Virtual city on hold

Avirtual city on the nternet proposed by Andres Duany to promote the New Urbanism is on hold, according to the Miami architect. The urban Transect, upon which the internet site will be based, is still not fully developed as a concept, Duany says. The Transect categorizes urbanism into “tiers” on a scale from most rural to most urban. The virtual city would also act as a kind of New Urbanism yellow pages, listing resources and qualified professionals and practitioners. Duany held a meeting during the Congress for the New Urbanism in Portland in June 2000, to propose the concept. About 40 people attended, and many attendees appeared interested in pursuing the concept. The name of the website is undecided. Duany proposed the catchy name “Izbal,” after a mythical Mayan city, but others have argued that the name is not descriptive enough. The images for the website have been drawn, but the site itself has not been created. A potential financial structure has been proposed, with participants buying or earning $1,000 “lots” in the virtual city through sweat equity. No one has been asked to contribute funds to this date, Duany says. Those familiar with the concept say it is unlikely to move forward without the active participation of Duany. u