Future Cities

[gelaye]

will they develop to become like Coruscant (starwars lol) and like the city in Fifth Element with mile high skyscrapers? what do you think?

[MC anunnaki]

I read in the latest edition of the Swedish tech paper "New Technology" that almost half of the planet's population are city dwellers. The number of mega cities (more than 10 million inhabitants) is now 20, a raise from 18 since the year 2000. I don't think the entire planet will become a big city, but it wouldn't be all too impossible for the majority of our species to live in vast, overcrowded cities. Perhaps we'll see a rise of the city-states again?!

[Ponto Hardbottle]

I love cities especially old ones with the ruins of previous buildings still present. Saying that, the Star Wars city planet made me shiver. It is hard to think that there are no rivers, forests, mountains and wilderness. I doubt a planet could function, the oxygen, nitrogen and carbon cycles would totally end. Mile high skyscrappers? I don't think so. Maybe buildings that are mountain sized consisting of dwellings, commercial zones, gardens, sports fields and so on, but much bigger in area than a city allotment used by most skyscrappers.

[gelaye]

i loved the city of naboo in that film! (ok random point lol)


yeah well obviously earth wouldnt be able to sustain a city that covered its entire land coverage unless humans had developed a way of artificially producing air and pumping oxygen into the atmosphere....

But yeah I heard that Japan was constructing a huge pyramid that is a building in effect that supports 100,000 people - its huge with offices residential and commercial areas - there is also parks etc

So you guys dont think buildings will become taller and taller? the only way to expand cities then will be to suburbanize further and further into the country side lol

[MC anunnaki]

gelaye said:

So you guys dont think buildings will become taller and taller? the only way to expand cities then will be to suburbanize further and further into the country side lol

I think it depends on where you want to build such a tall building. Obviously it wouldn't be advisable in areas known for frequent earthquakes such as Japan, Iran, California etc. It could be a-okay in Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia, but we are on the other hand not crowded enough to need to build such tall buildings. I guess though the rest of Western Europe could build them. France, Germany and UK have rather stabile grounds and plenty of people to cram in tall buildings.

[WayneKerr]

gelaye said:

i loved the city of naboo in that film! (ok random point lol)


yeah well obviously earth wouldnt be able to sustain a city that covered its entire land coverage unless humans had developed a way of artificially producing air and pumping oxygen into the atmosphere....

But yeah I heard that Japan was constructing a huge pyramid that is a building in effect that supports 100,000 people - its huge with offices residential and commercial areas - there is also parks etc

So you guys dont think buildings will become taller and taller? the only way to expand cities then will be to suburbanize further and further into the country side lol

nah i think they just mean a single building 2 km tall, with a base only 100 meters by 100 meters is unpractical. it's like a needle, and might topple over or something (probably wouldn't though since construction materials are pretty strong these days). however a building that is say 1km by 1km at the base, and 1km tall would be very stable. that's the kind of building we want. a cube kinda groundscrapper. then you load the building with apartments, shops, entertainment, various work sites, roads criss-crossing thru the block, elevators, escalators, helipads etc. that'd work, and be pretty efficient you could probably fit around 100,000 people in such a 1km x 1km x 1km cube, with a 3D pop density of 1 person per 10,000 square km (like 21x21x21 zone. fairly spacious infact).

[gelaye]

Africa will hopefully develop economically (several countries are already making sufficient progress, with over half of countries achieving over 5% growth last year and higher growth is predicted this year)

Do you believe there is the possibility of an 'African Renaissance'', with large cities developing and cities such as Johannasburg, Nairobi, Lagos and Addis Ababa becoming major world cities (in terms of world economics etc and of course size)

What would this mean to the world if Africa WAS lifted out of poverty? wouldn't the entire planet change if a billion people who were previously always the worlds poorest became one of the largest groups of consumers in the world? Would Africa become TOO wealthy? (resources etc) If it became industrialized and developed and had no poverty, wouldn't it pose a threat to other nations?

[MC anunnaki]

The world can't take much more consumers. China's rise towards 'consumerism' will strain the planet's resources even further. Frankly, Westerners live in an excess that cannot be maintained for long, especially not if every single human on the planet is going to live with a Western standard of life. I read somewhere about "20 % of the world's population using 80 % of it's resources". Needless to say, we can't go on like this. I think the future might just as well see Africa rising from poverty and misery (it's not exactly an impossible thing to happen), but not to the same living standards as in the West, at least not for the majority of the people. Also, the West will most likely see a decline in their living standards. The only way we can go on consuming and using up all the planet's resources like this is if the rest of the world (the majority of it that is) is kept in extreme poverty.

[redbaron]

Who the hell knows if the species, much less civilization, will survive this century. There are so many scenarios. It's very much a matter of "pick your apocalypse," as far as I'm concerned.

Nuclear armageddon
Oil running out
Rising ocean levels
The rise of China and fall of US, war over Taiwan straits
Civil unrest in nations with nukes (possibly even the US)
Run of the mill conventional wars
Pandemics
Jihad
Gelatin like space aliens eating us for dinner
Jesus coming back, flying on a pterodactyl



So cities may just end up looking like New Orleans rather than Coruscant.

[Hairless]

anunnaki said:

The world can't take much more consumers. China's rise towards 'consumerism' will strain the planet's resources even further. Frankly, Westerners live in an excess that cannot be maintained for long, especially not if every single human on the planet is going to live with a Western standard of life. I read somewhere about "20 % of the world's population using 80 % of it's resources". Needless to say, we can't go on like this. I think the future might just as well see Africa rising from poverty and misery (it's not exactly an impossible thing to happen), but not to the same living standards as in the West, at least not for the majority of the people. Also, the West will most likely see a decline in their living standards. The only way we can go on consuming and using up all the planet's resources like this is if the rest of the world (the majority of it that is) is kept in extreme poverty.

Exactly.

[MC anunnaki]

Praise Jebus and his Pterodactyl!

[asdf]

That reminds me...

www.landoverbaptist.org/news0605/flyingdinos.html

[gelaye]

seizure said:

That reminds me...

www.landoverbaptist.org/news0605/flyingdinos.html

its this kinda stuff that really gets on my nerves............ yo ucould actually read that and laugh out loud

Now, I'm christian (was brought up orthodox ethiopian church) but i HATE organised religion..........if that makes sense? like i still pray when im on my own when im worried about something etc but i hate church etc it looks like a cult or something!

[Matthew]

I think the Gelatin aliens would have to worry about people eating them, not the other way around. Especially if they're flavored. I could eat cherry flavored aliens all day long.

Gelaye, Landover Baptist is a parody, and one of the best I've ever seen.

[asdf]

Now, I'm christian (was brought up orthodox ethiopian church) but i HATE organised religion..........if that makes sense? like i still pray when im on my own when im worried about something etc but i hate church etc it looks like a cult or something!

Well, Paul was rather infatuated with the idea of interacting though the Body of Christ through the local church. I could understand the inherent problem with preachers, but it seems like it would be a convinient place to interact with other believers.