What will U.S. Cities be like in 50 years (Atlanta, transportation, architect)
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Any predictions for what our cities will be like in 2027?
Which cities will come to the forefront, and which will diminish--and why? (Of course, it's a given that Scranton will become a major urban paradise with SWB as mayor.)
Will New Orleans return to its former glory or become a medium-sized town?
What will transportation be like? Will every city have 5-6 airports, or will airports even be in service? Will high speed trains criss cross the country?
What areas will connect to form massive cities? Will the the town centers just now being built in the middle of sprawl fill in and become dense urban areas?
How will our cities be affected by climate changes--or how will they react to them. Will Los Angeles and Atlanta start to resemble Phoenix? Will the government begin to purify ocean water and use it as drinking water? Will global warming mean that people start retiring to Chicago and New York for the warm weather?
Will there be solar panels and wind turbines covering every vacant lot? Will there even be such a thing as a vacant lot?
"With all the hostility overseas and an eroding middle class, I don't know if America will even exist in 2057."
That could happen... so what's your prediction? Will the area formerly known as the U.S. be one giant crater? Or will it become a province of some other country--and which one? Iraq? China? Venezuela? Lithuania?
I think a lot of the same problems will still be with us.
But...I think that cities will become much more energy efficient.
Water will be a problem in some cities.
Trash to energy and recycling services will be utilized more.
Mass transit within cities such as street cars, electric buses will be more prevalant.
UrbanLab, a Bridgeport- (Chicago neighborhood)based architecture and urban design firm won a prize recently for designing the "City of the Future" with a project called "Growing Water". They propose a planned system of wetlands for Chicago (called 'ecoboulevards') that will serve to naturally filter and purify water, while providing park and natural space to a city bound to grow as water becomes more scarce. They also want to restore the natural flow of the Chicago River and use the rendered-redundant "Deep Tunnel" system for mass transit. Check out their presentation: City of the Future Competition, Chicago : GROWING WATER
That's 100 years out, but the idea remains.
Assuming major crises are averted (Let's hope!), cities of the future will likely be far "greener". The big reason for that would be largely economic, as energy problems are far from subsiding. I would hope for more wind and solar energy, clean cars (maybe hydrogen-based?), and more conservation across the board. I'd love to see high-speed rail take off as urban areas grow, and a return to centralized living as sprawl becomes less and less efficient.
That's all mighty utopian, I know. Maybe we'll all be knife fighting in the bombed-out ruins of Soldier Field by then, but one can hope.
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