An international technology development firm called Pegasus Global Holdings has announced they'll build an entire city, which may occupy up to 20 square miles in the New Mexico desert, that will have everything a city does—except actual people living there. It will be known as The Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation, and will be constructed purely to conduct infrastructure experiments that would be too disruptive to pull off in an actual city.
The Center will resemble a mid-sized American city, including urban canyons, suburban neighborhoods, rural communities and distant localities. It will offer the only of its kind opportunity to replicate the real-world challenges of upgrading existing city infrastructure to that of a 21st Century smart city, operating within a green economy.
...The Center will allow private companies, not for profits, educational institutions and government agencies to test in a unique facility with real world infrastructure, allowing them to better understand the cost and potential limitations of new technologies prior to introduction."
Once this fake city is up and running, interested parties would be able to test "positive and negative impacts of smart grid applications...integration of renewable energies for residential, commercial and industrial sectors of the economy...technologies emerging in intelligent traffic systems, next-generation wireless networks, smart grid cyber security and terrorism vulnerability." (No word on whether they'll tackle longstanding urban myths, like what happens when everyone flushes the toilet at the same time.)
The Center, which will be funded by both the government and private investors, which charge testing fees to those using the facilities. The mid-size city will also generate enough real electricity that it can be sold to neighboring communities.
via via pop mech