Bill Gates is venturing into the desert wilderness. Or more precisely, 80 kilometres west of Phoenix, Arizona in the Sonora desert where he plans to built Belmont, the city of the future.

“Belmont will transform a raw, blank slate into a purpose-built edge city built around a flexible infrastructure model,” according to Belmont Partners, which Belongs to Microsoft founder Bill Gates. As does Cascade Investment, which recently purchased the 10,000 hectare tract of land west of Phoenix for $80 million.

Developers hope Belmont will re-envision housing in the southwestern United States, where unbridled development has led to congestion and smog in a region that once drew retirees asthmatics due to its slow pace and clean air.

“They are rethinking what a community is that isn’t led by homebuilding,” said Grady Gammage, a real estate attorney for Belmont Partners.

Solar power, self-driving cars and other technology would be key to realizing that vision.

“Belmont will create a forward-thinking community with a communication and infrastructure spine that embraces cutting-edge technology, designed around high-speed digital networks, data centres, new manufacturing technologies and distribution models, autonomous vehicles and autonomous logistics hubs,” said Belmont Partners.

People in Arizona welcome the idea, saying the city would spin off tech startups and other business that would generate new growth in the state.

"Bill Gates is known for innovation and those kind of things, and I think he picked the right place,” said Arizona Technology Council Executive Emeritus Ron Schott. “Finally, Arizona is getting recognized for being a place for innovation.”

But others have raised questions about the idea of building a city in the desert. Seattle Times columnist Jon Talton, an Arizona native who now regularly covers Microsoft, said climate change is putting enormous pressure on Phoenix. Concerns about water and sprawl have led to a cycle of real estate booms and busts over the last century that have ruined many plans for utopias in the state, he added.

“Arizona doesn’t have enough water to continue these kind of developments, no matter what the mouthpieces of the Real Estate Industrial Complex say,” Talton wrote. “Whether Phoenix will even be inhabitable by mid-century is an open question.”
By John Dyer