Domed glass cities, schools within skyscrapers, rocket-ship neighborhoods and more as we cruise through the complete PopSci archive in search of the perfect urban life
Posted 05.14.2010 at 3:33 pm
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We've been suffering futuristic city withdrawal since returning from the Shanghai World Expo 2010 last week, where we covered many exciting (and, alas, not-so-exciting) examples of progressive urban development.
Naturally, we turned to the archives for our fix of visionary city designs, and as you would expect, they are abundant with beautifully-illustrated imaginings of future metropolises since the 19th century.
Click to launch the photo gallery
Like contemporary architects, city planners from past generations were concerned with functionality as well as with aesthetics. At the rate cities were growing by the 1920s, people couldn't help but worry that traffic congestion and overpopulation would create an unsuitable environment for children and businesspeople alike.
At the same time, city-dwellers were eager to see skyscrapers tower over the horizon and airships dotting the skies. Then there was the problem (or perhaps prospect) of limited land space and the subsequent necessity of migrating off-planet. Could we build a metropolis on Mars? It shouldn't be impossible, we thought, given how we redesigned city streets to accommodate cars instead of carriages. And after cave cities and skyscraper landing fields, why not? People moved to cities in pursuit of a dream, and with that same spirit, urban planners envisioned novel solutions for the cities of tomorrow.
Check through our gallery to see 10 imaginings of a better city throughout the ages.
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They were not too far off, it kind of looks like Dubai.
Henry Ford's ideal looks surprisingly like James Knunstler's pragmatism. For an introduction into the question: "Is there a place for radical pedestrianism in American politics?", take a look at VOID on YouTube's wailinburnin channel. www.youtube.com/watch?v=u258Eoq088Y
The living area look like block apartment housing but on balance the layout looks outward towards nature and green spaces.
Actually, I think it will look more like the city of "Idiocrasy". Especially when all the cities go bankrupt.
Pretty neat stuff.
Ben Koshkin
It looks like zeitgeist is becoming real. All details are designed for the needs but I still prefer Gaudi when comes to design a building.
u think taxes r high where u live!
wow
(thats not going to happen in our lifetime) but WOW
By the one and only.........
HatisBig