed area with trees bordering its surrounds. This lawn space now provides the opportunity of activity games and outdoor seating for the nearby restaurant establishment. The new ‘green walk’ pedestrian route that I installed this year runs through the neighbourhood, as well as the bikeway leading to the city and the university.
Green walk in the ecologically sustainable precinct.
With all the projects in the world, we can work together to bring sustainability into all aspects of development. This can be done. And, by creating sustainable policies to: minimise emissions, use more sustainable resources and celebrate the natural environment, we have the potential to create a sustainable world. There’s a long way to go, but with teamwork we can do it!