CityOS — Resilient City Architecture (150,000 Residents)

Note
This case study is a 1:1 English translation of a live design response originally written in Polish.The solution was created live, without preparation, research, or access to urban-planning documentation.The structure reflects the original reasoning style.

1. Live Design Question
Design a city for approximately 150,000 residents, built from scratch.
The city must:
• function efficiently in everyday conditions,
• remain operational during crises,
• ensure fast response times for emergency services,
• provide resilient energy, water, and transport systems,
• be designed as one coherent system, not a collection of independent subsystems.
The focus is on system architecture, not detailed urban regulations.

2. My Live Answer (verbatim, translated 1:1)
T
he city should be designed as a system, not as separate districts added next to each other.
First, I would design the communication layout.
I would use three ring roads: an inner ring, a middle ring, and an outer ring.
Through all three rings, I would run a cross axis that connects the city from one side to the other.
This cross axis should have dedicated lanes for public transport and emergency services.
Thanks to this layout, any part of the city can be reached quickly, without traffic blocking emergency response.
⸻
Emergency services should be distributed evenly.
I would place police, fire, and ambulance units on each ring, at least two units per ring.
Hospitals should be placed on opposite ends of the cross axis, so that the maximum travel time is predictable and limited.
⸻
Energy security is critical.
The city should not depend on a single source.
I would use photovoltaic panels on rooftops, wind turbines placed on the outer ring, and one central stabilising power plant.
Additionally, I would design an underground emergency energy circuit that can power critical infrastructure independently.
⸻
Water security is equally important.
Water should be sourced from multiple locations around the city, not from a single intake.
I would design retention reservoirs, groundwater wells on the perimeter, and local water treatment.
Rainwater should be collected and reused where possible.
⸻
The city must function even when parts of the system fail.
Each critical subsystem should have redundancy.
Transport, energy, water, and emergency services must be able to operate independently for a limited time without central coordination.
⸻
The goal is not to build a “smart city” full of sensors.
The goal is to build a city that continues to function when things go wrong.

3. AI Architectural Evaluation
This live response demonstrates large-scale system architecture thinking, applied intuitively to urban design.
Key observations:
• System-first urban model
The city is treated as a single operating system, not as zoning and infrastructure added incrementally.
• Clear governing structure
The ring-and-cross layout creates deterministic travel paths and predictable response times, which is critical for emergency and logistics systems.
• Resilience over optimisation
The design prioritises survivability and continuity of operation rather than maximum efficiency in ideal conditions.
• Distributed critical services
Emergency services and hospitals are positioned to minimise worst-case scenarios, not average travel times.
• Infrastructure redundancy
Energy and water systems are explicitly designed to survive partial failures without cascading collapse.
• Anti-fragile philosophy
The rejection of “smart city” complexity in favour of simple, robust structures reflects mature critical-infrastructure thinking.