Why Bill Gates Wants To Build A Smart City In The US Desert

when you think of bill gates you probably think of microsoft would it surprise you to find out that he's also known around the world as farmer bill he's earned this nickname due to the fact that he now owns more farmland than anyone else in america it's estimated that gates owns at least 242 000 acres of farmland the equivalent of one-third of the land in the entire state of rhode island about 10 of those land holdings were acquired in 2017 and have been set aside for a 25 000 acre smart city in the middle of the arizona desert welcome to belmont arizona future home to bill gates's smart city in today's video we'll take a look at what bill gates plans are for the city how much it will cost and what he's done so far to make this dream a reality in early november 2017 gates threw around the idea in a debate about the need to invest in smart cities the billionaire philanthropist then made headlines when a group heads by gates investment group cascade investments llc purchased thousands of acres of land in the desert near phoenix arizona for 80 million dollars the plan for the massive plot of land which is about 45 minutes west of downtown phoenix is to build one of the world's first smart cities from scratch this jetson-themed city will be named after the real estate developer behind the project belmont partners is intended to be a forward-thinking community having a backbone of both communication and infrastructure that embraces cutting-edge technology it will be built from the ground up and will rely completely on smart technologies such as high-speed digital networks data centers high-speed public wi-fi high-tech manufacturing facilities and autonomous vehicles and even though just a few people live in the area now belmont said in a statement that the projected geographic size and population of belmont will be comparable to tempeh arizona which has a population of around 180 000 the city will sit on a huge parcel of undeveloped land almost 25 000 acres nearly the size of paris just outside of buckeye arizona the city itself will be set up with 3 800 acres dedicated to retail office and commercial space 470 acres for public schools and the remainder nearly 20 000 acres left for private residences which will be more than enough to accommodate the 80 000 residential units envisioned for belmont the plan will be to translate a blank slate into a purpose-built city built around a flexible infrastructure model though there is no one living in belmont just yet recent permitting activity around the development suggests commercial and residential construction may be coming in no time in 2019 it was reported that 2 600 new single-family permits were issued for belmont with another 3 000 projected for 2020. these developments may be indications that the belmont project is getting ready to pick up speed as phoenix continues to grow and emerge as a tech hub belmont could be the ideal community to meet the needs of the incoming population so why did gates team pick arizona the large area purchased by gates is almost entirely undeveloped desert land making it an ideal location for a technological experiment of the type that's planned at belmont indeed the total lack of structures and infrastructure will make it possible to develop and shape the new urban center in a very unique and specific way in addition to the low cost of land in the arizona desert arizona offers very attractive solar energy opportunities which will be critical in making belmont a self-sustainable smart city additionally with arizona being amongst the most progressive states when it comes to self-driving regulations it makes the perfect place for gates to test out new technologies in a regulatory friendly area other companies such as waymo uber gm ford and intel have all tested their self-driving vehicles in arizona for this reason there are certainly some drawbacks to the arizona desert however perhaps chi for which is access to water although belmont's proposal includes several methods low energy consumption it has thus far failed to address water maintenance water acquisition and water conservation to even initiate the city's development gates and his team will bear the heavy burden of proving that there is enough water to supply the residents for at least 100 years this is a steep challenge especially in the face of arizona's current water crisis some experts believe that in a worst-case scenario up to 40 percent of the colorado river could dry up by 2050 making part of arizona almost completely uninhabitable bill gates is not the first wealthy individual to have such loft smart city ambitions jeffrey byrne the founder of blockchains is considering a radical experiment in the u.s state of nevada and the former walmart ceo mark lohr is just the latest billionaire to have announced a project to build a sustainable city he left his position at the world's largest retail company to build telosa a smart city in the middle of yet to be decided desert using environmentally friendly architecture and emerging technologies even turning existing urban areas into smart cities has become very attractive in recent years with avant-garde cities such as dubai singapore and barcelona betting on innovation and seeking to implement smart technologies in already existing urban areas to digitize every aspect of life in the city and simultaneously reduce its environmental impact even though belmont is not close enough to being finished with gates financial and technological backing the smart city has the potential to break new ground for technological and sustainable efforts across the world what are your thoughts on the proposed smart city of belmont what challenges do you think gates will face along the way let us know in the comments section below we'll see you guys in the next one [Music] you

Channel: TrailBlazed

Views: 32,494

Keywords: bill gates, smart city, arizona, bill gates smart city, bill gates smart city 2022, bill gates smart city belmont arizona, belmont arizona, bellemont az, bellemont arizona, bill gates farming, farmer bill, bill gates farmland, bill gates smart house, bill gates smart home, bill gates arizona, arizona smart city, smart cities, smart city usa, woven city japan, woven city toyota, bill gates building, bill gates interview, bill gates microsoft, microsoft, trailblazers hq

Id: V6I3xghv2zY

Length: 5min 44sec (344 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 11 2022