The Guardian
By Abené Clayton
After weeks of local speculation, the purchaser of 55,000 acres (22,000 hectares) of northern California land has been revealed. The group Flannery Associates – backed by a cohort of Silicon Valley investors – has quietly purchased $800m (£635m) worth of agricultural and empty land, the New York Times has reported. Its goal is to build a utopian new town that will offer its thousands of residents reliable public transportation and urban living, all of which would operate using clean energy.