Is the Net-Zero GreenCity Really What it Seems?

Utopian dream or dystopian prison. You decide.

Disclaimer: while this post is referencing a specific “green” city development, post pandemic net-zero sustainable cities including “smart” cities and 15-minute cities are currently being rolled out all over the world and they are worthy of closer examination.

The “sell” for Henrico’s $2.3 billion dollar GreenCity net-zero “ecodistrict” is eloquently straightforward.

204 acres in Henrico County will be transformed into “a multi-use community” generating 2.3 million square feet of office and retail. The community will be anchored by a 17,000 seat multi-purpose arena touted to be the “greenest venue in the U.S.” and one that “will be designed on a net-zero energy basis, meaning that it will generate as much or more energy than it uses each year”. It will be powered solely by “renewable energy”.

There will be two full service hotels with conferencing on site, class A commercial office buildings, street level retail including grocers, pharmacies, dining, an elaborate park system with winding trails and 2400 housing units to suit a variety of income levels. The County describes the project as, “a beacon of innovation and environmental sustainability”.

GreenCity, which is essentially a city within a town within a county also has the ambitious goal of reducing greenhouse emissions by adhering to Virginia’s Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which was passed by a democrat controlled House and Senate and then signed into law by democrat Governor Ralph Northam back in 2020. The VGGI mandates that the state go 100% clean power by 2045 which will include shutting down ALL “carbon-emitting power plants” by that time making it the first southern state to do so.

GreenCity further ties itself to Virginia’s ambitious net-zero policies via their concept of the “20-minute neighborhood”, which among other things, promotes non-reliance on vehicles with combustible engines, thus leading to “fewer trips”.

GreenCity is not the first net-zero driven residential development birthed from the Covid pandemic. Like the 15 minute community, the smart city and the “ecodistrict” (which GreenCity ascribes to), carefully chosen language has been deployed to describe the project’s many perks and benefits with most designed for your safety as well as the safety of a world allegedly on the verge of mass extinction.

These chosen words and phrases are as warm and inviting as the best PR pros could pen them.

They are also deliberately incredibly opaque, offering wordsmiths an opportunity to conceal what could be described as a festering and more sinister agenda. For example, read this Forbes article that outlines how several smart city surveillance technologies were deployed during the Covid lockdowns to, you know, keep us all safe:

Smart cities can help us combat the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, in a growing number of countries, smart cities are doing just that. Governments and local authorities are using smart city technology, sensors and data to trace the contacts of people infected with the coronavirus. At the same time, smart cities are also helping in efforts to determine whether social distancing rules are being followed.

Read that last sentence again.

Now read the GreenCity pitch.

Join us and experience a uniquely harmonious way of living amongst nature that’s rooted in “human-powered movement” and “ integrates technology and the sharing economy to support last mile micro-mobility”, which is the incorporation of electric scooters and/or electric bikes into regular travel.

Relish the New Normal 20 Minute Living experience thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic “where ordinary needs are met within a 20-minute walk, a 20-minute bike ride or short auto trip to destinations in the broader community”.

Side Note: consider yourself lucky. At GreenCity you are getting an extra 5 minutes beyond what these lowly 15 minute city blokes in Oxford got from their local government, which included imposing hefty fines for those challenging Oxford’s very own physical version of The Circle of Trust.

And there’s more…

Be a champion for environmental sustainability and climate protections designed to support a net-zero lifestyle while at the same time participating in an inclusive, just, and resilient living for all model (i.e. equity-based mixed income housing, education, and business opportunities). GreenCity’s proposal also specifically includes “structuring opportunities for minority-owned businesses”.

Also, at GreenCity, a resident’s overall “health and wellbeing” will be front and center via nurturing one’s happiness through recreation, “equitable health outcomes”, proper access to local fresh food, affordable health care and an overall commitment to public safety. More on this coming up in the second installment of this series.

Let’s not forget the importance of “connectivity” featuring a “high-quality digital network” for all that seeks to leverage community data.

In case you’re not sure what leveraging community data in a “high-quality digital network” means because the language is intentionally vague, let me point you back to the above Forbes article and I’ll toss in this example as an added bonus:

The World Health Organization is currently “leveraging community data” by working with Google to “identify rising search and misinformation queries on COVID-19 and uses Google consumer surveys to track how vaccine acceptance varies over time” in order to “identify burgeoning misinformation online”.

Outside of having your personal data collected for contact tracing, social distancing, or I dunno, monitoring your water and electricity usage in real time and then remotely “curtailing” that usage when the smart city power grid issues an alert, who doesn’t want to be a happy, healthier, more physically active, sustainable, equitable member of a vibrant, inclusive community designed in such a way that you’ll never need to leave (or can’t?) all while doing your part to save Mother Earth by 2030?

Update: if you don’t believe that the endgame is to restrict your freedom of movement you might want to check this out.

And the best part is, it’s all 100% Greta approved!

But what if this…

…ends up more like this?

or worse, this…

I suppose, time will tell. In the meantime, I encourage everyone to do their own research. You can start by understanding who is really pulling the strings.

NOTE: This the first in a series of posts exploring what green, smart, eco-cities are really all about. Next, we’ll dive deep into GreenCity’s “WELL Building” standards (including Covid-19 mitigation practices), their impact, concerns, and what they could mean for you.

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