Portland, Oregon is three times the size of Paris France but has less than one million people. Damn urban sprawl. Let’s make Portland better! Portland isn’t on a large body of water, so it doesn’t need to have Hong Kong level density, so we’ll go with Barcelona/Paris type density. *snaps fingers* Portland now has 4.4 million people on 82 square miles, including either eight Central Parks or four Bois de Boulogne. With vertical aquaponics covering 20 square miles of land, Portland now grows enough food to feed 5 million people. Portland also an additional 31 square miles of parks/forests/wetlands/greenspace/land reparations to the indigenous.
Now let’s do Oregon’s other cities!
Hillsboro: 350k people on 7 square miles of land, 2 square miles of VA (vertical aquaponics) to feed 500k people, 13 square miles of parks and stuff.
Beaverton: 350k people on 7 square miles of land, 2 square miles of VA to feed 500k, and 11 square miles of parks and stuff.
Tigard: 200k people on 4 square miles of land, 1 square miles of VA, 7 square miles of parks and stuff.
Lake Oswego: 150k on 3 square miles, 1 mile of VA, 6 sq miles of parks and stuff.
Gresham: 400k on 8 sq miles, 2 miles of VA, 13 miles of parks and stuff.
Eugene: 1 million people on 20 sq miles, 4 miles of VA, 20 miles of parks and stuff.
Springfield: 250k on 5 sq miles, 1 mile of VA, 10 miles of parks and stuff.
Salem: 1 million on 20 sq miles, 4 miles of VA, 25 miles of parks and stuff.
Albany: 300k on 6 sq miles, 2 miles of VA, 10 miles of parks and stuff.
Corvallis: 250k on 5 sq miles, 1 mile of VA, 8 miles of parks and stuff.
Bend: 750k on 15 sq miles, 3 miles of VA, 15 miles of parks and stuff.
The Dalles: The Dalles is narrow and stretches along the Columbia River, so in order for as many people as possible to enjoy great river views, it should have Hong Kong level density, thus 300k on 2 sq miles, 2 sq miles of VA, 2 miles of parks and stuff.
Pendleton: 200k on 4 sq miles, 1 mile of VA, 5 miles of parks and stuff.
Redmond: 250k on 5 sq miles, 1 mile of VA, 9miles of parks and stuff.
St. Helens: 150k on 1 sq mle, 1 mile of VA, 3 miles of parks and stuff.
Astoria: 300k on 2 sq miles, 2 miles of VA, 2 miles of parks and stuff.
Newport: 450k on 3 sq miles, 2 miles of VA, 4 miles of parks and stuff.
Medford: 500k on 10 sq miles, 2 miles of VA, 13 miles of parks and stuff.
Roseburg: 200k on 4 miles, 1 mile of VA, 5 miles of parks and stuff.
Coos Bay: 450k on 3 sq miles, 2 miles of VA, 5 miles of parks and stuff.
Klamath Falls: 300k on 6 sq miles, 2 miles of VA, 12 miles of parks and stuff.
Milwaukie: 100k on 2 sq miles, 1 mile of VA, 2 miles of parks and stuff.
Oregon City: 150k on 3 sq miles, 1 mile of VA, 5 miles of parks and stuff.
Forest Grove: 100k on 2 sq miles, 1 mile of VA, 3 miles of parks and stuff.
Grants Pass: 200k on 4 sq miles, 1 mile of VA, 6 miles of food and stuff.
So yea, that’s not all of Oregon, but at the very least, Oregon now has a population of 13 million people, with all those cities growing their own food and having more green space, cheaper housing, less urban heat island effect and so forth. Oregon would become a more diverse state as it’d now be able to take in Syrian refugees, Tamil people from Sri Lanka, Dalits and Muslims from India and so forth. Like I outlined in my Washington post, Oregon would be able to take in some of the world’s unwanted population while also fighting climate change since densification of cities is one of the key features of a degrowth society. In my next post, I will densify and make California better!
adamkendall2 