How do you envision the city of the future?By: Alejandro Menendez

City populations continue to grow• As we keep moving away from an agriculture-based economy, the

world is undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in history

What will this cause?• Current city infrastructures won’t be able to handle the influx of

people unless changes are made• In China alone, more than 300 million people will move into cities

in the next 15 years (that’s more than the entire US population!)• Most of the growth will occur in smaller towns and cities, which

have fewer resources to respond with• We must design solutions for basic city-life needs such as:• Housing • Transportation• Food• Leisure

Our world is changing…• Global warming is increasing at exponential levels• Earth’s global surfaces are enduring rising temperatures, with

the last few years showing record-breaking temperatures• Carbon Dioxide is at unprecedented levels not seen in the last

800,000 years

Movement towards “green”• Awareness about renewable energy sources continues to increase• By 2050, costs of alternative energy sources will be economically

feasible for all and enforced as standards in all homes and buildings

• Solar energy will replace coal & oil• Wind power is forecast to become as big as nuclear energy today• Over 70% of all our energy will come from clean carbon sources

Where will we live?• “Smart homes” will be built to maximize space and resources• Each house will be able to produce its own energy supply from

recycled and renewable sources• Home Appliances will be connected and able to be managed from

remote locations via smart phones• Appliances will also communicate with owners – ex: Your fridge

will send you a message when you are close to a supermarket to remind you to get more milk since you are running low

• Smart lighting, air conditioners and heaters will adapt based on outside light and temperature and motion sensors to reduce energy consumption

Where will we live?• “Dynamic Buildings” will be the standard

for construction, allowing each floor of a tower to rotate independently around the core

• Wind turbines between each floor and solar roof panels will generate the buildings energy necessities, making them self-sustainable

• Allowing each floor to rotate independently allows you to maximize sunlight, reduce AC/Heater use or simply turn towards the best view when you have guests over

Where will we live?

Sunlight, shade, heat and breeze maximization

Harvesting green energy so that our homes and buildings can be self sustainable

Transportation• Cities will be redesigned to be more compact and efficient, reducing

travel time and encouraging walking, biking and shared public transport

• Cars will not only become costly, but also ineffective means of transportation for most daily short-distance situations

Transportation• The cars that still remain will all be 100% electric, eliminating the need for

oil-based fuel• Cars will be permanently connected and will be constantly monitoring traffic

to re-route drivers in the best direction• Accidents will be virtually non-existent as cars will communicate speed,

distance and directions to other cars nearby• This will also eliminate the need for stoplights (to be replaced by

roundabouts)

Inter-city Transportation• Travel between cities like SF to LA or New York to Boston will

be done in less than 30 minutes with Elon Musk’s hyperloop• Passengers will travel at around 600mph in pressurized

capsules through the reduced-pressure tubes• Planes will be still used for longer or trans-ocean voyages

Food • By 2015 about 26 cities in the world are expected to have a population of 10

million or more. To feed a city of this size at least 6,600 tons of food must be imported each day

• This will lead to an increase in urban farming within cities• With the reduced use of cars, many large areas like parking spaces and

garages will be used for urban farming• Examples of urban farming:

• Unused spaces like rooftops will be used to build greenhouses like the one shown above

• Farming will be integrated into new buildings to make them practical and aesthetically pleasing

Food • Urban farming will be enhanced by practicing Precision Agriculture – a farming

method that uses technology such as GPS and soil-analyzing sensors to provide specific levels of water & nutrients to individual crops in order to maximize returns

• The trend of space maximization will also be reflected in agriculture as processes such as aquaponics will grow popular

• Tower-farming, or multi-level agriculture will allow to double or triple the output capacity of an acre of land

Food

•Aquaponics combines conventional aquaculture (raising animals such as fish or prawns in tanks), with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment

•Models such as aquaponics can be recreated in spaces as large as football fields or small enough to fit in your home or work space

•With an ever-increasing population and a fixed amount of space on earth, scientists have turned to vertical farming to maximize space and resources. Controlled environments will allow farming in non-tropical areas as well as the benefit of year-round production which is estimated to multiply the productivity of the farmed surface by a factor of 4 to 6 depending on the crop.

Globalization with Technology• Since the introduction of the internet, our

technology is evolving at exponential levels never witnessed before

• We are witnessing an era that will have a greater impact on world history than the industrial revolution or the renaissance

• Communication – perhaps the most important part of progress– has evolved to a point were we can have a video-conference from our hand held phones with someone across the world

• Globalization is blurring the lines that had previously divided so many nations, economies, races and religions

Daily TechnologyInternet users per 100 inhabitants

Currently, more than half of the world’s population does not use the internet. According to Moore’s law, technological capacity will continue to double every year while prices will continue to fall making technology cheaper, smaller, and accessible to all.

1980 – First hard drive to have more than 1GB capacity. It was the size of a refrigerator, weighed 550 pounds and cost between $81,000 to $141,00

2013 – 64 GB micro SD card. It is the size of a fingernail, weighs .03 ounces and costs less than $50

Augmented RealityOur daily life will be modified in unimaginable ways due to technology. Augmented reality, which is already starting to happen with technologies such as Google Glass, will change our everyday life. For example:•Hungry? Just look around and AR technology will be able to get all the restaurants around you as well as their menu, hours & availability, and reviews from friends in your social network

•Want to go shopping? Get a virtual runway of products only available in your size and that match your style according to your preferences or previous purchases

•Want info on a building or a painting that caught your eye at museum? Simply stare at it and let AR tell you the artist, year it was made, size, and where you can purchase some prints

•The possibilities are truly endless

Medicine• Advances in communication will allow medicine to progress

to unprecedented levels• Medical checkups as we know them today will no longer be

needed, as we will be able to monitor our health through our smart pones whenever the need arises

• Most disease known today will be curable and disabilities such as blindness and deafness will cease to exist

• Average human life spans will increase significantly • Stems cells will be able to regenerate human tissue and

organs• Prosthetic limbs will be replaced by real, regenerated

muscle• Organs such as hearts, livers and kidneys will lab-

generated and therefore eliminate the need for donors • Operations will be done mostly by machines to eliminate

human error

Medicine• The medical arena will be the one field where the majority of

advances will face serious challenges regarding ethics and morality

• Debates will arise when dealing with genetically enhanced humans• For example: Most people would agree it is OK to cure an

unborn baby if it is detected to carry down syndrome, but what if the parent wants to raise its IQ level? How much “enhancement” is permitted? Will the super-rich be able to create smarter, stronger and healthier babies than the rest of the world and therefore make the socioeconomic classes even more distant than today?

• Since organ regeneration is feasible, It will be accepted for a child who lost his arm to get a new one. Where do we draw the line when it comes to regenerating an entire human being? Would that be considered cloning?

• Insurance companies will base their pricing policies based on individual genomes• Why should I pay the same amount of Insurance as someone

who has a family history of high cholesterol and heart attacks?

What’s next?At the speed that technology is evolving, I believe it is harder than ever to predict what the future has in store for us. Who knows, maybe at the end of the century this will be our view of the moon?