
The opening pages launch a sweeping critique of modern cities—crowded, noisy, and riddled with inefficiency—while hinting at a bold, collective yearning for a cleaner, freer way of living. The narrator frames the problem in vivid terms, from the suffocating walls of historic metropolises to the hollow comforts of suburban sprawl, setting the stage for a radical re‑imagining of how we inhabit space.
Against that backdrop, Mr. Chambless presents “Roadtown,” a straight‑line settlement that stitches together homes, railways, and utilities into a single, self‑sustaining ribbon across the continent. Concrete‑poured houses sit atop silent, high‑speed trains; mechanical services handle chores while residents work from compact workshops; fresh air, pure food, and affordable living replace slums and endless commutes. The proposal blends practical engineering with an idealistic vision, inviting listeners to contemplate a future where personal independence and communal harmony finally align.
Language
en
Duration
~2 hours (165K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Release date
2019-02-25
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
1870–1936
Best known for the 1910 book Roadtown, this American visionary imagined a continuous linear city that fused housing, transport, and utilities into one bold system. His ideas were eccentric, practical, and far ahead of their time, which is why urbanists and science-fiction historians still bring him up today.
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