The po’ongabel species of my Drifting Amalgams series evolved in trees, so it makes sense that they’d build on high. But, ‘Floating city? Is there science for that fiction?’
Turns out it’s not just possible, it’s something architects and engineers have tinkered with for years. Let’s talk about levitating cities.
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Maglev trains are pretty widely understood, so I’ll only cover those briefly. Essentially, a guideway is lined with a magnetized coil that repels magnets placed under the train; this is the levitation part. The levitated train is manipulated by the magnetized coils, which are powered to constantly alternate their polarity. This allows the magnetic field in front of the train to pull the vehicle forward, while the magnetic field behind the train “pushes”. Practically imperceptible friction. Less noise than traditional trains. Faster speeds.
A somewhat newer technology is the Inductrack, which uses Halbach arrays of permanent magnets under the train. The train’s resulting magnetic fields interact with a tightly packed ladder-like arrangement of short circuits in the “track” to levitate the vehicle.
But, I mentioned that I wanted my po’ongabel to live in a levitating city, so one maglev transportation system isn’t going to cut it. Here’s where real-world engineering seemingly draws inspiration from sci fi world building.
Maglev elevators work on the same concept as magnetic levitation trains. Coils on a guideway push and pull magnets on an elevator car. The interesting thing here is that there are rotation points that allow the elevator to change direction. Instead of just going up and down, a magnetic levitation elevator can go left and right as well. This technology means that high rises don’t have to rise as high. They can be built in combinations of vertical and horizontal with a sort of built-in transit system.
That gets me about halfway to my levitating city. But if there are trains to get to buildings and elevators to travel inside them, what about the buildings themselves?
For starters, the maglev elevator was designed as part of a bigger concept: the Hanging City. Not really hanging, this is an idea where underground, above-ground, and skyscraping urban planning meet. This engineering dream would see neighboring skyscrapers connected at multiple levels by a magnetic levitation elevator. Thus, an entire city could be built in the air, and people could travel up and between buildings with ease. I guess a city like that would be much like having a city in the trees, which is what I first envisioned for po’ongabel. However, what if I want no ground connection?
Well, for that we need to look at hoverboards and earthquake proofing. Maglev hoverboards have round engines beneath the board that induce an opposing magnetic field in the plating beneath it; that provides lift. This technology was initially designed as a sort of proof of concept for earthquake proofing buildings. While hoverboarding a building is still not a reality, some progress towards a similar type of earthquake protection has been made in Japan.
In the case of the Japanese innovation, air is used to lift the building. A housing structure sits on an artificial foundation, and a sensor detects seismic activity. When the sensor detects a threat, it triggers a compressor to push air from a tank through the housing structure base. The house rises roughly 3cm, which is enough to protect against damage from shaking. Three centimeters may not be a lot in levitation terms, but this is a significant advancement in earthquake protection.
So why aren’t we living in a levitated city right now. The biggest problem with all of this is cost ….and, in our world, an energy source is needed to power the magnets. (I say this with the caveat that the Inductrack system power constraints are minimal. But, this has mostly been used for vehicles rather than stationary objects, like buildings.) Based on current technology, the power requirements for levitating a whole city are unreasonably high.
Luckily, I’m creating a fictional world.
Let’s see. Planets have magnetic fields that can be stronger in some places than others (like the North Pole). What if the magnetic field on Ponga is strong enough in some places to power an entire city? That sounds workable…
Until next time, stay curious.
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