Minnesota’s Experimental City

Minnesota’s Experimental City was born out of an idea in the late 1960s that one could solve all the problems of 20th century urbanization by relying on science and technology to plan every aspect of growth. It was led by futurist and the University of Minnesota’s then-Dean of the Institute of Technology Athelstan Spilhaus – who was also behind the creation of the skyway system in Minneapolis. Ultimately, the proposed pollution-free, self-sustaining planned domed community was scrapped by legislators in 1973.

In 2013, Almanac’s David Gillette dug up archival documents at the Legislative Reference Library on Minnesota’s domed city that never was.

This story was published May 3, 2018.