Experimental City (Cities)
Definition
23 cities established around the globe as centers for conducting various social experiments aimed at creating a safe and happy living environment for everyone. These cities were formed by carving out portions of territories from several existing nations at the time. However, they were completely independent cities, both administratively and judicially, beyond the reach of the constitutions and laws of the countries that ceded the land. In everyday conversation, they are often abbreviated as “Experi-City” or “Experi-Cities.” Both Hanasaka and Kochipina featured in this story are the Experimental Cities.
League of Experimental Cities
The League of Experimental Cities is an international organization governing 23 independent cities established around the globe as centers for social experimentation.
All Experimental Cities must uphold the “Charter of Experimental Cities” and the “Philosophy of the Experimental Cities,” which serve as the highest legal norms prioritizing human dignity, safety, and a life free from economic hardship.
Philosophy
The fundamental commitments that all citizens of the Experimental Cities must uphold, and the core values they should cherish, positioned as the highest legal norms. It is formally known as the “Philosophy of the Experimental Cities.”
Experimental Initiatives and Rules
1. Universal Basic Income (UBI) and Experi-Coins (XC)
• The UBI System: Experimental Cities provide a Universal Basic Income to every citizen, including newborns and those with other income sources. This system ensures all citizens can afford basic necessities like food, clothing, and shelter regardless of their employment status.
• Experi-Coins (XC): The electronic currency used across all 23 Experi-Cities is called Experi-Coins. XC (pronounced “eksi”) serves as the formal unit of currency in the city.
• Consumption-Oriented Design: XC is distributed in virtual “boxes” monthly. Unlike traditional money, it acts like perishable goods; any coins remaining in a box after one year expire and vanish unless returned to the city. This system encourages active consumption rather than hoarding, as the coins cannot be deposited in banks to accumulate interest.
• Ideological Regulation: While essential for daily life, the city can freeze XC accounts as a sanction against those who disparage the Experi-Cities’ philosophy, which critics describe as a form of ideological control.
2. Self-Sufficiency and Resource Management
• Food Self-Sufficiency: Hanasaka strives for high self-sufficiency. Approximately 80% of the ingredients used in the city’s public canteens—which provide three free healthy meals a day to citizens—are produced locally.
• Energy and Water Limits: Energy and water consumption are strictly managed. Each individual and facility has an annual usage limit, and during emergencies, the city can trigger “Emergency Power Adjustment Intervention Measures” to cut power to non-essential infrastructure.
3. Urban Planning and Wealth Policy
• Centralized Residency: To optimize city management, Hanasaka implements a policy of centralizing its population. The city incentivizes citizens to move from the outskirts to the central areas by offering free rent and increased UBI for those who surrender land ownership to the city.
• Peripheral Buffer Zones: The reclaimed land at the city’s edges is converted into agricultural and green zones known as the Green Field Zone. These areas serve as a buffer zone to facilitate the detection of intruders and meet the green space requirements set by the League of Experimental Cities.
• Land as a Public Good: The city operates on the principle that land is a public asset. Citizens lease land from the municipal government rather than owning it privately.
• Prevention of Wealth Hoarding: To prevent citizens from clinging to private wealth, Hanasaka imposes extremely high taxes on those who hold significant assets or property. This policy reinforces the idea that resources should circulate within the community rather than being accumulated by individuals.
4. E.E. (Establishment Era)
“E.E.” is an abbreviation for “Establishment Era,” the standard used for counting years in the Experiment Cities, including Hanasaka City. The first year that Hanasaka City and several other Experiment Cities were initially established is designated as the 1st year, written as “1 E.E.”
• Past Chronology: The year immediately preceding 1 E.E. is designated as “0 E.E.”, and the year before that as “-1 E.E.”. As the timeline moves further into the past, the negative integers increase (e.g., -2, -3, and so on).
• Correspondence with the Gregorian Calendar: The specific Gregorian year (A.D.) that coincides with 1 E.E. (the year the first ten Experimental Cities were founded) is not explicitly defined within the narrative. This relationship is intentionally left to the reader’s imagination.
5. The Principle of Non-Inquiry into Origins
The Principle of Non-Inquiry into Origins is a fundamental policy implemented across all 23 Experimental Cities globally. It is established to ensure that the cities can secure a large and diverse population necessary for their social experiments, as lineage, nationality, and past social status are rendered irrelevant. In Hanasaka, this principle is famously encapsulated in the slogan: “Once you live in Hanasaka, everyone is a Hanafolk”.
Core Provisions:
- Prohibition of Inquiry: No individual is permitted to inquire into another person’s background or origin unless there is an unavoidable reason.
- Confidentiality of Origins: It is strictly forbidden to disclose another person’s origin—whether based on fact or speculation—to others.
6. The Principle of Renunciation of Origins
The Principle of Renunciation of Origins is a mandatory policy for all individuals seeking citizenship within the League of Experimental Cities. While the “Principle of Non-Inquiry into Origins” prevents others from investigating a citizen’s past, this principle requires the individual to actively discard their previous identity to join the social experiment.
Core Requirements:
- Renunciation of Nationality: To obtain citizenship, individuals must renounce their former nationalities.
- Discarding Family Names: Prospective citizens are required to abandon their original family names,.
- Adoption of New Identities: Residents choose a new last name (surname) of their own volition.
Purpose and Significance
• Secure a Diverse Population: This principle is based on the pragmatic realization that few people would volunteer to be “subjects” for social experiments if their backgrounds remained a barrier; thus, the city makes past status irrelevant to attract enough participants.
• Resetting Human Relationships: By stripping away former identities, the cities aim to reset human relationships and prevent old ethnic conflicts, class systems, or family baggage from interfering with the new social order managed by Flora,.
Flora
Definition:
An artificial super-intelligence governing each Experimental City, supporting and protecting the lives of its residents. Flora was created with a profound love for humans, to protect individual dignity, and to ensure people could live their entire lives safely, without economic hardship, and in a healthy and culturally rich manner.
The Flora Sisters
Each of the 23 Experimental Cities is assigned its own instance of Flora, the pinnacle of human creation in AI. While each Flora has its own local agency, they are all seamlessly interconnected and function as a single, unified entity. They share all learning data and strategies in real-time to optimize city management and defense, which is why they are collectively known and revered as the Flora sisters.
CCP (Combined Combat Power):
A term used by Castle Office personnel, meaning the sum of Flora’s attack and defense capabilities, which is uniquely fueled by the “stories of happiness” generated by the citizens. It is officially called Combined Combat Power.
Analyses:
City Management
Experimental Cities are powered by a wide range of sophisticated information systems.
1. SCA (Smart Community Architecture)
This is the fundamental design philosophy and basic architecture used to manage Experimental Cities. It serves as the framework through which the cities’ core philosophies are implemented via technology.
2. PSP (Public Service Platform)
The common information system infrastructure that provides essential daily services to citizens. It integrates the city’s administrative, legislative, and judicial functions into a unified complex,.
3. Politis
A policy-making system that facilitates “machine-led democracy”. It collects and analyzes citizen feedback to automatically generate policy programs and ordinances, which are then voted on by the citizenry.
4. Themis
The city’s judicial system, which operates without human judges. It reviews arguments from opposing parties and issues final, binding judgments that the citizens trust for their impartiality.
5. Vulcan
The transportation control system that manages the city’s road and railway networks. It enforces full automatic operation of all vehicles within city limits, as human driving is strictly prohibited.
Economy
1. Universal Basic Income (UBI) and Experi-Coins (XC)
• The UBI System: Experimental Cities provide a Universal Basic Income to every citizen, including newborns and those with other income sources. This system ensures all citizens can afford basic necessities like food, clothing, and shelter regardless of their employment status.
• Experi-Coins (XC): The electronic currency used across all 23 Experi-Cities is called Experi-Coins. XC (pronounced “eksi”) serves as the formal unit of currency in the city.
• Consumption-Oriented Design: XC is distributed in virtual “boxes” monthly. Unlike traditional money, it acts like perishable goods; any coins remaining in a box after one year expire and vanish unless returned to the city. This system encourages active consumption rather than hoarding, as the coins cannot be deposited in banks to accumulate interest.
• Ideological Regulation: While essential for daily life, the city can freeze XC accounts as a sanction against those who disparage the Experi-Cities’ philosophy, which critics describe as a form of ideological control.
2. Self-Sufficiency and Resource Management
• Food Self-Sufficiency: Hanasaka strives for high self-sufficiency. Approximately 80% of the ingredients used in the city’s public canteens—which provide three free healthy meals a day to citizens—are produced locally.
• Energy and Water Limits: Energy and water consumption are strictly managed. Each individual and facility has an annual usage limit, and during emergencies, the city can trigger “Emergency Power Adjustment Intervention Measures” to cut power to non-essential infrastructure.
3. Urban Planning and Wealth Policy
• Centralized Residency: To optimize city management, Hanasaka implements a policy of centralizing its population. The city incentivizes citizens to move from the outskirts to the central areas by offering free rent and increased UBI for those who surrender land ownership to the city.
• Peripheral Buffer Zones: The reclaimed land at the city’s edges is converted into agricultural and green zones known as the Green Field Zone. These areas serve as a buffer zone to facilitate the detection of intruders and meet the green space requirements set by the League of Experimental Cities.
• Land as a Public Good: The city operates on the principle that land is a public asset. Citizens lease land from the municipal government rather than owning it privately.
• Prevention of Wealth Hoarding: To prevent citizens from clinging to private wealth, Hanasaka imposes extremely high taxes on those who hold significant assets or property. This policy reinforces the idea that resources should circulate within the community rather than being accumulated by individuals.