Why build Coruscant? (Star Wars)

[Destructionator XV]

I was sitting at a gas station today, and saw a pump labeled "free air". This made me start thinking what if the world ran out of air? I quickly realized with the ecosystem in place, this would never happen, but then Coruscant came into my mind.

As we all know, it is a planet with one giant city covering it. Since it is a giant city, it doesn't have an ecosystem like we have on earth, and needs a huge technological infrastructure to keep it going. Constant, huge shipments of water from off world, gargantuan air recyclers.

My question is why build this place? What possible benefits could a planet size city give that would offset the massive cost of artifically maintaining the whole thing?

When building it, wouldn't they have realized how obscene it would be to maintain? The cost most have been monsterous, it surely would have been cheaper to just build smaller cities on planets that could take more care of themselves. What could have motivated them to continue building that huge city?

[frigidmagi]

I don't think they meant to build it. I think it just kinda happened. For example the area from NYC to Washington D.C is one long urban stream, no one planned it, no one wanted it, but it happened.

I figure the planet city just kinda grew over time, especially when it became the center of a galaxtic civilizian.

[B4UTRUST]

look at hive worlds in WH40k. Same thing.

It's all about functionality. By the point that the world gets to the stage of one huge fuckall city it's stripped of all natural resources anyhow and there is nothing worthwhile to maintain and the ecosystem is usually stripmined and shot four ways to hell anyway. So it's no longer a matter of cost for maintanence. It's cost of survival of the existing populace. Plus without a ecosystem to worry about polluting factories and such become much more predominant.

[Hotfoot]

I don't think they meant to build it. I think it just kinda happened. For example the area from NYC to Washington D.C is one long suburban stream, no one planned it, no one wanted it, but it happened.

I figure the planet city just kinda grew over time, especially when it became the center of a galaxtic civilizian.

Edited for correctness ;)

[Ra]

When building it, wouldn't they have realized how obscene it would be to maintain? The cost most have been monsterous, it surely would have been cheaper to just build smaller cities on planets that could take more care of themselves. What could have motivated them to continue building that huge city?

Probably their motivation was the same reason the Imps built the death star: to prove they could.

Seriously, I can't see any benefit in completely covering a planet in one big megalopolis, other than perhaps the possibility that Coruscant was, say, in the middle of a highly-settled stellar group, a sort of trade nexus for hundreds of worlds. Coruscant was *so* fracking important to interstellar commerce and trade that it eventually got built up over the millenia (the Republic was like 200,000 years old, am i rite?), until it became a global city. Kinda like Manhattan and her environs scaled up a quadrillion times.

Still, it's utterly impractical from the view of fiscal cost and day-to-day maintenance, and as you pointed out, smaller trade-cities that can be self-sustained would work far better, cost-wise. But in the realm of trade and commerce, businessfolk tend to "cling" to central locations, like how Singapore is in a central spot on the dense shipping lanes from Asia to the Middle-east, and consequentally is a big commercial and trade hub.

Though what's even crazier, Coruscant wasn't the only city-planet. Another, I believe it was called Humbarine, was mentioned in the ROTS ICS fluff.

I suppose that in a twisted and maniacal way though, Coruscant does kinda makes sense: only humans would be so utterly stupid as to cover an entire planet in urban sprawl. LOL

[Mayabird]

Seriously, I can't see any benefit in completely covering a planet in one big megalopolis, other than perhaps the possibility that Coruscant was, say, in the middle of a highly-settled stellar group, a sort of trade nexus for hundreds of worlds. Coruscant was *so* fracking important to interstellar commerce and trade that it eventually got built up over the millenia (the Republic was like 200,000 years old, am i rite?), until it became a global city. Kinda like Manhattan and her environs scaled up a quadrillion times.

Still, it's utterly impractical from the view of fiscal cost and day-to-day maintenance, and as you pointed out, smaller trade-cities that can be self-sustained would work far better, cost-wise. But in the realm of trade and commerce, businessfolk tend to "cling" to central locations, like how Singapore is in a central spot on the dense shipping lanes from Asia to the Middle-east, and consequentally is a big commercial and trade hub.

Coruscant is supposed to be somewhere around the middle of their galaxy. Also, I think the Republic was "only" around 20,000 years old, not 200,000.

[Stofsk]

It might have been built to show they can build it. A city-planet is an impressive accomplishment (however, a ring or sphereworld would be an even better accomplishment).

It could be one of the wonders of a Galactic Civilisation.

[Mayabird]

It might have been built to show they can build it. A city-planet is an impressive accomplishment (however, a ring or sphereworld would be an even better accomplishment).

It could be one of the wonders of a Galactic Civilisation.

cor·us·cate ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kôr-skt, kr-)
intr.v. cor·us·cat·ed, cor·us·cat·ing, cor·us·cates

1. To give forth flashes of light; sparkle and glitter: diamonds coruscating in the candlelight.
2. To exhibit sparkling virtuosity: a flutist whose music coruscated throughout the concert hall.

The coruscating jewel of the galaxy. I read that line somewhere.

[frigidmagi]

The vast majority of cities reach their current size not by effort or anything but because there is a reason for people to come and live there.

I highly doubt it was purposly created, odds are it just grew into a single planet wide city over time.

[Narsil]

And it isn't the only planet-spanning city, it must also be noted:

Ator, Empress Teta, Anaxes, Axxilia, Taris, Denon, Eriadu, Gerrenthum, Grizmallt, Hosk Station, Nar Shaddaa, Metellos, Skako, Trantor (EU Foundationverse Reference), Wukkar and Yabol Opa are also known examples of a Ecumenopolis

[SirNitram]

Coruscant rose up well before the Republic; most likely they just maintain it because that's how it's been, for twenty thousand years. It'd be as unthinkable to have it be anything else as it would be to have, oh, people no longer live along the Nile.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

I tend to think that Coruscant is the largest business and economic center of the galaxy. Yes, it doesn't have ecosystem by its own, it doesn't have natural resources, and it needs to continously import basic supplies like fresh water or food. But I believe Coruscant is more than able to afford them.

A close analogy is probably Singapore; it always needs to import a great deal of supplies from neighboring countries (IIRC a big portion of its fresh water comes from Malaysia), but being the biggest and most influential economic center in SE Asia, it can always afford such things.

I think planets in SW Galaxies are like cities in real-world Earth; each serves a functionality of its own, includes 'business center' cities like Coruscant.