Fresh renderings of Telosa, an ambitious "built-from-scratch" city designed by renowned architecture firm BIG, showcase specific architectural elements including a massive wooden mobility hub and a sprawling silver sports complex. The conceptual desert city, first announced in 2021 by businessman Marc Lore's organization, promises to accommodate 5 million residents by 2050 with a planned move-in date of 2030.
The most striking feature in the new images is a circular, open-air "mobility hub" constructed with four levels of flat wooden tiers, surrounded by two chrome transportation rails. This innovative transit center will serve the city's Ground to Air (G2A) vehicles, which are designed to transform from train cars into helicopters. The renderings show these futuristic vehicles both hovering above the hub and operating on wheels within the building's center.
Additional architectural highlights include the Lore Institute, featuring elevated, interconnected towers, and a shared street marked by stone pathways bordered by buildings covered in lush greenery. At the heart of the city stands the Equitism Tower, a geometric timber structure with a distinctive lattice-like facade that BIG describes as "a beacon for the city." The tower is designed to include water storage facilities, aeroponic farms, and a photovoltaic roof for renewable energy generation.
The tower's name derives from the city's unique governance system called Equitism, which centers on community-owned land that generates public funds through strategic sales. "Equitism is a new economic model based on the premise that citizens should have a stake in the land and as the city does better, the residents do better," explains Telosa's organization. This system maintains capitalist principles while adding an additional funding mechanism for enhanced public services without burdening taxpayers.
Beyond its innovative architecture, Telosa plans to incorporate comprehensive sustainability measures including renewable resources, a drought-resistant water system, and fully transparent governance with all city meetings open to the public. In a 2024 Forbes interview, BIG associate Alana Goldweit emphasized that the city will be "built with intention," noting that the studio continues hosting community forums with future residents to refine the city's development.
Telosa Community Foundation CEO Jon Mallon highlighted the project's current shift from design focus to community engagement. "We recognize the importance, with any large-scale development, of focusing on people and putting an emphasis on community engagement," Mallon stated. "We have extensively researched new city projects and have found that those that focused first on the technology and buildings, although essential, have faced challenges getting started. Those city projects that put people first and the idea of a co-design have been more successful."
The project joins a growing list of high-tech urban developments worldwide, including BIG's BiodiverCity in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia's partially constructed Neom. However, not all such ventures succeed – Senegal's $6 billion cryptocurrency-funded Akon City was recently cancelled in favor of more realistic development plans. Telosa's organization has partnered with data analytics firm Polco and non-profit governance organization ICMA, with further project updates expected later this year.
