Would YOU?

[stardust]

It would most certainly require a decent arboretum; I dont think I could manage somewhere without trees Or perhaps I could set up my estate on the edge of the city; look one way and its rolling countryside, look the other and its (if you'll forgive the use) all very "Diagonalley"

ooh, i like this idea better, but as a poor street performer i probably wont be able to afford it so you may just end up with a squatter.

[Sir Henry Tolvaddon]

It would most certainly require a decent arboretum; I dont think I could manage somewhere without trees Or perhaps I could set up my estate on the edge of the city; look one way and its rolling countryside, look the other and its (if you'll forgive the use) all very "Diagonalley"

ooh, i like this idea better, but as a poor street performer i probably wont be able to afford it so you may just end up with a squatter.

I'm sure cook or the gardener could find some work for you.

*looks at her fingernails*

Hmmm, definately the garden

[Capt. Dirigible]

All Victorian. All steampunk

Hmmm..lemme think.
Does it come with diphtheria, rickets, tuberculosis, child labour, house servants, no votes for women, dark santanic mills, pea souper fogs and capital punishment?

[OswaldBastable]

All Victorian. All steampunk

Hmmm..lemme think.
Does it come with diphtheria, rickets, tuberculosis, child labour, house servants, no votes for women, dark santanic mills, pea souper fogs and capital punishment?

ahhh the good old days!


I'm joking of course! (mainly)

[OswaldBastable]

If I can still have some sort of babbage style PC I'm in!

Watson you'd best bring your service revolver

[Sir Henry Tolvaddon]

All Victorian. All steampunk

Hmmm..lemme think.
Does it come with diphtheria, rickets, tuberculosis, child labour, house servants, no votes for women, dark santanic mills, pea souper fogs and capital punishment?

{addams family} And they say it was never a golden age  Oh fickle memory {/addams family}

[MechanicalMouse]

The idea of a steampunk utopian city/town springs up very regularly. At some point a steampunk will win the lottery big time and this may happen.

For me I would prefer a small steampunk town or village. In the centre a large village green and huge village hall that would double as a cinema or dance hall. Next to the Hall would be the school, library and play ground.

Around this hub would come the houses, shops and workshops in concentric circles.

Below the roads would be a series of tunnels used for transporting waste/recycling and easy access to gas, water, electricity and communication grids.

I believe the internet would have to be an absolute must and each house would be part of the village's high speed network.

I've given this thought beyond the "what a nice place to live". Even if the community was self sufficient with the population each contributing toward food, shelter, clothing, it would have to have the means to make money in order to buy external resources.

Maybe 95% (just guessing numbers) of what our utopian town needs could be grown and made, but that last 5% would be critical stuff like medicines and governmental taxes.

So our little community will need to make or supply something that can be used by the outside world, and the village would need to be designed around that.

Workshops may be able to make bespoke furniture, but the market would be sporadic. IT services such as hosting, support or software development would have a constant need but a highly competitive market.

Tourism my be the most effective, but would you want your utopia to be invaded every year.

[stardust]

Tourism my be the most effective, but would you want your utopia to be invaded every year.

i think the key here would be to have a limited amount of tourist places (e.g. one hotel and one campsite) then advertise only in the steampunk community so that other steampunks who would love to be able to live there but can't still get a chance to visit and we don't get too many mainstream/non-steampunk tourists.

[Capt. Dirigible]

Below the roads would be a series of tunnels used for transporting waste/recycling and easy access to gas, water, electricity and communication grids.

Run by Morlocks, obviously!

[Sir Henry Tolvaddon]

It would probably need to be done on a large arable farm....that way there would already be "planning permission" (*spit*) for residential and light industrial use.....so you could turn the farmhouse into the "manor", pull down a lot of the out buildings and rebuild with houses/shops/worksop combinations, with the farmyard becoming the market square. Then you could still draw an income from the farm (those bits that have not been reforested and then had wolves reintroduced *looks innocent* ) and have space for a wider second circle of homes etc whilst having plenty of space for gardens and pastures.....

Not that I've given this much thought of course

[stardust]

or the farmhouse/manor could be the posh hotel that brings in the steampunk tourists to spend lots of money in our various shops.

all of a sudden this is sounding like something that perhaps wouldn't need a lottery win. just a farm!

[Sir Henry Tolvaddon]

or the farmhouse/manor could be the posh hotel that brings in the steampunk tourists to spend lots of money in our various shops.

Mmm a coaching inn, with real coaches

all of a sudden this is sounding like something that perhaps wouldn't need a lottery win. just a farm!

A decent sized farm would cost less than a million (oh, the figures roll so easily off the tongue a casual million  )...so it probably would take a lottery win to buy and build.....then you can all pay me a (pepper corn  ) rent  

[stardust]

yes, but if 10 or so people were interested in it as a business investment (income from rent from the people living there, visiting tourists, shops, etc) and presented a sound business plan to a bank then i reakon it would be possible to raise that kind of money, (business loans, etc.) or present it as a live-in theme park!

[Sir Henry Tolvaddon]

yes, but if 10 or so people were interested in it as a business investment (income from rent from the people living there, visiting tourists, shops, etc) and presented a sound business plan to a bank then i reakon it would be possible to raise that kind of money, (business loans, etc.) or present it as a live-in theme park!

Poundbury meets the Black Country Museum? Oooo nice

[akumabito]

Have you folks forgotten about the 15 pages worth of discussion we've had before??
http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,7476.0.html

[Isabella Stormrift]

yes, but if 10 or so people were interested in it as a business investment (income from rent from the people living there, visiting tourists, shops, etc) and presented a sound business plan to a bank then i reakon it would be possible to raise that kind of money, (business loans, etc.) or present it as a live-in theme park!

Perhaps something along the lines of Williamsburg? Or various colonial/pioneer settlement type villages. But then, aside from the finances, the land, the buildings, etc, we'd have to plan out precisely what "attractions" would be present, and 'hire' steampunks to man them, with the appropriate skillsets.

[MechanicalMouse]

There is a dairy farm near me for sale, 200 hectares I believe. 8 Million of the Queens good pounds.

All residential building on farm land must have a farm related purpose otherwise it comes under full planning permission which in the UK would be very hard to get, but not impossible.

The farm alone may be enough to support a small village in food but would bring in meagre funds.

It would have to be  BIG lottery win to build. Construction cost would be higher than normal houses since no steampunk would want the cardboard partition walls of modern builds.

Have you folks forgotten about the 15 pages worth of discussion we've had before??
http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,7476.0.html

I did say its been brought up before......

[Theosophus Grey]

Being old enough to have finished my educational years without the use of a PC or cell phone, I wouldn't miss modern electronics in the least - I often think the world would be far better off if a nice solar flare fried all the contraptions, and people were forced by necessity to (1) learn life skills, (2) talk to each other, and (3) appreciate the simple things like a comfortable bed and a hot meal, and stop whining about petty nonsense.  Having said all that, yes, a loft above a workshop sounds eerily like what I was planning for retirement anyway, so why not 'punk it up?  

PS - everyone would be required to have a dog or cat, to keep the rats down.  

[stardust]

Have you folks forgotten about the 15 pages worth of discussion we've had before??
http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,7476.0.html

this was started a year and a half before i joined, so technically i didn't forget it, just didn't know it was there!

and black country museum was exactly what i was thinking!

[Sir Henry Tolvaddon]

All residential building on farm land must have a farm related purpose otherwise it comes under full planning permission which in the UK would be very hard to get, but not impossible.

Which is why, officially, everyone would be employed by the ("Victorian Museum") farm estate and their steamy jobs would be "crafts"

Tell the council you are building a village and they go stoney....tell them the farm remains but is diversifying into being a museum and they will be far more open

[Isabella Stormrift]

What of us crafters and tailors and seamstresses banding together and using the wonderous Aethernet to sell surplus gadgetry and clothing? Surely there would still be buyers, and it could help with bringing in outside materials. I personally would be happy to work as a seamstress, cook, or any of a number of other positions.

[MechanicalMouse]

What of us crafters and tailors and seamstresses banding together and using the wonderous Aethernet to sell surplus gadgetry and clothing?

Hence Why I think the internet is an absolute must for any endeavour of this kind, access to global market.

Oh and the underground tunnels will be used to transport post, to an sorting office at the edge of town. Help avoid nasty looking modern vehicles in the town.

[MechanicalMouse]

All residential building on farm land must have a farm related purpose otherwise it comes under full planning permission which in the UK would be very hard to get, but not impossible.

Which is why, officially, everyone would be employed by the ("Victorian Museum") farm estate and their steamy jobs would be "crafts"

Tell the council you are building a village and they go stoney....tell them the farm remains but is diversifying into being a museum and they will be far more open

I like your thinking here.

All I need now is to be struct by lightening 3 times and buy a lottery ticket

[Sir Henry Tolvaddon]

All residential building on farm land must have a farm related purpose otherwise it comes under full planning permission which in the UK would be very hard to get, but not impossible.

Which is why, officially, everyone would be employed by the ("Victorian Museum") farm estate and their steamy jobs would be "crafts"

Tell the council you are building a village and they go stoney....tell them the farm remains but is diversifying into being a museum and they will be far more open

I like your thinking here.

All I need now is to be struct by lightening 3 times and buy a lottery ticket

This weeks rollover is 4 and a half million of her majesties finest May I suggest a spot of ticket purchasing

[Isabella Stormrift]

All residential building on farm land must have a farm related purpose otherwise it comes under full planning permission which in the UK would be very hard to get, but not impossible.

Which is why, officially, everyone would be employed by the ("Victorian Museum") farm estate and their steamy jobs would be "crafts"

Tell the council you are building a village and they go stoney....tell them the farm remains but is diversifying into being a museum and they will be far more open

I like your thinking here.

All I need now is to be struct by lightening 3 times and buy a lottery ticket

I should think a more realistic manner would be to draw up business plans, gather investment capital, and get a business loan or the like.

... or is "all I have to do is win the lottery" some sort of code for "it's a nice idea but no one will actually put in the effort to make it a reality"?