Quetzal is my name for a Carfree City project I’d like to design. In his book Carfree Cities, J. Crawford mentions Montezuma Hills as a good location for building a city from scratch. It sits between San Francisco and Sacramento.

I’d like to do more in an architectural and urban planning realm, it would be nice to have a place to put all my designs. Quetzal is that place.

Locale

There’s a ghost town called Collinsville in the area.

Ecology

Some ecological info about Montezuma Hills is available.

Design

Quetzal is a Carfree City, designed from the beginning to match the Carfree City reference design as closely as possible.

It may also be designed as a Slow City, which requires an emphasis on local commerce, environmental design, and personal interactions.

Populace

An early idea is to make this a place for immigrants, the working class, and “urban creatives”. Sweat equity should be a cornerstone of getting the city built, and it should require no mega-developments with multi-millionaire clients.

Business climate

I’d like a focus on local, sustainable, active entrepreneurial business development. Bland chain stores and corporate branch offices need not apply. Some ideas on how to accomplish this include local currencies and Formula Business Restrictions.