After weeks of local speculation, the purchasers of 55,000 acres of northern California land have been revealed. The group Flannery Associates – backed by a cohort of Silicon Valley investors – has quietly purchased $800m worth of agricultural and empty land, the New York Times has reported. Their goal is to build a utopian new town that will offer its thousands of residents reliable public transportation and urban living, all of which would operate using clean energy.
While I don’t fully disagree with you, these towns being funded by the ultra-rich, usually by people who already have shady business practices, are looking awfully like company towns. Amazon’s already trying to build company-provided housing near a lot of their hubs, which is bad in that now your healthcare AND your shelter are directly tied to your employment. Imagine if they get their way with building a whole micro-city that runs on that idea - where every last bit of wealth an employee might spend goes STRAIGHT back to your company. Their utilities get dealt with by Amazon-built power and water plants. Their food is provided by Amazon grocery stores or deliveries. Your healthcare is provided by Amazon, and your housing is at the whim of your employer. All of this is provided at jacked-up prices, of course, so you’re effectively just a debt slave until you die or the company decides to kick you to the curb.
It’s being built by an investment firm though, doesn’t look to be company housing, just looks like an investment to me.