Future of Architecture

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Numerous new cities have sprang up within the last 20 years almost overnight. The areas with the fastest urbanisation and population increase have shown the most evidence of this trend. In developing nations, master planned communities are viewed as a potential method to move away from resource- and agricultural-based economies. The growing threat of climate change is another motivator for this trend of new cities.

Ideas promoting greater use of technology, better integration with the environment, and even the construction of floating towns at sea have all been investigated and put into practise. The way that cities have typically grown has been utterly turned on its head, and this is just the beginning. Here are seven planned cities from around the globe that fundamentally alter how urban life is organised.

Smart Forest City

Plans for a wooded smart city near Cancun, Mexico, aimed to be a trailblazer for eco-efficient developments were announced by Italian architect Stefano Boeri. The architect estimates that 7.5 million plants will be present in Smart Forest City Cancun, which will be built on a 557 hectare plot of land close to the city. It aims to establish a stronger connection between nature and the urban environment by acting as both a botanical garden and a modern metropolis. The surrounding area will become less polluted thanks to the abundance of plants. The management and collecting of data will be utilised to enhance a number of elements of municipal life. Additionally self-sufficient in terms of generating its own food and energy, the forest city. With 130,000 residents, Smart Forest City Cancun is intended to be a hub for cutting-edge research.

Renderings of Innovation Park; images courtesy of Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects + Tom Wiscombe Architecture

Innovation Park

Jeffrey Berns, a cryptocurrency millionaire, intends to turn a sizable portion of Nevada's desert into a smart city run on blockchain technology. Innovation Park, which covers 67,000 acres, aims to be a novel form of corporate and residential community. His business, Blockchains, already has its corporate headquarters on the $170 million piece of land. The goal of Innovation Park is to create a smart city where all communication is supported by a decentralised blockchain infrastructure. The city was planned by the Los Angeles-based architecture companies Tom Wiscombe Architecture and Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects. They intend to make use of state-of-the-art technology, incorporate the city into the surrounding scenery, and make sure it operates sustainably.

Renderings of the waterfront development; image via Sidewalk Toronto

Sidewalk Toronto

A comprehensive proposal has been unveiled by Sidewalk Labs, a smart city startup from Google's parent company, Alphabet, to transform a significant portion of Toronto's coastline into what will be, in their opinion, the world's most inventive zone. Plans for quickly erecting a variety of mixed-use buildings employing mass timber and modular parts are included in the 1,524-page project. There were also plans for a light-rail expansion, snow-melting heated pavement, autonomous delivery trucks, and a net-zero carbon footprint. WiFi would also be open to the public, and sensors placed throughout the development would gather information on, among other things, traffic patterns, energy usage, and building use.

 Controversy has surrounded this aspect of the proposal because Sidewalk Labs hasn't been completely open about how it will use the

he site allocated for NEOM; image via NEOM

NEOM

Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister, unveiled plans on October 24, 2017, to build NEOM, a futuristic megacity in the country's northwest. The city will encompass an area 33 times greater than New York City, or 10,000 square miles, encompassing territory along the borders of Egypt and Jordan. NEOM's estimated $500 billion price tag is intended to be covered by the Saudi government, its sovereign wealth fund, as well as domestic and international investors. In order to finance the project, Saudi Arabia also plans to sell a part in Saudi Aramco, its national oil corporation.

The master plan for NEOM, which aims to be the world's most livable metropolis, is extremely innovative.

The UN unveiled a framework for using floating cities as a remedy to deal with growing urbanisation and rising sea levels. BIG's Bjarke Ingels presented his concept for a mass-timber and bamboo-constructed prototype floating city. OCEANIX, a company that invests in floating cities, claims that the plan would withstand floods, earthquakes, and tsunamis.

They would be known as Oceanix Cities and consist of a collection of modular hexagonal islands where bamboo could be grown and utilised to create glulam beams. The floating cities will be self-sufficient, zero-waste, and energy-positive, according to BIG. Amid shared, green public spaces where agriculture and recreation would coexist, they would include mid-rise homes. Each city's systems would