Seleneca's Master Plan
Neighborhood Organization
The City is sized for 5,000 residential dwelling units that come in a variety of sizes and configurations. They are connected to streets laid to a radial and circular pattern that surround a large central park that is roofed by a domed space. All of Seleneca’s buildings are no farther than a 5-minute walk (400 Meters) from the center. Our population varies between 8,000 and 10,000 souls.
The City is divided into four wards by the Cardinal Streets that run in each of the four cardinal directions from the center outward. North Street points to the North; West Street points to the west, etc. Each of the four wards have their own centers, reserved for civic and recreational use. At the end of East Street and West Street, we have our harbors with port facilities for cargo and passengers coming to and going from Seleneca. Farms are located under roofed structures at the positions of 1 clock, 2 o’clock, 4 o’clock, 5 o’clock, 7 o’clock, 8 o’clock, 10 o’clock, and 11 o’clock, hence the names they were given.
By modern planning terminology, the city is currently sized to the equivalent of one neighborhood. This is due to its compact design. As it grows, we expect to expand to additional circular neighborhoods each with their own central parks, their wards and ward centers, and farms. These will be connected through North Street and South Street.
Modular Buildings
Seleneca’s buildings and streets are made from modular units that are sealed together, and then buried in the regolith that comes from the spoils of mining. They are manufactured at a local facility, then transported and installed into position. The Moon’s lower gravity makes it possible to construct and transport larger building assemblies.
The streets have vaulted ceilings intended to capture the effect of a limitless sky above. All streets have a service “tunnel” underneath them for utilities and access to the building basements.
The buildings have central enclosed courtyards, for private or semi-private landscaped areas. The rooms or apartments of the buildings have windows that face out to their courtyards and to the streets where possible. The ceilings of the courtyards are large copulas with skylights, sometimes called lanterns. Those ceilings are lighted artificially during the long lunar nights, to simulate night and day as it happens on Earth. And similarly, they can be closed during the long days for nighttime sleep. The plants inside do better with an earth-like day and night cycle.
The basements of the house provide space for local food production. Systems collect and recycle water and human waste providing nutrients from the building above for growing food. Some residents maintain private gardens in their basement while some let others farm the space. This food production under houses is mostly for private individual consumption and food items are often traded among residents or given as gifts. There are farms for mass food production operated by the municipality. Most of us living here have adopted growing food as part of the our daily routine in one way or another. It provides us with a sense of happiness seeing growth and natural color on a seemingly desolate world.
Streets & Blocks
The pattern of Streets and Blocks is made of small blocks formed by streets that are close together. This provides us with the shortest possible walking distance between origins and destinations. Every building has doors that open to two different streets, to provide two means of egress in case of an air breach, fire, or other emergency.
Like on Earth, the streets have trees that absorb CO2 that we exhale and they expel oxygen that they don’t need in their glucose making process, and they provide a sense of delight in daily life. Many of the facades of the buildings incorporate plants for the same reason of expanding the biomass of the city’s plant life and improving the street appearance.
Plan View of Components
Select the plan above to enlarge it. Below each component type is separated since they interlock, and it is difficult to see where one stops and another begins.
Zoning
The zoning in one ward is replicated in each of the other three wards. And as in most cities over time, it evolves over time as new community needs arise. In the center of each ward there is a civic building devoted to physical activity. Each of the four wards offer different facilities/amenities at their centers. All of them include public meeting rooms and serve as emergency shelters. They also have an exit to the moon’s surface above.
The commercial core of the city surrounds the domed Central Park and has room for commercial uses to expand down the four Cardinal Streets as demands grow over time. The Society Houses are triangular in plan and are reserved for various scientific and research societies that enjoy a presence at Seleneca. The Keystone Blocks have various community uses such as schools, places of worship, and various other community needs. The remaining buildings are residential types such as duplexes, townhouses (around a shared courtyard) and multi-story apartments.
Central Park
The Central Park is in a domed structure to provide an expansive “outdoor” space. Access to open space will help the human psyche, especially in a place where feelings of claustrophobia come and go, especially among new arrivals. This is not a clear framed structure open to the sky with large transparent panels. Although that would be wondrous, protection from solar and galactic radiation requires more shielding material. The ceiling is a gigantic projection screen that typically shows the sky outside via cameras, and sometimes it is programmed with scenes from Earth and other planets and their moons. Central Administration on occasion projects educational and safety information as well as public service and emergency announcements.
The center is landscaped with tall trees, various plants, walkways, and a flowing stream of water. At the top of the dome’s structure there is an observation deck, properly shielded, for viewing out over the lunar landscape beyond the city.
The lower walls of Central Park are actually the exterior of multi-story buildings surrounding its base that open up to it. The ground floor has restaurants, bars, and shops. The upper floors have offices and hotel rooms, and apartments. The outer edges of the Central Park form the commercial core of activity, with more commercial businesses spreading down East Boulevard and West Boulevard toward the two harbors at each end.
Cardinal Streets
The buildings that face the 4 large streets, that run in the cardinal directions (North, South, East, and West), are lined with multifamily buildings that have ground floor spaces that can be used for either residential or commercial uses. Although most of the commercial uses are at the Grand Star Bazaar and around the Central Park, this provides expansion space for more commercial uses, as demand grows over time. Currently we have a few cafes and convenience stores on the cardinal streets, with more businesses along East Street and West Street since they lead to the Ports at East Harbor and West Harbor, respectively.
Ward Centers
In the center of each ward there is a civic building devoted to physical activity. Each of the four wards offer different facilities/amenities at their centers. All of them include public meeting rooms and serve as emergency shelters. They also have an exit to the moon’s surface above. Every full-time resident is required to log an amount of time each month for exercise. The amount is set by their physicians. Noncompliance leads to penalties.
Southwest Ward Center
The Southwest Recreation Center contains an Olympic sized swimming pool. The pool measures 25 x 50 meters with 10 full-sized lanes. Water behaves much differently here than on Earth, making this is a popular place for locals and visitors. Once in the water, swimming is much like it is on Earth, but waves are bigger and splashing goes farther and slower.
Northeast Ward Center
The Northeast Recreation Center is designed as a facility exactly like the pool facility except that there is an open green field instead of the pool. The open field is used for various activities, some of which have scheduled times of day. This is for safety reasons, for example if you know it is time for throwing balls, then you know to keep a look out for flying objects. If it is “jumping time,” you know to keep more distance from others who might be jumping up and down. On Earth, this activity is mostly performed by children, but in Seleneca, adults like to join the fun. With the power of your own legs, you can jump up about 3 meters (10 feet) into the air and come back down without hurting yourself. Round trip, it is about 4 seconds.
Society Houses
The Society Houses are triangular in plan and are reserved for various scientific and research societies that enjoy a presence at Seleneca. Each Society house has a lecture hall, meeting rooms, work rooms, and most have temporary quarters for visiting members. Among the first to take up residence in Seleneca were the International Astronomical Society, The Planetary Society, The Space Frontier Foundation, and the Space Studies Institute. The image below shows the residential courtyard of the Society for Retired Moon Miners (SORMM). Their first president was from Central America, hence the Spanish Colonial character.
Keystone Blocks
The Keystone Blocks are reserved for community use. These blocks were constructed with buildings that house public and private schools, day care centers, places of worship, performance and entertainment venues, meeting and workshop space for arts and culture, etc. These buildings are both publicly and privately owned. For example, the Apollo Hospital is located at Keystone #9, close to West Harbor, having a convenient location to also serve emergency patients arriving from facilities outside of Seleneca by way of the Northwest Docks.
The Farms
Many full-time residents of Seleneca contribute to the food supply with their own hydroponic gardens in the basements of their houses. However, to feed all of the residents and visitors, Seleneca also needs large farms. These are located outside each of the four wards, easily accessible by the farmers who cultivate and harvest the produce. The farms are managed by the Seleneca Office of Food Production, who also leases portions of the farms to private growers. In addition to the various plants grown, we have sections devoted to insect production, fish and shrimp. Like everywhere in Seleneca, the farms are roofed structures based on a modular design of concrete components that attach to one another forming large connected spaces. Each of the farms have names based on their locations on the circle of a clock face. There is the 1-o’clock Farm, the 2-o’clock Farm, etc. However, there are no farms at the 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock positions because of the Cardinal Streets.
The Harbors and their Ports
Seleneca has two harbors on the east side and west side of the city. These are the transfer locations for people, goods and raw materials passing between our city and lunar or off-moon locations. The passenger port sits on top of the industrial port. Most goods and materials are transported in shipping containers, much like on a Terran ocean carrier. Our standard vehicles can carry 15 40-foot containers per level, stacked several layers high. Cranes above the dock lift the containers off each vehicle and set them down on a tarmac level platform that then lowers them into an airlock-elevator to the warehouse below. Containers are emptied in place before being loaded and sent back up to the tarmac for placement on the lunar carrier. Vehicle operators, passengers, and simple deliveries enter and exit the vehicles from the upper pedestrian level of each concourse. There are two concourses at each of the harbors.
