City of the Future?

[fireinthedust]

I'm writing a story, and thinking about a 1960s attempt at making a perfect city. What if the Epcot city had been built? What if futurists designed a city?

Are there any examples of actual futurists describing what a city built from scratch for human potential and no other purpose would look like?

Like, if a city was built by people who were thinking about what people need to be healthy, happy and productive.

I have some ideas, but I want to bounce the idea off you folks and see if I've left out anything.

So far I've got science museums, wide boulevards, lots of trees, and it's next ot an ocean. However, after I wrote that I realized those are economic factors: wouldn't they just have a large series of bio domes instead? Would biodomes be next to an ocean?

I want it to be a superhero city, but the issue is that if I could design a city like that, it'd be... well, different than New York, so it might not make sense for comics. I dunno.

Should I even define the city other than vaguely, before I create the scenes that make up the story, and so pigeonhole myself before I even begin?

 

[Hand of Evil]

Thought that was Brasília?

But here are some images for you to think on: CITY OF THE FUTURE

 

[Umbran]

If you want to see a "city of superheroes" I highly recommend you read the Alan Moore comic series, Top 10.

Battles between super-powered beings tend to break things - if you want superheroes blasting away in the city, your construction needs to either be nigh-infinitely durable, or pretty cheap to replace.

The fact of the matter is that, as yet, humans don't understand human behavior well enough to predict it, and that means planned communities tend to fail. The people always go where they want, and do what they want, instead of what the planers guessed they'd want.

 

[Havrik Stoneskimmer]

The city of the future makes me think of early 20th century planners like Le Corbusier and his ideas of shining towers in an idyllic park connected by glittering expressways. Of course, when implemented in the real world, this turned out to be grimy housing projects in desolate parking lots, the total destruction of shopping districts in cities (in favor of suburban malls), and the tearing apart of neighborhoods to build expressways right through them.

But there was a dream between about 1930 and 1960 that envisioned a complete makeover of grimy industrial cities for the convenience of efficient movement of the automobile, without any foresight about the negative consequences of doing so.

I think it could work for a superhero story, given that Metropolis was always sort of in that mold. Look into some of the ideas and plans that people had in the '30s to '50s for their cities, and imagine that they actually worked out with no downsides.

 

[[OMENRPG]Ben]

Depending on the level of technology, and since you mentioned the 60's, this might be irrelevant: but nanotechnology can provide some truly stunning and mind-boggling effects. Just off of the top of my head I can think of: limitless food/energy, indestructible buildings, perfect temperature and atmosphere, literal biodomes (invisible but nearly invincible), otherwise impossible architecture, modular gravity/weight, a lack of any form of monetary or barter economy, getting rid of illness and maladies, and I'm sure thousands of other applications.

I actually wrote about 90% of a novel that involved a world in the process of converting everything to nanotech, it is actually very difficult to even contemplate because of how radically different everything would be. Of course, the dial could be turned down or elements could be used while others are discarded for your story.

As to the OP's question regarding his or her story, that really depends on what method of writing he or she utilizes. I won't go into too much detail, but there are literally thousands of books on the advantages and disadvantages of the different styles of writing. I personally think of a skeleton with outlines for the entire story, then the individual acts/arcs, and then each chapter. But, when I actually start writing, I tend to "explore" the story as if the reader.

The real key to writing is simply this: write. Write every day. Set a goal for yourself, something like 1000 words a day (when I was really on a roll, I was writing 5000 words a day for six days a week, and then taking a twenty-four hour sleep break.)

The more you write and the more you practice, the easier it will be to find your voice and then you will be able to write at the speed that you think, and that's really when the story becomes clear.

 

[Umbran]

Depending on the level of technology, and since you mentioned the 60's, this might be irrelevant: but nanotechnology can provide some truly stunning and mind-boggling effects. Just off of the top of my head I can think of: limitless food/energy, indestructible buildings, perfect temperature and atmosphere, literal biodomes (invisible but nearly invincible), otherwise impossible architecture, modular gravity/weight, a lack of any form of monetary or barter economy, getting rid of illness and maladies, and I'm sure thousands of other applications.

Well, that's rather the same as saying, "Magic can provide some truly stunning and mind-boggling effects". "Nanotech" does not allow you to break the laws of physics. So, for example, changing the weights of objects is right out, along with many other superlatives you're listing.

 

[Aeolius]

Seasteading comes to mind:

 

[Croesus]

Are there any examples of actual futurists describing what a city built from scratch for human potential and no other purpose would look like?

You can check out Oath of Fealty by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Not one of their best works, but it does attempt to address some of the issues you would encounter when building a Utopia.

I remember little about the book, other than their "solution" to crime and anti-social behavior was essentially Big Brother. There were no private spaces - everyone, wherever they were, was subject to monitoring. They portray it as a good thing because, well gee, the wonderful security guy spying on my family can warn me when one of the my kids is doing something he shouldn't be. Never mind what else the guy might be watching. Their assumption that human beings won't act like human beings tends to make the whole thing silly, IMO.

 

[[OMENRPG]Ben]

Well, that's rather the same as saying, "Magic can provide some truly stunning and mind-boggling effects". "Nanotech" does not allow you to break the laws of physics. So, for example, changing the weights of objects is right out, along with many other superlatives you're listing.

You're right, not literally "breaking" the laws of physics, but providing the appearance of doing so.

Nanorobots could provide a constant upward or downward force, effectively increasing or decreasing the weight of an object. Using recycled hydrogen in the air could be used as the self-replicating robot's power.

Nanotech in the medical industry is already providing some surprising effects, and if taken to the extreme in a far-flung and sci-fi future, it is easy to imagine that nanotech could be used to hunt down and remove free radicals within the body, rapidly reconstruct cells, and even replace decaying organs or cease aging. At a truly extreme level, nanotechnology could be used to manipulate the gene structure either pre-birth (in order to engineer the perfect human) or during the person's lifetime. This propels many of the ideas of transhumanism.

If nanomachines would be allowed to mine nearby natural resources, recycle those resources, and repurpose them into whatever the society needed, then a scarcity economy would no longer exist. Here is a useful summary describing post-scarcity economic possibilities, including the disestablishment of money and traditional vendors.

When I refer to "near-indestructible" buildings and biodomes, high-density carbontube nanostructures with self-repairing structures are something that are already being worked on, and in another 100 years, could very well be the norm. I'm sure that something as devastating as a nuclear bomb could destroy it, but damage seen from typical building rubble would be all but gone, and quickly repaired.

So, while I appreciate your skeptical stance on the subject, there are many (including myself) who believe that the things that are listed are not only possible, but are currently being worked on.

 

[Umbran]

You're right, not literally "breaking" the laws of physics, but providing the appearance of doing so.

Well, let me be clear - we are talking about a game with superpowers. So, breaking the laws of physics is going to happen. I don't have a problem with that.

My point is that "nanotech" on this level is "magic". Unless there's a story need to stipulate that the goodness comes from one particular source, it is usually better to just say "it's SCIENCE", and leave out the details. Hollywood makes the error all the time - putting in technobabble that doesn't actually mean what they think it means, and thereby allowing holes in their logics.

Nanorobots could provide a constant upward or downward force, effectively increasing or decreasing the weight of an object. Using recycled hydrogen in the air could be used as the self-replicating robot's power.

An example of what I mean is right here:

You realize that there's only negligible amounts of free hydrogen in the atmosphere, right? Free hydrogen tends to burn in the presence of oxygen, which we have in abundance - our atmospheric hydrogen has already combined with oxygen to become water. So, your proposed energy supply isn't there. That's a problem, even before how we get to how they apply the force.

Nanotech in the medical industry is already providing some surprising effects

Correct.

and if taken to the extreme in a far-flung and sci-fi future

Yes. "Magic", as in "sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from..." The question is simply why you'd want to use this one explanation for everything, instead of just saying, "there's a variety of advanced sciences and technologies in action in this world", and thus avoid potentially painting yourself into a corner when someone points out a hole in something.

This propels many of the ideas of transhumanism.

Yes. However, he's proposing a single city like this, not a planet, so the tech shouldn't be on transhuman scales. It has to have limitations that mean that it wouldn't be stupid to not just carry it everywhere.