CITIES OF THE FUTURE
The pandemic has inevitably led to a rethinking of the concept of city, accelerating a series of projects, some of which, albeit still only on paper, aim to create cities of the future capable of guaranteeing maximum well-being for the inhabitants. From Saudi Arabia to Japan, from the United States to Maldives, visions guided by aspirations for sustainability and technological innovation are emerging. Although they have not yet materialized, these ongoing innovation laboratories help us to understand in which directions the planning of future urban centers is heading.
THE LINE
THE LINE in Saudi Arabia represents the future of urban living.
It is a civilizational revolution that puts humans first, providing an unprecedented urban living experience while preserving the surrounding nature. It redefines the concept of urban development and what cities of the future should look like.
No roads, cars or emissions, it will run on 100% renewable energy and 95% of land will be preserved for nature. People’s health and wellbeing will be prioritized over transportation and infrastructure, unlike traditional cities. Only 200 meters wide, but 170 kilometers long and 500 meters above sea level.
THE LINE will eventually accomodate 9 million people and will be built on a footprint of just 34 square kilometers. This will mean a reduced infrastructure footprint, creating never-before-seen efficiencies in city functions. The ideal climate all-year-round will ensure that residents can enjoy the surrounding nature. Residents will also have access to all facilities within a five-minute walk, in addition to high-speed rail with an end-to-end transit of 20 minutes.
THE FOREST CITY
The Forest City in Mexico extends for 557 hectares, capable of accommodating up to 130,000 inhabitants. The metropolitan area includes 362 hectares of vegetable surfaces and 120,000 plants belonging to 350 different species, designed for an open and international city inspired by the values of technological innovation and environmental quality. In fact, thanks to the new large parks, the garden roofs and green facades, the land used for greenery and the built-up area cover equivalent areas.
The Smart Forest City is designed as a self-sufficient settlement from an energy point of view through a perimeter ring of photovoltaic panels and a water channel connected with an underground system to the sea which allow to feed the city in a sustainable way.
The new Forest City is also at the forefront from the point of view of mobility thanks to an articulated transport system that provides for internal mobility to be solely electric and semi-automatic.
There is an overriding human need to find solutions that involve a changing perspective on the way activities are carried out, from the way we produce to the way we consume. The path towards dematerialized and detoxified goods and services can be summed up by the four Rs: reduce, repair, reuse and recycle. The Smart Forest City addresses these development needs, enabling education and economic empowerment – especially of women – by developing radically more eco-efficient solutions, lifestyles and behaviors starting from the reduction of the overall energy demand and the decrease of waste production.
AKON CITY
Movie lovers surely remember the movie Black Panther which is about a fictional African kingdom dubbed Wakanda. If the film is the result of work of the imagination of the authors, who were inspired by a famous Marvel comic, what is happening in Senegal is real. Indeed, in the African nation Akon, a well-known African-American rap singer, is building a new city inspired by the feature film.
Located near Dakar, the colossal project worth 6 billion dollars involves the construction of a new city called Akon City which could be, in the founder's intentions, "a home for all Africans in the world".
According to the project there will be a hospital, hundreds of apartments, an electricity system powered by solar energy, public facilities and schools, but above all parks and skyscrapers that seem to come out of a science fiction film.
The Akon City project is so ambitious that the rapper would like the city to have its own currency, a cryptocurrency that will take the name of Akoin. There is already an official Twitter account of the new coin invented by Akon and the idea seems to be to increase the value of the coin using the news of the construction of the city. In short, the more we talk about the new super-futuristic city, the more investments in Akoin will grow, which in turn will gain more and more value.
FLOATING CITY
Rising sea levels threaten the Maldives, a tropical paradise in the Indian Ocean. The government is working on a solution and is planning a floating city that will house around 5,000 residential and non-residential units.
A floating city that follows the motion of the waves, with a shape that, seen from above, resembles that of a coral. It is the futuristic project of Maldives Floating City, which is being built in the Maldives. It's a city that will live on water, the first of its kind in the world, and it's already well advanced.
The floating city is a concrete response to the dramatic problem of sea level rise, which threatens the archipelago.
The floating city is a new alternative that will allow the transfer of 20,000 people in a vast floating area: 200 hectares which will house 5,000 homes, 10 minutes by boat from the capital Malè. In short, almost a very modern Noah's Ark, to be completed in record time: the project was created, in joint venture with the local government, by the Dutch team of architects Waterstudio, specialized in innovative constructions on water, in collaboration with Dutch Docklands.
The entire floating city project, precisely because it affects such a fragile and precious ecosystem and in particular the coral reef, was designed to be as eco-sustainable as possible. Maldives Floating City should be completed by 2027: the project is already in an advanced stage and the first inhabitants will arrive in the next two years.
AMARAVATI
Amaravati, the new capital of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, will not only be a huge metropolis capable of hosting up to 35 million inhabitants. Above all, it will be a sort of perfect city, built on the banks of the Krishna River according to the most advanced principles of sustainability. This was reiterated by Norman Foster of the prestigious architecture studio Foster + Partners, who is currently working to develop the final details of the project that will lead to the construction of the center of Amaravati. A center of about 217 square kilometers made up of 60% of gardens, green areas and water channels, which will house the two buildings of the Legislative Assembly and the High Court of Justice.
This ideal capital will have 13 squares, inspired by as many famous places in the world, one for each district of the city, as well as an immense network of cycle paths, canals inspired by those of Amsterdam crossed by sea taxis, roads destined for electric cars and other designed exclusively for pedestrians, in order to encourage walking. Amaravati will be entirely covered by wi-fi, and each home will be registered in a special database. The project also has a strong focus on education and health. In the intentions of the government, the new capital will have to become a university center of excellence, and develop a health system that guarantees high standards of assistance to all citizens.
The project was born in 2014, after the redefinition of the Indian borders which led to the division of a part of Andhra Pradesh and the consequent birth of a new state, Telangana, with the capital Hyderabad, once the capital of the entire Andhra Pradesh. Hence the need for a new capital, identified in Amaravati. The governors of the central Indian state have therefore created an economically demanding project, allocating 3.2 billion dollars, plus a one-billion-dollar loan financed by the World Bank and the Asian Investment Bank, with the aim of building a city unique in the world.
And how do you imagine the cities of the future?