Future cities and sea level rise.

Today’s cities work, but not that well, and continue to get more difficult to live in for most people. They are too expensive, too fast, too slow, too far to work, too far to play, too polluted, too dangerous for kids, too ugly, too big, etc.

Nearly all the future scenarios for cities are more of the same. More and more fantastic skyscrapers and superb high tech transportation systems are the main themes. Would all that effort make them more user friendly though? With a background of some education and brief professional work in architecture and urban planning, I would say the answer is ‘If current trends continue, they will only get worse’.

But, there is another possible future city, already in nascent form, which is demonstrated in a small way by many existing multi-function structures e.g. floating hotels, aircraft carriers, transit centres. Those structures have been designed without the complex and fiddly constraints of historical property boundaries. To imagine this future city combine most of the functions of an existing city into one structure, a multi-story very wide mega-building, with no cars inside and hopefully with parks, gardens and recreational facilities etc on top. Starting afresh would allow for a far more efficient, compact and sophisticated city. Among other things, the result would be greater ease of getting around and thus more leisure time.

All the elements of such a thing already exist; building and construction technologies, city governance, strata title, etc. All that is needed is suitable land in one ownership. Degraded farm land should be one option. Constructing such cities could be less work than continually fixing old cities and there would be less endless sprawl into good farm land and precious natural environments, as happens now.
Another consideration is accelerating sea level rise and the fact that so many of the planets major cities are going to be impacted for a long time to come. Rock walls will save some, but others will be slowly swamped and tend to leap frog over themselves; an endless and chaotic process. Re-establishing those cities in a new form nearby might sometimes make a lot more sense.

Nice thread!

Sometime in the future, perhaps 500 years, perhaps 1000, the ice will again cover the planet. Why do we keep building on land? Why not the sea?

There is more room for us on the oceans! think of huge catamarans! We already have the tech. Oil platforms, huge ships and aircraft carriers. We can tether them along the coast line and if the sea level rises .... so what!

But I will tell you what would happen.

The rich will end up with the best views, spacious living quarters while the rest of us end up in dog kennels.

I could imagine huge cities that are geared towards one industry. Perhaps one manufacturing cars, another kitchen appliances.

But no, not as long as we have the world we have. Eventually, it would be a the slaves down below the water line with minimal facilities while guards keep us restricted to our levels.

The same would happen with mega cities. It is a nice idea, but not while we have the society that we have.

It would not be long before we had no choice but to eat Mansanto's crap.

P

a reply to: pheonix358

The one thing I can say for living at sea is you must really adjust from land living. Even on a fixed platform it seems not fixed.

a reply to: Jed Stuart

Good ideas there, an undersea city, that generates its power from the rising and falling of the tides, natural currents and wind and solar. The surface ,structure made of a massive floating platform, with an airport, etc , acting as the rising falling power source. Some places on earth have massive tides.

All you guys' silly ideas...
So, how different would this be from the original silly ideas that have brought this planet to its total decimation?
Same ol', same ol' ##.

originally posted by: Starling
All you guys' silly ideas...
So, how different would this be from the original silly ideas that have brought this planet to its total decimation?
Same ol', same ol' ##.

This planet is decimated? o.O didn't notice.

originally posted by: pheonix358
Nice thread!


There is more room for us on the oceans! think of huge catamarans! We already have the tech. Oil platforms, huge ships and aircraft carriers. We can tether them along the coast line and if the sea level rises .... so what!

But I will tell you what would happen.

The rich will end up with the best views, spacious living quarters while the rest of us end up in dog kennels.

I could imagine huge cities that are geared towards one industry. Perhaps one manufacturing cars, another kitchen appliances.

But no, not as long as we have the world we have. Eventually, it would be a the slaves down below the water line with minimal facilities while guards keep us restricted to our levels.

The same would happen with mega cities. It is a nice idea, but not while we have the society that we have.

It would not be long before we had no choice but to eat Mansanto's crap.

P

A big floating structure would probably not cost much more than the same on land.

originally posted by: Starling
All you guys' silly ideas...
So, how different would this be from the original silly ideas that have brought this planet to its total decimation?
Same ol', same ol' ##.

Possibly not much better, or even worse depending on all sorts of other factors. A lot of things need improving obviously, not just cities.

I now think that I formulated the idea of the possible future city wrongly. The problem is clear - existing growth of large cities is not improving them. They have gotten to big. The solution could be new towns and cities professionally designed. They should be as compact as possible to save farm land, natural environment etc. and at the same time they could be made better places for humans to work, play, sleep etc. without vehicles taking up about 1/3 of the space, making huge amounts of noise and pollution.

The idea that I floated, of a city as one structure might be one possible design, however there would be many more possibilities for compact cities involving a number of multi-function structures with parklands and smaller specialized structures such as cafes, concert halls, sporting facilities etc in-between or around, all linked by efficient unobtrusive transportation systems. Whatever, urban design rather than urban sprawl. It seems that there is little choice as if we keep going as we are the outcome will be devastating climate change and sea level rise, and possibly the decline of civilizations. Designed towns and cities would have to be created not by a few people but by very many, just as the best movies are these days. But, such a compact city would be a more mammoth task.