sierraclub.org - sierra magazine - march/april 2012 - future-cities - your future city?
By Colin Griffin
Mitchell Joachim, Terreform + Planetary ONE
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Founded by two Harvard-trained architects, Terreform is a futuristic-city think tank, churning out designs for everything from eco-race cars to environmental overhauls of major cities. Terreform claims that if current systems of transportation were replaced with the hop-on, hop-off Blimp Bumper Bus, which is essentially a bunch of swings hanging from a balloon, urban traffic efficiency would increase by 30 percent.
Stupefaction Factor: 8. Chains of brain-shaped, automated blimps whisking passengers around our cities would forever liberate humankind from the odd smells and enraging frustration that define current systems of public transportation.
Fantasy Factor: 8. Concern about overuse of alliteration alone might prevent the implementation of the Blimp Bumper Bus system. Beyond that, it's hard to conceive of a line of reasoning that would lead a city to strap its denizens to noodles and hang them from zeppelins.