Eurotecture: Design of Europa

design assumptions.....

the design assumes a single state in Europe, but not a pan-national state
territory approximately equivalent to the present continent of Europe, the Russian Federation, north Kazakhstan, north and west Turkey
the name of the state is Europa
transfer of resources to eastern Europe, the Maghreb, and other Mediterranean basin regions

the region should be the primary government structure of a unitary state: that is, the region is the local administrative unit of a non-federal state
the region is an instrument of de-nationalisation and Europeanisation of its territory
regional administration is not intended to emphasise regional identity, but to counteract it

the design implements some of the innovative principles for European spatial planning
the design is not oriented to the past: it is consciously opposed to a museum Europe
although the term "investment" is used for transfer of resources to new infrastructure, no return is expected

the transfer of resources, the regional-administrative structure, urban policy, and new infrastructure, should be coordinated in a single design
outside the most densely populated part of Europe, all medium-sized cities should be regional capitals
a special form of regional structure should apply in the most densely populated zone of Europe: as an indication, with more than 100 inhabitants/km
a new high-speed transport infrastructure should link the regional capitals: they should be nodes in this infrastructure as far as possible
as an indication, there should be about 70 000 km of new high-speed rail lines in Europe
resource transfer from west to east Europe should be mainly in the form of new infrastructure projects
migration policy should be coordinated with the infrastructure policy and regional structure: the population of the regional capitals should grow
regional capitals are therefore a centre of economic activity, a centre of in-migration, an administrative centre, and a transport node
there should be an order of priority in resource transfer (investment in new infrastructure), including priority for the regional capitals
the principle of combining economic activity, migration, administration, and transport node should be applied to lower-order centres also, with subordinate investment priority
several new cities should be constructed, including at least one city of one million inhabitants

the region is the primary unit of government
there are two sub-regional levels of government/administration, at "district" and "commune" level
a region can be a "unitary region", with only commune-level units: a district can be a unitary district with no sub-units
there are four possible arrangements: regions divided into districts divided into communes; unitary regions divided into communes only; regions divided into unitary districts with no communes; regions divided into districts partly unitary, partly divided into communes
administrative units should not be fixed by rigid criteria of size or area: the structure is flexible in areas of low density, or zones with specific characteristics.
as an indication only, a commune level unit would have about 10 000 inhabitants, a district 50 000 to 100 000
there is no public civil society: inhabitants deal directly with the state, usually in the form of regional and sub-regional government.

the design includes a division into macro-zones for spatial planning with very general characteristics: as an indication of scale about 10 to 20 zones for the Eurasian land mass
at this scale Europe is relatively homogenous, most of the continent would be in "Macro-Zone 1"
there is no emphasis on meso-scale regions, such as those in the EU programme INTERREG
the Ural industrial area, on both sides of the Ural watershed, should be included in this zone, perhaps as far as Omsk
Aegean, west-Anatolian, and Black Sea Turkey should also be included in this zone
the North Caucasus should not be included in this zone, although it is in the continent of Europe
spatial planning policy will differ substantially in the different macro-zones
in the macro-zone to the north (Arctic), it is not a goal to maintain human settlement: there will be no support for inward migration or maintenance of population levels. This reverses former policies of Scandinavian and Soviet governments.

the northern boundary of "Macro-Zone 1" is the Värtsila line is the rail line from Narvik-Boden-Haparanda-Oulu-Paltamo-Joensuu-Värtsila-Petrozavodsk, then along the Baltic-Volga canal to Seksna, and the rail line to Vologda and Vyatka, and then North of Solikamsk and Serov
the south-eastern boundary of "Macro-Zone 1" (south of the Black Sea) is the Anamur line from Cape Anamur through the Toros range, west of Konya, through the Tuz Gölü and east of Ankara to Sinop
the south-eastern boundary of "Macro-Zone 1" (north of the Black Sea) is the Kerc-Kuma line, passing through the Strait of Kerc, south of Rostov, Elista and Astrachan, and along the Kuma river to the Caspian Sea
the boundary from the Caspian to the Ural industrial region is the Turgaj line, passing south of the Emba river and through the Turgaj depression at the town of Turgaj

within the boundaries there are elements of internal structure: one is the already mentioned population density contour of 100 inhabitants/km
a rural population density contour of 1 person/km is the limit of inhabited areas (this contour was used in Soviet planning: it is not applicable in Macro-Zone 1 except on the Kazakh steppe)
a population density contour of about 8 to 10 inhabitants/km is also a structuring feature
in Russia the 10/km contour generally runs north of the Sankt Peterburg-Moskva- Trans-Siberian rail lines, but extends 300 km south of Sankt Peterburg towards Vitsebsk
in Scandinavia, less than 8 inhabitants/km defines the former Objective 6 Areas for EU Structural Funds, which are clearly defined in Finland and Sweden
in the south-east (south of Saratov) the 10/km contour runs along the Volga, Volga-Don canal, and Don as far as Volgodonsk
the Russian corridor of settlement is less sharply definable, but extends eastward from an approximate baseline Smolensk-Voronezh