A Moon is a Terrible Thing to Waste: A Case for Lunar Master Planning

Much has been made of NASA's new mission from the President on January 14, 2004 to "gain a new foothold on the moon and to prepare for new journeys to the worlds beyond our own." As public/private partnerships to begin the exploration of the moon's resources through commercial development on the lunar surface grow closer, now is the opportune time to ensure that community master planning is fully integrated into the thought processes. Planning for the sustainable human environment is vital to the success of the mission. Without livable cities, properly laid out with all amenities, few people will be enticed to stay for long periods of time, which is what will be required to realize the full economic benefits of lunar development. The community land use planning process will result in adequate allocation of land mass for all aspects of life on the moon including areas for housing, work, recreation, commercial space, industrial facilities, transportation, utilities and all life support and plenty of room for expansion as the colony grows. Unlike the haphazard, mostly uncontrolled development of communities on earth, lunar development must be tightly regulated. Because of the extreme complexity and life or death nature of life support on the lunar surface, the community master planning process must be a highly collaborative effort among those scientists and engineers in the business of space exploration and development and those professionals experienced in master planning, resulting in the best utilization of the moon's resources. What we don't know right now is much greater than what we do know, and we recognize that at this point not even all the questions that need to be asked are known for colonization of other planetary surfaces. What we do know, though, is that the collaborative master planning process will be more important than ever to meet these new challenges. This process will involve many scientists, future colonists, engineers, environmentalists, life safety and emergency services personnel, communications specialists, retailers, industry representatives, and planners meeting together to reach a common goal. Similar to the planning charrettes of today, having all participants together simultaneously creates synergy where each problem solved leads to more questions for the group to address. With a blank palette on which to create, colonization of other planetary surfaces is a unique opportunity to do the best job of community master planning possible. It will in fact be critical to the success of the venture. No one person that comes to the table will have all the answers but that is the beauty of the collaborative community master planning process. A successful community master plan can create cities that will be livable by the first generations of Lunarians and can be enjoyed by future generations as well. As citizens of Savannah, Georgia whose city plan was developed by its founder, General James Oglethorpe, two hundred and seventy five years ago we know how much more livable planned development can be. Every day the citizens of Savannah still benefit from the well thought out plan for the city with green squares and tree lined streets which provide space to work, live and play and relax. Our goal for lunar base community master planning is to create a lunar base and eventually cities that will be enjoyed by their inhabitants for 275 years and beyond.