This is what UK cities will look like in 2100 – with rain-absorbing skyscrapers and NO cars
AS the UK goes green in its bid to tackle climate change, cities across the country will change beyond recognition, according to one expert.
In a series of images published Tuesday, University of Lancaster boffin Serena Pollastri outlined predictions for the future of Britain's big towns, including the removal of all cars from our roads by 2100.
Rain-drinking skyscrapers and "living" green buildings will also sprout across the nation, according to the artist impressions.
The images show a futuristic London, Manchester and Birmingham skyline and were put together with the help of ice cream maker Ben and Jerry's.
Pollastri, co-author of the UK Government’s Foresight Future of Cities Project, tried to imagine what Britain would look like within the next 80 years if Westminster acts now to combat climate change.
"We know that it is not only possible but necessary to seriously re-evaluate what future we want and how to build it," she said.
"We should be doing this with the imminent and far reaching effects of climate change in mind."
Among the adaptations she believes cities will introduce are flourishing inner city wetlands, neighbourhoods filled with community gardens, and green building powered by renewable energy.
Green, accessible transport will replace most cars and carry workers to their officers in skyscrapers that absorb rainfall.
Roads and car parks will be transformed into a network of green corridors linking urban parks with forests, while solar panels will adorn every roof.
Ben and Jerry's are calling for support for a declaration by their partners The Climate Coalition, a group dedicated to action on climate change.
The document is asking Prime Minister Boris Johnson to take ambitious action for a post-Covid green economic recovery.
"The solutions portrayed in this artwork are at our fingertips, and the time to act is now" The Climate Coalition's Clara Goldsmith said.
"We need the government to invest in growing clean industries and preserve green spaces now, instead of locking in pollution for decades to come."
Last month, Johnson reversed his 20 years of mocking wind power as he unleashed a "gale force" green energy revolution.
The PM admitted he got it wrong when he said offshore wind farms could not "pull the skin off a rice pudding" and pledged to have wind powering every home in the UK within ten years.
Addressing the Conservative Party’s virtual conference on October 5, Johnson said: “Your kettle, your washing machine, your plug-in electric vehicle — the whole lot of them will get their juice cleanly and without guilt from the breezes that blow around these islands.”
And he promised £160million investment in the North and Scotland to build new specialist turbines off the coast.
Climate change explained
Here are the basic facts...
- Scientists have lots of evidence to show that the Earth’s climate is rapidly changing due to human activity
- Climate change will result in problems like global warming, greater risk of flooding, droughts and regular heatwaves
- Each of the last three decades have been hotter than the previous one and 17 of the 18 warmest years on record have happened during the 21stcentury
- The Earth only needs to increase by a few degrees for it to spell disaster
- The oceans are already warming, polar ice and glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising and we’re seeing more extreme weather events
- In 2015, almost all of the world's nations signed a deal called the Paris Agreement which set out ways in which they could tackle climate change and try to keep temperatures below 2C
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