In 1966, after a few years of intensive study, the government started the project by buying land in the Tsukuba area. The acquiring of land to build on was done by negotiation over prices between the government and landowners. The parcels of land with the most suitable price were purchased. This is reason for the odd shape of the government-owned land in Tsukuba; it is 18 kilometers long from north to east and 6 kilometers wide from east to west. Due to this shape walking is not common in the city.