In 1666, the Great Fire of London wiped out a large chunk of the city, and left the landscape of the urban sprawl looking sparse and barren. A prominent architect, Sir Christopher Wren, proposed a bold scheme in which he wanted to completely redesign the whole city, centred around the new St. Paul’s Cathedral.
In 1925, Le Corbusier proposed to flatten entire sections of the city of Paris to make way for identical tower blocks that would solve many of the city problems with housing and slums.
In 1944, Lord Abercrombie proposed a plan for Greater London which would see medium-rise residential blocks and double the amount of green space, as well as completely new road networks that would revolutionise living in London in the post-war era.
All three of these bold plans failed. To take an entire city, flatten it, masterplan and rebuild it is expensive, time consuming and unpopular. People don’t like major changes like these, and hence they were always dismissed.
European cities like Paris and London were essentially vast spaces of land which over the course of 2000 years, have been developed in a manner which has very little coherency. This lack of logic puzzles today’s planners who like coherency and order.
Second Life’s mainland is essential a European city at the dawn of time. A few roads were built by the early developers, and then the land was opened up and it became a free for all. People started building and before you know it, the whole area is a mix match of fantastic views and great spaces for exploration, and areas which look ugly, and a blight on the landscapes.
So essentially what we have on the SL Mainland is the virtual version of a European city in development. Residents have started calling for Linden Labs to act, and help clean up mainland, and so now we start to see the early forms of “Planning”.
Jack Linden has announced plans for Linden Labs to take a more active role in Mainland, which says to me that like in the modern age of London, there is a move towards controlling the land and creating a more stable environment. The expansion of London outwards meant that older ‘brownfield’ sites in the heart of the city became neglected, and this was bad for the image of the city. In Second Life, such sites are often purchased by advertisers, and as a result the land values in these regions become depressed.
So Second Life’s mainland very closely follows the pattern of real world cities – not just the good aspects, but the bad.
In London, a large section of land where the docklands used to be became available, and this opened up the opportunity for commercial development. Canary Wharf is where the heart of London’s financial sector lies today. The Linden Department of Public Works opened up a new development called Bay City. Like Canary Wharf, this region was carefully planned out first (in both cases using an American grid-iron style) so as to make sure the balance between the various functions were evenly spread out.
The result was that land values in both Canary Wharf and Bay City skyrocketted. I find it interesting to draw parallels between the real world and the virtual world, as they are both following the same pattern, and have grown the same way, and I think will continue to evolve in the same way.
A plan to completely redevelop the SL mainland would never work for the same reasons as in the real world.. it’s simply too complex and the structure of it makes such an undertaking impossible, without completely brassing off the SL residents.
So while a virtual world where the entire mainland looks like Bay City would be aesthetically pleasing, you would lose all the culture that has built up over the past 5 years. From a geographic, social and psychological point of view, Second Life offers the very basis of the development from bare open land with plain textured builds and limited functions, to the evolution of highly detailed structures, beautifully produced landscapes and numerous technological advances.
And all this just touches on what what the future may bring. As the real world develops, so will the virtual world. To quote Bachman-Turner Overdrive, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”.
Landsend Korobase on August 11, 2008
In the words of Jack Linden:”This won’t be a short read, so grab a drink, make yourself comfortable and join me after the cut..”
Part of what so attracts me to the world of SL is the freedom, to be who you want, do what you want, make what you want, with only the barest of restrictions that echo people’s universal rights in RL. This is in part a reflection of it being R18, but also of the freedom-loving tendencies of the interwebby world in general.
The sort of restrictions and “central planning” involved in what Jack talks about exactly echos the attitude of RL bureaucrat, as conceded by Jack himself, but it doesn’t seem to bother him. I can only guess the immense time and costs involved in implementing a plan that flies in the face of the freedom loving aspects of SL also doesn’t bother him.
In my unwavering view, it should be left to the market to figure it out. You want a nice view, then buy the land around you to get it or upgrade accordingly. As soon as there are restrictions on what you can do with your own land, and there are thereby costs involved in implementing and enforcing those restrictions, prices go up to maintain that which thereby removes the slums but also removes access to the entry point of having land and for those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it. By “improving” the experience for those who buy the cheaper plots of the mainland, they also squeeze out those who were attracted to the cheaper costs and freedom of those places to begin with.
*takes a breath*
At the end of the day it’s LL’s choice, but I am strongly disappointed that they’re choosing this path. I don’t know a heck of a lot about mainland vs private islands and associated costs, but I do know a lot about philosophy, politics, law, and economics to some extent, and the realities of their implementation. And the language and dialogue going on here is both predictable and grrr-inducing.
Sorry Prad, this is your blog not mine, so I’ll stop now. I should be using the forum Jack mentioned, but I won’t, because they’ve clearly made up their mind and at this point just seem to be looking for input as to how people would most like to tell everyone else what to do. Joy.
bailey longcloth on August 11, 2008
Lands, you make a fair point. The only thing I’d point out is that unless you’ve lived next to an ad farm, and had to pay an exorbitant fee for a 16sqm plot. Almost triple what you paid for the 4096sqm you live on I might add because of land speculators. You can’t know how awful it is because there have been no zoning rules. Awful views, griefers and spammers all sit on these little plots waiting for you to buy them out to get rid of them. By then, you’ll pay almost anything for a little peace and quiet.
I’ve lived on the mainland twice, and now I own Angel Square sim so that I don’t have to live that way. I hope that LL goes about this the right way, and only time will tell.
I’m happy to see them doing something though.
Landsend Korobase on August 11, 2008
Bailey, I have actually lived on the mainland before, right next door to people who walked regularly into chat range and besides a huge ad farm, so I do know what it’s like. It suited our needs at the time and if we’d wanted something more than that we’d have paid more – but all we wanted was something small and cheap where we could freely rez things and play around with decorating our home and have a little fun together, and that was fine. If people want something bigger or better they should pay for it, or if they don’t like what they got they should not pay for it any more. Clearly the better solution than forcing everyone en-mass to abide by a set of rules that will require constant tweaking and enforcement.
I understand the plight, I still disagree whole-heartedly with LL’s “solution”.
Gahum Riptide on October 23, 2008
Personally, I think perhaps the compromise is for LL to zone NEW mainland areas, liek Bay City, and the newest micro continent of Nautilus. THAT place is fantastic, and has this sort of fantasy Aegean/Roman look to it. It’s very nice. I think this is what LL should have done from the start. While I love the freedom of the mainland, I enjoy now living in an estate with zoning rules.