A Polymathica Microstate

A Polymathican Microstate

My interest is creating a Polymathican microstate in the tropics.  Samana Cay, Bahanas, is a particularly good place to start.  It is 17.4 mi² and is rimmed with beaches.  Because it doesn't have mangroves, much of what is not currently beach can easily transformed.  It is currently uninhabited.  Almost none of the island is more than a mile from the shore.

Because of this it is very high value real estate.  Currently, undeveloped Family Islands are listing for about 70,000 USD per acre.  Consequently, the current market value of Samana Cay is about 800 million USD.  Developed, its land value will likely be in the 10 to 15 billion USD range.

At the population density of Miami Beach (8,500/mi²) it will have a population of about 150,000.  At the more appropriate population densities of more modern beach side communities (15,000/mi² to 30,000/mi²), the island population would be between 250,000 to 500,000.  I am assuming a population of 250,000 and about 100,000 households.  This translates into $100,000USD - $150,000USD land costs per household.

Samana Cay will be an Information Age community and, as such, the average unit market value will be about 1,500,000 USD per capita for a total of about $375 billion USD.  The portion of real estate value that is land value, at 2.5%-3%, is well below historical averages.

If additional growth is advisable, the nearby Acklins Archipelago is about 200 mi² with a current population of about 800.  Because the islands are larger than Samana Cay, there is more land that is not within a mile of the coast.  It would, therefore, likely have lower population densities.  The Bight of Acklins is a 1,000 mi² lagoon that presents wonderful recreational and mariculture opportunities. 

Most of the Family Islands are comprised of Crown Land (government owned).  The Bahamian government has shown a willingness to enter into projects where they contribute the land for a share of the development enterprise.  Currently, I-Group's Mayaguana project is being undertaken on a fee simple basis.  However, originally it was a joint venture between the I-Group and the Bahamian government.  It is the latter that will probably be the viable business model as the Family Islands are developed.

I prefer a somewhat different arrangement where the Bahamian government would contribute the land with a stated value of 800 million USD and the equity funders would contribute an equivalent amount and the proceeds from the increase value to 8 to 10 billion USD would be split equally. The Polymathic Institute would take a design and marketing fee as a percent of market value.  The first fee would be on the developed land and would be due when it is sold to a developer.  The second payment would be on the ultimate sale of the individual units and would deduct the original payment.

The total I imagine would be about 6%, split equally between 3% marketing and 3% design.  The design fee will be about half expenses and about half profit to The Polymathic Institute or 1 ½%.  The marketing fee will be about 2/3 expenses and 1/3 profit to The Polymathic Institute.  The combined 2 ½% profit will contribute between 10 billion and 20 billion to The Polymathic Institute over the course of the project.

The proceeds to the Institute will be used to finance the stated goals of The Polymathic Institute which are the promotion of polymathic research, education, careers and lifestyles.  Of course, building the Island will, itself, promote polymathic careers and lifestyles.

The expenses of the marketing and design fees will be dominated by compensation for the team members.  Each one of the villages within the microstate will have a lead designer, who will receive about 3/8% of the village market value  or, on average $200 million USD.  Each design team will have about a dozen other members, who will share about 5/8% for an average of about $30  million.

 The Economic Structure
The economy of Samana Cay is assumed to be Information Age and, consequently, the median household income is 600,000 2015USD.  The standard work week is 30 hours and the minimum wage is 50 2015USD.  The first step in developing an economic model of the microstate is to identify characteristic income and expenditures by quintile.  Once we have expanded that we can calculate the total spending per segment, create P&Ls for the various industries and begin to understand the jobs and income levels.  Once we have rationalized these will with the assumed incomes we will have a robust model for the microstate economy.

Lowest Quintile
The lowest quintile is comprised of 25% single member households and 1.0 workers, 50% two adult households with no children and 1.7 workers, and 25% two adults and 1.2 children households and 1.6 workers.  This creates an average household of 2.05 people and 1.5 workers.  The average household income at $70 per hour, 1,500 hours per worker and 1.5 workers is 157,600 2015 USD or 13,133USD per month.

At this income level, people generally will rely on the free automated taxis for transportaion and, save for a few exceptions, use the free microstate medical care.

Rent                                                $  3,600
Furniture, Art, etc.                        1,200
Clothing                                             1,600
Food                                                    1,600
Home Appliances                           1,200
Personal Care & Medical                600
Entertainment                                 1,950
Supplemental Education                600
Other, Investments & Savings       783

There is a large category of single men and women in this quintile.  About 40% or  8,000 fashion consultants are in this quintile with a median income of 135,000 USD.  




The Urban Design

My personal interest is to design the most remarkable place on Earth.  It will conjure the imagery of Shangri La, Atlantis, Plato's Academy as well as new, Polymathican imagery.  It will also become a demonstration and proof of concept for many of the emerging technologies.  It also can provide a template that can be used, modified and, perhaps, improved upon in subsequent developments.  
 
In the case of Samana Cay, the southern shores will be naturally of greater value and consequently will have the highest population concentration.

Crescent Beach with its central location and spectacular beaches will have the highest population density.  It will be about 3mi² and have a population of about 85,000.  It will also have the highest real estate values and will function ad a downtown.

Its four mile beach, save for a public beach and five star hotel will be lined with high end 50-60 story condominiums.  The oceanfront properties will average 990' deep (300 m) which will allow for the construction of both beach towers and garden towers.  

Beachfront condos will run from 300 m² to 2,000 m² and will cost between $5,000,000 2015USD and $50,000,000 2015.  Garden tower condos will run from 200 m² to 1,000 m²  and will cost between $2,000,000 2015USD and $15,000,000 2015.  There will be approximately 7,000 units and will comprise about 8% of the island population.

The beach itself will have a boardwalk and will be liberally sprinkled with patios, alfresco dining, thematic music and related boutiques.   We will make it a contender, combined with Sunrise Beach, for 'best beach in the world.

Across from the beach front five star hotel in the middle of Crescent Beach will be Samana Fashion Mall.  It will rival Bal Harbour Shops, Rodeo Drive and the Forum Shops at Ceasar's Palace in size and luxury.  It will be three stories and about 100,000 m² of retail space.  

The first floor will be mid-priced with stores similar to Bebe, Cache', Chico, Armani Exchange, etc.  Second floor will contain prêt-à-porter and midrange designers  such as Escada, Elle Tahari, Brooks Brothers, etc.  Third floor will contain top designer shops such as Channel, Dolce Gabbana, Herve' Legere, etc.  

Middle class families today spend about 7% of household income on clothing.  Samana Cay will have total household income of about $80 billion USD for a clothing budget of $5.6 billion USD.  About 80% is assumed to be purchased at this mall for an average sales per square foot of $4,200. This compares to Bal Harbour Shoppes at $2,800, making it the most productive mall in the world. This is important because it affects the income of those who work in the Mall.

For example, a 1,500 ft² boutique will generate 1,500x$4,200=$6,300,000 in annual revenue.  Typical expenses is 22% operating profit for the proprietors and 15% for employee salaries.  The is $1,386,000 for the proprietor and a budget, at the minimum income of $50 per hour, of 18,900 hours for clerks.  This is sufficient to have 4.5 clerks on duty at all times.  In reality, that is probably too much staffing and either the proprietor's income will be greater or the average hourly rate of clerks will be over $50 per hour.

On both sides of the approximately 400 meter long mall will be more moderately priced condominiums stretching about 3,000 meters on both sides with ample access to the beach.  These 60 towers, averaging 35 stories will contain a total of about 8,000 units from 200 to 400 and priced between $2.0 million USD and $5.0 million.

The interior will have a 'central park' intended to be reminiscent of NYC Central park, but about half the size. High rise condos will border it on the South and East side, downtown to the West side and townhouse cul de sacs on the North side.  The condominiums will abut the off-beach condos and will be similar in height, square meters and price.  The 30 towers will have about 4,000 units.  

The north side will have 24 cul de sacs each with 12 townhouses plus a total of 160 units facing the park.  The park facing units are major residences, 1,000 m²  or more and costing $10 million+ USD.  The 288 off park units will be about 600 m² and will cost around $4,000,000.

West of the park will be a retail center and 'downtown' office complex.  It is   While Crescent Beach will be reminiscent of Australia's 'god coast', Miami Beach, Dubai, et al. it will strive to be an even more pure expression of the pattern.

Royal Palms is so named because of its liberal use of the Cuban Royal Palm, a tall, majestic tree with a 20' spread, in the public landscaping.  These palms line the boulevards and are used liberally through the public and commercial areas of the town.  The 'magic of the city' will center around a world class golf course and club.  The golf course will be rimmed with estate style single family homes.  The area around the main club facilities will have golf villas and two high rise towers.  The south shore will have 50 lots of 300' of shoreline and five acre lots.  It will be the most expensive housing on the island.  The north shore will have a marina focus with townhouses and condominiums.
, in
Plato 
will be a community on the north shore directly east of Royal Palms, Plato, that will contain the educational and certification institution of The Polymathic Institute along with a related research community.  At the core is a quadrangle or square that will express the intellectual 'magic of the city.'  It is surrounded by lecture halls, meeting rooms, library/lounges, etc.

To the east, west and north of the Institute itself will be housing for the Institute's Fellows.  They will be quiet streets with medium to large single family homes on small lots.  

The Greek Villages
In the southeast corner of Plato will be the western half of the Greek Village.  It is called that because it emulates the Fraternities and Sororities of traditional Universities.  It is also similar in conception to CoHousing, except it will not be based on communal chores, with a professional domestic services for the common area.  The Plato side will be primarily for certification candidates who often will work part-time in the restaurants, retail establishments and residential high rises.  

The minimum wage will be $50 per hour and a twenty hour work week will provide a budget 4.3K USD per month.  A typical Greek house for young singles will have 32 units and rent for 1,100 USD.  The private room will be about 40 meters.  The common area will be about 1,200 meters and will include a lounge, ball room, several small meeting rooms, a theater, dining, kitchen and some craft facilities.

Most residents will eat breakfast in the dining room and most dinners. Breakfast is 4.00 USD and dinners are 7.00 USD for a monthly cost of 330 USD. The kitchen has spaces for private small refrigerators that will allow residents to prepare their own meals with their own ingredients if they so choose.

Houses for couples will have 16, 80 meter units for 2,200 USD with all else the same.  These houses are for people at the minimum income.  People at the minimum wage for 30 hours per week will have private units at 60 meters and common area of 1,800 meters.  Many lower income families will choose to remain in the Greek Village after marriage and children and there will be houses for them.

As we see, even the lowest income people will have dignity in their lifestyle.   With free automated taxi service and free medical they will have significant disposable income. 

The Colony
is east of Plato and is the cultural and arts 'magic of the city' village.  Its promenade will be shaped as an oval, with an interior that is 990'X2,970'.  The interior will be divided into a sculpture garden in one semicircle, a plaza and amphitheater in the other semicircle.  The rectangular center will be divided into fourths of 495'X990'.  They will contain an Art Museum, a Natural History Museum, a Science Museum and a convention center and theaters.  The outer portion of the promenade will contain about 200 shops for artists and artisans.  The promenade, itself, will contain cafes.  

South of The Colony and East of Crescent Beach is Sunrise Beach.  The beach has three story townhouses.  Across the street are moderately priced condos.  There is a public beach with a continuation of the patio, alfresco dining, thematic music and boutiques.  It can be thought of as a more moderately priced extension Crescent Beach and combined with it, provides an all day beach excursion along a continuous five mile beach.

Aurora has six miles of shoreline.  The southern shoreline has high rise condos and the north shore has townhouses.  The center of the village has low rise apartments, townhouses and some single family homes.  It has a small retail area that is dominated by small boutiques, restaurants and shops that provide custom products of their own design.  This individuality and the sense of exploration in shopping and dining is the magic of the city. 

There is a separate island to the east of the main island that will be the airport.  The strip will handle private jets and the 787 Dreamliner for limited commercial flights to Miami.  There is a large area where the sea is less than two meters deep and is very amenable to the construction of artificial islands as has been done elsewhere, most notably Miami and Dubai.  This will increase the total land area to nearly 20 miles².  They will contain contain power generation, vertical farming, desalination, warehouses, auto dealerships, home improvement stores and other big box retail.  It will also be the port of entry for shipping, provide light industrial space for fabrication activities and contain the island sewage treatment, garbage and recycling processing facilities.  Near the main island, artificial islands will likely, as with Star Island, Indian Creek, etc. in Miami, contain very high value single family homes.

A small island off the shore of Crescent Beach will developed into a resort/hotel complex which will be the only tourist destination on the island and will be marketed to Polymathicans from around the world.  It will combine elements of Disney Parks, Sandals and Beaches, Atlantis on Paradise Island Bahamas, and Las Vegas. 

This is an example that I think will be doable both politically and economically.  However, it is far from the only Polymathican Village that will be built over time and if this one proves unfeasible, others can easily take its place.  

Funding Microstate Services
The Bahamas has no personal or corporate income tax which facilitates cultural sovereignty.  The proceeds of import duties, which are relatively high, will go to the Bahamian government which establishes their ongoing motivation for the project.  

Total island GDP will be around $100 billion USD and if 1/3 is imports with an average duty of 20%, that is $17 billion annually.  That compares to the current Bahamian budget of ~$1,5 billion.  It is such a potential economic boon to the country that we may be able to negotiate a rebate above a specified per capita revenue.  These Import duty revenues will pay for what little national services the island needs, such as matters of State and defense. 

The import duties will incentivize the Polymathican Villages to improve local value added per capita.  In other words, as we consider the 'build vs. import' decision, the duties will make building comparatively more attractive.

Island services will be financed with a Real Estate Tax.   Bahamas does not have one, however there is a substantial transfer tax that will probably need to be negotiated with the Bahamian government.  Preliminarily, the Real Estate tax will be 1.o% per year on the valuation under 1.o million and 1.5% above that. This makes the revenue generation moderately progressive.  On the other side, basic health care and automated taxi service will be at no cost, which is also progressive in as much as upper income people will not use either.  

Property tax will not be applied to commercial and retail property for the sole reason that it encourages the government to approve the overbuilding of property and lowering the income associated with retail businesses.  Rather the rent, which will be a cost per square foot minimum with a % of sales (probably about 7%), will contain a portion that will be remitted to the Island public services.  It will be paid by the mall rather than the business or the buyer.  While I prefer visible taxes, in this case the efficiency dominates over the value of transparency of taxation.  Additionally, it does not incentivize the villages to permit an overbuilding of retail space, which lowers retailers' income without benefiting the consumer sufficiently.

Because of the very high real estate value per capita and high income, the Island budget will also be very high.  It works out to about 20,000 USD per capita.  Consequently, the community can be executed and maintained at the very highest aesthetic and lifestyle levels.

Microstate tax base	500,000,000,000
Gross Mill Rate	0.015
Gross Tax Revenue	7,500,000,000
Less low valuation exclusion	500,000,000
Net Tax Revenue		7,000,000,000
Medical subsidy per capita	8,300
Population	265,000
Subsidy		2,199,500,000
Subsidized Artists	10,000
Subsidy per artist	75,000
Subsidy per artist		750,000,000
Primary Education per student	18,000
Number of students	35,000
Subsidy		630,000,000
Social safetynet households	6,000
Average benefits	100,000
Subsidy		600,000,000
Taxi System miles per year	912,500,000
Cost per mile	$                          0.60
Free taxi service		547,500,000
Parks and Boulevards		500,000,000
Energy Use per household	6,000
Households	100,000
Half of energy costs		300,000,000
Public Safety		200,000,000
Museum subsidies		200,000,000
Professional Certification		80,000,000
Microstate administration		60,000,000
Microstate Bonds	50,000,000,000
Average Interest Rate	1.50%
Interest Expense		750,000,000
Total Expenditures		6,817,000,000
Surplus/(Deficit)		183,000,000

Transportation
Transportation will be primarily accomplished with electric automobiles, driverless, and receiving their electricity through the streets.  Google, Audi and others have already made driverless cars technically feasible.  South Korea and Stanford are both pursuing electric vehicles using induction.  Consequently, as futuristic as these vehicles may seem, the technology already exists.  The roadblock is retrofitting and our Microstate on Samana Cay will not have that issue.

Vehicles under human direction and/or with onboard fuel systems will be able to operate on the roadways.  However, they will be considered a transitional vehicle as we move to the more efficient solution.
 
With an Island that is only nine miles long, many destinations will be walkable.  A no cost trolly will run the main intervillage road for people who want to go to the most visited locations, such as The Colony Promenade, Crystal Beach, the retail centers, the marina, the airport and the golf course.  Additionally, there will be a no cost automated taxi service.  This means that many people can and will choose to not own an automobile.

Other Infrastructure
Island Internet service will be state of the art with a 1,000 mbps fiberoptic network, and a no cost, whole island wireless 4G with bandwidth of up to 20 mbps.  There will be no Cable TV, however, Polymthica TV and Polymathica Reprise will provide nearly all television consumed.    However, Amazon and Googleplay both provide the purchase option to mainstream television.  There will be no separate telephone service since it is delivered more efficiently through the fiber optic and 4G networks.

Electricity will be produced on an artificial island east of the main island.  We will use OTEC for most of our base load.  There are several viable peak shaving strategies using off-peak electricity generation.  A 10% of our electricity needs will be provided by the processing of our garbage and sewage which also can be scheduled to satisfy peak shaving.  

We will likely need about 600 MW of OTEC production.  The current estimates are that capital costs are about $8,000 per kilowatt for a total investment of $4.8 billion.  This is about $3.6 billion more that traditional coal or natural gas fired systems.  However, the system will also produce about 180 billion gallons or about 4.7 million acre-feet per year of fresh water.  Current capital costs for desalination of this production capacity is about $740 million.

We will therefore have a net excess capital cost of $2,860 million that is the premium cost for the strategic value of local energy and water production.  This will add about $200 million per year to the cost of energy and water, or about $2,000 per household.  As we will investigate later, this is well within the island budget and will be paid for through the real estate tax revenue.

OTEC is a base load energy producer.  Consequently, we will have a demand curve that peaks in the day as transportation and air conditioning draws significant energy.  At night transportation and cooling needs will decrease, leading to excess supply.  The first resolution of the problem is to undertake load leveling, such as scheduling industrial and agricultural uses during low demand period.

This, however, will be insufficient to completely level the load.  Consequently, off peak storage will be needed.  Of course, garbage and sewage will be burned during times of peak demand, which may be sufficient to balance the supply and demand curves.  However, if not, at present, the most attractive storage method, despite its inefficiency is liquid air storage.  It has the advantage of longer storage time which will allow us to keep a local strategic fuel supply for essential services if there is a supply interruption.  

Samana Cay has a about 60 contiguous acres at an elevation of 50 feet or more.  With 3 meter constructed berms, it might be possible to more efficiently create an artificial hydro-electric storage system.  However, it would create a 72 hour supply of just 8.4 megawatts, which may not be sufficient to warrant development. 

Domestic water use will be about 65 billion gallons.  The remaining 115 billion gallons is equivalent to 324" of annual rainfall and will make water abundant. It will be used for parkland, golf course, hydroponic vertical farming and aquaculture. The last two will enable a reduction in the need for net food imports.  Additionally, the OTEC system pumps cold water from the depths and extra water which may be used to air condition buildings directly.

In the end, Samana Cay power and water costs will be greater than in other locations. However, with a mean household income of $600,000 USD, this is probably not overly burdensome and, with government subsidy and high minimum wages, it will not put stress on the lower income households.

Culture
The island civic budget will be so great that we will have very significant resources for parks, recreation and cultural services.  This is at the very core of what makes it a Polymathican community.  We will breed and release a broad spectrum of sterilized birds, butterflies and smaller, decorative mammals for aesthetic enhancements.  Landscaping with substantial decorative flora will make the public lands seem park-like in all aspects.

Adult educational and cultural activities will be extensive and be priced nominally or even free of charge.  Plato will have a quadrangle surrounded by lecture halls and meeting rooms.  The quadrangle will have chess, bridge, backgammon and go courts.  A nearby food court will encourage it as a gathering place. 

The promenade will provide venues for the orchestra, ballet, opera and ballet and other musical performances.  These will be subsidized from the Island cultural budget as will street performers on the promenade, itself.  The street performers will receive the minimum full time wage of $100,000 and visitors are encouraged to 'tip $1' which will increase incomes to in the $250,000 range.  The orchestra, opera and ballet will be compensated, both by ticket sales and an Island subsidy intended to lower ticket prices to remain affordable for all residents.

Education
The public education, equivalent to the U.S. K-12, will be constituted of several Polymathica Academies,  designed to teach autodidactism and the Polymathic Method.  

Research suggests that school size in the first five or six years is optimal at about 400.

Because of this and augmented with A.I. educational tools, the job of educator will be less about pedigogy and more about evaluating and directing the educational process. 



I have created a stylized map of an ocean front Polymathica Village with the intent of displaying a few of the neighborhood options and some of the other characteristics of a well designed community.  

The Eastern Island, about 300 acres, will also be used as port of entry and customs.  It will have the warehouse space for the island.   This allows the main island to remain pristine, dedicated in its entirety to human and bioengineered environments.

I have created a hypothetical Polymathica Village that is intended to show the nature of neighborhoods that might be found in an ocean front village.  Light green are single family, mid-green is multi-unit, dark green is public land, mid-blue is parkland, light blue is commercial/industrial, light yellow is parking, yellow is retail/office, purple is government spaces (office, library, school, lecture halls, etc) salmon is hotel.

The first thing that you should notice is that there are no semiphores or stop lights.  The street system is laid out like a circulatory system.  The ovals that you see are turnarounds.  Cul de sacs have circles at the end.  The average trip distances will be slightly more than an rectangular street grid, but the time of trip and the gasoline used will be less.

Between every two oceanfront condominiums is a public beach access that ends in a small commercial area that will contain a beach side restaurant and some retail space.   Each will have its own style, Reggae, Classical, Adult Contemporary, etc.  Restaurants and boutiques will be theme consistent.  This will make the walk down the beach an all day cultural event.

The core of the village, as is currently the case with much of the tropical and subtropical ocean front communities, will be high end condos on the beach and more moderately priced condos across the street.  Because the minimum wage will be over $40 per hour, even moderately priced housing will be luxurious by today's standards.  

Marina neighborhoods are quite popular in oceanfront communities today.  The structure shown here, with streets on one side of the lot and a 'water street' on the other is an efficient way of providing ocean access to a large number of housing units.  You will note that there are two public marinas, one with no housing and the other with multi-family housing.  Of the two marina condos, one is beachside and the other is across the street.

Samana Cay is, at it greatest about two miles across.  Consequently, much of the land is not immediately adjacent to the ocean.  This provides for the opportunity to create other lifestyle housing options.  One of the major ones is the 'country club' lifestyle with apartments, townhouses and single family homes immediately adjacent to a golf course and the typical club facilities.

You will also note three styles of 'central park' neighborhoods with apartments, townhouses and estate style homes.  The first is intended to create an urban environment.  The latter is intended to facilitate a outdoors and equestrian lifestyle.  

Since creating this map I have become convinced, primarily by the success of Golden Beach, that a small amount of beachfront single family homes is advisable.  

While this map deals with the physical housing opportunities well, it does not address the social and cultural dimensions.  Consequently, when we come to design the villages of Samana Cay, we will have an arts Village, an Academia Village, etc.  

Because Polymathicans are eclectic in their interests and far more engaged than the general population, we will be able to support a broad spectrum of cultural and intellectual events.  Consequently, our residents will have a wide variety of recreational options virtually every day.

A quality orchestra is at the core of many cultural activities.  These would include but not be limited to symphonic performances, opera, ballet and plays.  Also string quartets and other 'chamber music' ensembles may be retained by restaurants, weddings, etc.  

With the high income, arts patronage lowering ticket prices, and strong cultural engagement, at least 1% and perhaps as much as 3% of the population will attend symphonic presentations.  Ballet and opera will likely have less participation but still will likely be more than 1/2%.  Broadway style shows cannot be supported but a robust selection of touring companies might be.  At least one 'Dinner Club' with local productions will be supported.

Many 'clubs' will likely have jazz ensembles and Samana Cay will likely be able to support an annual Jazz Festival.  The Island may also be able to support concerts from selected artists and other genres.  Lastly, the community, usually through patronage will likely have some 'street musicians.'

Most of the top performance venues in the world have seating capacity between 2,100 and 3,000 with only a handful slightly more than that.  That means that a world class venue would require about 1.4% of the population to attend in order for the performance to sell out.  This suggests that our community should have one major venue and a number of smaller venues.  If 5% of the population is attending a performance on a weekend evening, we will need, in addition to a 2,500 seat grand hall, six more with average size around 1,000.

A museum of art is a must.  However, rather than attempting to acquire major pieces in the extraordinarily expensive world of high major art, our museum should be a celebration of the best art by Polymathicans.  This accomplishes two things.  First, it allows our residents to immerse themselves in our culture.  Second, it will provide a stream of high income for our best artists.  As with music, we would expect that there will be significant patronage.  In other words, people will commission art to be on permanent loan to the museum
  
We might also expect unusual artistic presentations.  For example, many large metropolitan areas have a museum of natural history.  There one quite regularly encounters reassembled dinosaur skeletons.  While it is mind blowing to realize that the bones are millions of years old, lifesize dioramas of various Jurassic and Cretaceous era scenes would be more informative and more entertaining for most people.  With modern materials they can be robots with lifelike movement.  The Mall of America has something similar and it is hugely successful.

It would be highly presumptuous of me to think that I could anticipate all the wonderful venues that might be in our Arts village.  However, I am convinced that 150,000 to 200,000 people with a median household income of 600,000 2013USD will actively support enough options to give true meaning to a Polymathican community.

Samana Cay is essentially an urban environment.  As such its 'nature' will need to be bio-engineered.  There will be a multistory breeding building on the Eastern Island where this will take place.  A team of highly competent landscape architects, biologists, botanists and ecologists will design and maintain an extremely diverse population of butterflies, birds, small animals, pollinators, etc.  

I am a Polymath and I happen to know quite a bit about butterflies.  Here in South Florida, while there are many species of butterflies, one only sees about a half dozen on a regular basis and much of the year there are almost no butterflies.  In other words the butterflies one sees are optimized for the local ecological niches, not for our aesthetic enjoyment.  In a high income, densely populated island that need not be the case.


There are an estimated 20,000 species of butterflies worldwide of which about 15,000 are tropical.  From this we can probably select about 100 species with which to populate our island.  The criteria are several:

• Ease of breeding.  In order to include a butterfly in our inventory, it will need to have a food plant that is easy and efficient to maintain in our breeding facility.  Some plants to not do well under cultivation or are inconveniently large.  Also, the larvae need to be amenable to captivity.  Lastly, we will retain a few adults to breed for the next generation.
• Sufficient food for adults must be available.  Some adult butterflies are very easy, drinking from nearly any flower and even feeding on rotting fruit or plates of sugar water.  Others are very finicky.  If the plant has value of its own and will tolerate local conditions.  However, absent these characteristics, a butterfly species might not be attractive in our inventory.
• Size.  Many butterflies are very small and, as such, are not particularly noticeable unless they are released in very large numbers.  The swallowtails, birdwings and morphos are usually very but many of them have other problems.  In general, the target wingspan should be larger than 6 cm and anything over 12 cm should be considered a bonus.
• Beauty.  Many butterflies, even in the tropics, evolved to blend in with tree bark and are drab.  On the other hand, many tropical species, especially among the swallowtails and nymphalids are jewels of the natural world.
• Habit.  Many butterflies, such as most of Morpho fly around in the canopy and are nearly useless for aesthetic purposes.  The most attractive species will be ones that like to spend hours in the garden.  There are species indigenous to the Caribbean that fit the bill, most notably the Heliconids, the white peacock and the cloudless sulfur. 

Partially because of the population density and partially due to the island affluence, very little of the island will be uncultivated.  The trees, bushes and flowers will be chosen based upon a few criteria:

• Ease of cultivation.  Those of us who have gardened have experienced the plant that we just love but that won't thrive in our garden.  This can be the result of many factors, micro-cimate, soil, local fauna, etc.  There are, however, enough species and cultivars that thrive in the tropics to minimize the number of problem species that will be planted.
• Beauty.  Like butterflies, the purpose of putting in the effort to create a bio-engineered environment is for the aesthetic value.  It is also important to remain cognizant of the 12 month per year growing season and the need to remain aesthetic for all of them.
• Ecological compatibility.  Our botanical selections will provide food for adult butterflies and birds.  

Birds are an important element of a aesthetically pleasing bio-engineered environment.  It is especially true in a tropical environment where many, many species are a riot of bright colors.  There are about 6,000 tropical bird species.  However, they are somewhat more adaptable, so there are many choices.

Flamingoes are native to the region.  Peafowl are easily domesticated and, because they are omnivores, they are feral in many locations, including parts of the Bahamas.  Feral parakeets are common over much of the tropics and subtropics.  There are 324 species of birds that are to be found in the Bahamas.  Selection criteria are as follow:

• Beauty.  Birds are both beautiful visually and, in many cases, beautiful singers.  Sadly many birds such as parakeets and peafowl are not great singers.  So a balance will need to be struck.
• Habit.  As with butterflies a bird unseen is of little value.
• Ecological compatibility.  Many birds are omnivores, however, other species are quite restrictive as to their diet.  Also, some may be inclined to eradicate a popular butterfly species. 
• Disease.  Some birds carry quite distressing diseases which we would want to avoid.

As extensive as this is, it is really nothing more than a cursory treatment.  The point is to demonstrate that by carefully selection of flora and fauna, augmenting with breed and release and controlling with sterilization, a bio-engineered environment can be astonishingly beautiful, creating the mythical 'Garden of Eden'.

The Samana Cay will be one of the first example of 'Market Based Governance'.  What that means is that the charter is somewhat more restrictive than a typical one in an Industrial Age democracy.  In other words, the cultural viewpoint is codified and difficult to change.

A good example is the retail environment.  First, save for 'convenience stores', all retail will be located in a downtown mall or by the Eastern island.  The square footage will be carefully controlled to assure that business failure is rare and not simply the result of overbuilding.

Because the median household income will be approximately 600,000 2013USD and the average will approach 1,000,000 2013 USD, the retail square footage will be much higher than in current Western nations.  For example, women's fashion will likely be around 4% of household income for a total of about 6.3 billion.  The average revenue per square foot in the U.S. is about $450.  However, upscale malls do much better with Aventura Mall at $1,100 and Bal Harbor Shops, the highest in the world, is nearly $3,000/ft².

This suggests that the island can support at least 2,000,000 ft² of women's fashions at a very high profit level.  However, at an average of 4,000 ft² per boutique (and that allows for some really large ones), that would result in 500 boutiques.  That would be overkill, especially in a culturally homogeneous community.  So, there will more likely be about 500,000 ft² in women's fashion, implying an astonishing $12,000 revenue/ft².  This also suggests that these 100 to 150 shop owners will be among the most affluent residents.

In a traditional community with traditional decision making systems the urge to build more retail, increase village revenue or decrease tax rates would be irresistible and, in the process, people working in the retail arena would see a dramatic drop-off in income and productivity.  Because the village management does not get more revenue with more retail space, they won't be tempted.