ALTA TURRE

## SUMMARY

A city of dreams and luxurious living, billed as the pinnacle of security and ease, Alta Turre holds claim to being the first modern megacity.

## HISTORY

Alta Turre was founded in the year 2038, a social and political project of the ARIA corporation. The city's foundational promise was security through superior technology, its civic infrastructure and monitoring systems controlled by a powerful AI core. The city was constructed in an area that had formerly been a crime-ridden residential area of Los Angeles, California. This location was chosen in part as a proof of concept of the city's mission statement, and in part due to the low value of the real estate within the zone. Most former LA citizens were excited at the prospect of more secure, more luxurious living conditions, believing that ARIA could follow through in its promise to stamp out criminal activity in their area. The gangs in the region were faced with a crucial decision to either leave before things changed, or become harder and more relentless to combat the increased presence of law enforcement.

As an independent city-state, Alta Turre wasted no time in implementing its own policies, separate from those of the United States. Once the deal had cleared, signing the land over to ARIA, a strict quarantine around the new nation was enforced, ensuring that criminal activity could not cross its borders in either direction. Before construction of the megatowers began, the first major architectural project was the installation of a retaining wall, limiting passage in and out of the area to one of few heavily-reinforced checkpoints. This had the immediate effect of locking in the remaining criminal elements, as well as the poorer citizens, with no hope of leaving the city's bounds.

Once quarantine had been confirmed to be fully established, construction on the megatowers began in full, utilizing aerial vehicles and crane systems to bring materials and equipment in as needed. In an unprecedented feat of engineering and construction, the base levels of the city's towers were inhabitable within the year.

Over the course of the next four years, the megatowers were completed, bringing with them an influx of the hyper-wealthy and politically elite, taking residence in the newly finished upper levels. The base of the city also saw a large amount of construction, old homes being demolished to make room for core infrastructure and replaced by new housing further from the city center.

Seven years after the founding of the city, the year 2045 brought the construction of the Lower Commercial District, accompanied by a massive financial boon to those in a fortunate enough position to take advantage of the new jobs the district created. This also resulted in the creation of the Sub-Stacks, a newly defined shantytown beneath the city's freshly fabricated floor.

2054 brought the next major change to the city with the devastating capture of the Lower Commercial District by an alliance of various criminal elements originating from the Sub-Stacks. This resulted in a falling back to the bases of the megatowers, the LCD being considered lost to the newly forming criminal syndicates. The residents above remained largely oblivious to the extent of the destruction, simply being informed that access to the LCD was prohibited due to civil unrest.

The continued development of Alta Turre's structural and social identity going forward would be closely linked to the development and releases of ARIA's AI controlled drones. These units, named the ATAS within the bounds of the city, could be seen as a representation of the city as a whole on its path into the automated future.

Alta Turre's growth was largely uneventful until the launch of the fourth generation of ATAS in the year 2120. This new generation managed to partially reclaim the LCD, allowing for passage to the region to resume in some limited capacity. The area was still considered to be under syndicate control, but instances of violent crime that affected the average resident had fallen to a low beneath that of the old LA neighborhoods due to the carefully negotiated, mutually-beneficial arrangements between syndicate families. ATAS units were able to patrol in a supervisory fashion, allowing the Hive to observe activity and keep watch for individuals that showed signs of disrupting the status quo.

With migration into the LCD reopened, migration of criminal enterprise out of the LCD followed suit. Entire pocket industries of smugglers, arms dealers, designer drug markets began operating across the dividing lines between the LCD and the towers above. Citizens still can not cross the checkpoints upwards, however, without being able to present sufficient identification labelling them as residents of the towers above.

## REFERENCES

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