Where should they go? 70 million
displaced refugees and asylum seekers with no passport, no money, and no
worldly goods. In 380 BCE Plato wrote about the 'Ideal City,' but it
wasn't until 1516 CE that Sir Thomas More invented the word, 'Utopia,'
translated from Greek as 'good place,' that is in need of a new,
contemporary interpretation.


It is within the framework of utopia that the City of Refugees
represents a place that transcends the fate of the refugee and the
reason they were torn from their homeland and not given safe haven
fleeing their country. It is a concept for a new city that welcomes
these optimistic people looking for a place to be free from oppression.


The
University of Houston College of Architecture + Design with 135
students is proposing 4 cities on 4 continents as prototypes that
represent a real utopia for housing the unprecedented migration of
people moving across borders. This UN-sponsored, free economic zone for
the 4 cities can be funded by small fractions of the defense budgets
appropriated by the UN. The innovative cities create a platform for a
new, multi-ethnic society based upon justice, tolerance, and
economically viable with a net zero energy consumption within a
sustainable environment. The new three-dimensional cities redefine the
concept of streets by no longer needing cars creating a real utopia for
those with no voice. The City of Refugees is a soft place to land that believes in the future.