Floating cities and high rise farms are also predicted to shape Britain’s landscape for future generations, according to some of the country’s leading experts.
In new research they outline the future form of the places where people will live and work.
Spaceports for travel to the Moon and Mars are also expected to become a reality within the next 100 years, they say.
— independent.co.uk
26 Comments
Yes, and we can't even feed the poor or provide affordable housing so don't hold your breath....
Media loves these distractions from reality.
You rarely see architects or urbanists thinking big and speculating about how architecture and cities could transform in the future.
^ really? seems like these projects are a dime a dozen.
Condo towers are a-dime-a-dozen.
Utopian or futurist speculations are very rare.
where have you been?
New York. Where have you been?
If you think we have a shortage of utopian mega-structures you must not be paying attention. There are so many of these out there...Google under ground city...
Perhaps you're spending a little too much time on Buzzfeed and Gizmodo. If you search for big-idea projects, you will find some. They do exist. But the quantity doesn't come close to the amount of standard/in-the-box/myopic projects. Architecture culture is very cynical these days. There isn't a culture of big-thinking and big-problem solving. Its all small, personal and private.
To paraphrase Rowe..."a collage teqnique may allow us the enjoyment of utopian poetics without suffering the embarassment of utopian politics."
These Big Mega projects are outdated 1950's Thinking. We have enough evidence at this point in history to suggest that the way forward is with small decentralized development and systems not these mega structures that rely on the vampires of society.
fineprint,
Architecture is a culture and those big-idea speculations reverberate though the culture challenging and inspiring other architects. Archigram, Superstudio, Archizoom, Yona Friedman, Constant Nieuwenhuys etc have influenced countless architects.
Jla-x,
Vampires of society? WTF are you talking about?
the oligarchs that suck the blood from the earth and its citizens...A project of this scale would only be possible if built by an oligarch with some politicians on payroll. Who do you think would build such a thing?
Yona Freidman and the others lived during a different era....Pre - Citizens United...We are in an era where any sensible person should distrust such a grand scheme.
Jla-x, Thats called cynicism!
This is/was my research focus for many years and Jla-x is right on the money.
Right on the money with what? The vampires part?
vampires? No, on the money with this comment:
"Yona Freidman and the others lived during a different era....Pre - Citizens United...We are in an era where any sensible person should distrust such a grand scheme. "
Oh god another archigram shout out....
Agree with the post citizens united thing.. And post Facebook/NYtimes thought experiments. The sincerity of these schemes aren't there. I'd believe the proposal more if it did come from an architect/ film and not from some link bait futurist gizmodo article. Hey, won't he future be grand! It could be! Or not! Who knows! Come read a speculative article on vague design ideas.
You all realize that massively scaled and enormously complex building are actually being built. Lefty architects should not retreat to some drum-circle somewhere and pretend that it isn't happening. We should be skeptical AND engaged, not cynically disengaged. Disengagement doesn't work because others will just fill the void left by the skeptical liberal designer who would rather throw stones from the safety of an ideologically pure drum circle.
We should be skeptical AND engaged, not cynically disengaged.
Yes. I like this.
We talk with Craig Hodgetts about the Hyperloop studio and more generally about the difficult conversations around big visions in architecture (spoiler: they're not happening in the US) on Episode 21 of Archinect Sessions.
davvid, no one is pretending that it isnt happening, just be aware of the places that it is happening...maybe that will shed some light on the political and economic system/structure required to pull such a project off. When any single entity is able to control such a large swath of the city then it becomes almost like a shopping mall...an illusion of public space being patroled by private security with none of the liberties that real public space allows for like the right to assemble, etc.
Jla-x
I think that the proper distinction is between public and private, not indoor and outdoor. Lifestyle centers and gated communities have outdoor spaces that resembles our historical idea of public space, but they're not truly public spaces.
Grand Central on the other hand is a very large scaled public interior space where protests do take place.
gated communities are not public in any way. Grand central station is a public transit station. Thats very different. Utopia will look more like a gated community or a shopping mall which is really a materialistic utopia for the very few...maybe some poor doors for the janitors and cooks...nothing new.
and with the simultanious destruction of the surface via global warming, resource depletion, water shortages, deforestation, and gmo monoculture, this escapist paradise will actually resemble "Elysium"
I just thought of a fictitious large open "public" space where protests are organized and scheduled like movie show times for the "entertainment" of the visitors. The big bosses who own such places could claim how welcoming they are to said protests.
jla-x,
It actually sounds like you're hoping for a bleak future. You seem to be welcoming it.
I dont hope for a bleak future, Unfortunatly, I do expect one though...The future will be bleak without a doubt unless major changes are made. Too many problems simultaniously converging... It is unlikely that changes will be made from the oligarchs and plutocrats at the top because the greedy bastards are too busy stuffing their fat faces... Projects like this do nothing to adress the realities of our time because they rely on the false assumption that the top cares about the masses...they rely on blind faith and optimism in a system that gives us no reason to trust. The reality is, utopia is not a structure or a system, rather it is an internal state of individual and collective enlightenment. That is the necessary framework that "utopia" must be built upon. Once the will to live in harmony with the earth and with each other is pervasive, then we can start building places that reflect that spirit...Until then, we need to focus on reducing the destruction of what we have left not by retreating under ground, or by relying on big wig developers, but rather by making small scale contributions to the health, mind, and spirit of the people and the earth...Basically...Dream from the Bottom up. Look Down!
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