City of 2022 | The most deliberately futuristic town possible?

[Yuli Ban]

Similarly to the Man of 2022 thread, I recall an old thread from around 2014 that imagined what the most advanced possible novel town could be, though it revolved around then-contemporary technology. 8-10 years is right on the cusp of "too little change to compare" and "massive changes that alter the feel of the world." 5 year makes little difference; 15 years is a short generation. As in, compare 2000 to 2005; then compare 2000 to 2015. Conversely compare 2000 to 2008. Very comparable, but with just enough differences to be noticeable.

So 2014 was close enough to the present for not much to have changed in real terms while also being long enough ago to feel like there have been great developments on the cusp of causing great change. Like going from feature phones to smartphones, we're seeing progress in many important areas.

But let's say someone like Google decided to fund the development of a new small town that was meant to serve as a host of every bleeding edge development of the present as a means of telegraphing just what modern technology is capable of. Just what has changed since 2014? What can we do now?

Well there's a lot of things, some of which proves mutually exclusive to one another.

Smart City of 2022

• 5G municipal network
Seems self-evident, but to explain, 5G wireless communications is an absolute must for any smart city. Similarly, there ought to be satellite capable networks to take advantage of the likes of Starlink and Google Loon.

• Urban farming
It won't be sufficient to feed the entire town completely, but vertical farms ought to provide a good deal. It creates self-sufficiency.

• High speed transit
Maglevs are preferable. Regardless, public transit should be well-developed and high-speed transit moreso. Of course if it's a compact town, then "high speed" is relative.

• Urban air transit
Passenger drones in other words. There ought to be a fleet of autonomous drone taxis.

• Compact design
Conversely, the town ought to be built in such a way that cars aren't necessary. Walking, bike riding, and public transit should be more than enough.

• Digital panopticon
The most controversial aspect, but a reality nonetheless is the probability of a massive surveillance network in place, especially with biometrics. The usefulness is fleeting to the person on the ground, but perhaps Big Brother can justify himself.

• Autonomous vehicle services
Most cars in service ought to be autonomous. Doing this from the outset would make the city's AVs that much safer. Almost certainly the fleet would be public transit as well, but privately-owned AVs should be allowed.

• Helot network
As I've discussed way back in the past, "helots" in this context refers to publicly owned autonomation. Robots, AVs, drones, and the like owned in common. This would allow for mostly free public services and perhaps even a self-cleaning or self-repairing city.

• Drone lanes
For delivery drones to work, they'll need their own lanes in the sky to work with without worrying about impacts.

• Urban forest
Much like London, there should be ample greenery allowed so that this town would technically qualify as a forest. The past is the future!

• Climate control
There ought to be areas where climate-regulating sun shields and building designs allow for the temperature to be regulated. Even if it's in the middle of a heat wave, it should basically perpetually feel like early autumn at worst.

• Renewable powered
The city should be electrified and powered by renewable energy completely, even if it grows large. It should be possible to rely on solar and wind almost solely, especially thanks to batteries. If all else fails, bring in nuclear power.


Any other additions?

[Member]

Any other additions?

Architecture?

[funkervogt]

If all else fails, bring in nuclear power.

It should use a small modular reactor for baseload power, and solar and wind for the rest.

[funkervogt]

Any other additions?

Architecture?

Something involving shipping containers.

[Member]

Any other additions?

Architecture?

Something involving shipping containers.

Electric caravans?

[R8Z]

Any other additions?

Architecture?

To me the city of the future would have the vehicle traffic completely or almost completely separated from the foot/bycicle/etc traffic. Cars would drive underground or would be limited to the outskirts of the inner living city. The problem isn't with the cars but how the streets and roads behave when they are targeted towards cars vs people.

[funkervogt]

Architecture?

Something involving shipping containers.

Electric caravans?

I meant prefab buildings whose core components are shipping containers.

[funkervogt]

Any other additions?

Architecture?

To me the city of the future would have the vehicle traffic completely or almost completely separated from the foot/bycicle/etc traffic. Cars would drive underground or would be limited to the outskirts of the inner living city. The problem isn't with the cars but how the streets and roads behave when they are targeted towards cars vs people.

There would be traffic lanes for autonomous vehicles only.

[TrueAnimationFan]

Despite the general stupidity of people here in South Florida, it has been interesting to see a number of buildings in the last decade using structures built by FPL called "Solar Trees". From what I've read, there have been over 100 of these things built since 2016 to power parks and buildings down here, with the most recent few having been built as part of the stations used by the express train service Brightline. My point is that I was thinking that with stuff like this already being used for power in some places, you could probably have smaller versions designed to provide electricity to regular sized houses if it proves difficult to fit panels on your roof.

[Yuli Ban]

Any other additions?

Architecture?

I admit I was deliberately avoiding "architecture" because it would have been too easy to fall into the trap of geeking out about skyscrapers and starscrapers with exotic designs.

But thinking about it, we could stand to add things like 3D printed buildings and eco-arcitecture, with very "green" buildings— literally.


The more green, the better.

[Tadasuke]

Amount of walking or driving needed could be limited by using large buildings housing everything from workplaces, living places to shops, restaurants and water parks. However, people could get fat from not walking enough, BUT they still get fat, because they uses cars and buses anyway.