Cities of the FUTURE revealed – floating ‘seascrapers’, giant pyramids and city-towers half the height of Everest
Tired of your boring old town or city? Here's what the future of metropolitan living looks like...
THE CITIES of today are in dire need of a makeover – but once they're built, it's hard to make any meaningful changes.
That's why we're excited about the mega-cities of the future: huge sci-fi metropolises that may one day house millions of humans. We've rounded up some of the coolest yet-to-be-built examples knocking about in 2018.
Ziggurat Pyramid, Dubai
This giant pyramid was conceived back in 2008, and could one day house a million people.
It's designed to be completely self-sustainable, running off-grid thanks to all-natural energy sources – like wind and solar.
Current plans put the size at over 2.3-square-kilometres, with people living all along the terraced pyramid structure.e
It's expected to have an internal public transportation system that runs both horizontally and vertically, making cars redundant.
Construction is mooted to begin in 2021, with an estimated completion date of 2028. Sign us up!
Sky City 1000
This wacky skyscraper was announced back in 1989, at the height of an economic bubble.
It's designed to be 1,000 metres high – that's over three times bigger than London's Shard.
Creators Takenaka Corporation want it to house around 35,000 residents and 100,000 workers, inhabiting 14 "space plateau" dishes stacked on top of each other.
The edges of these plateaus would be apartments, while the centres would be reserved for green space.
There's also expected to be room for offices, schools, theatres and shopping too.
Sadly, there's no date for the beginning of construction – so don't start packing your bags just yet.
Gyre Seascraper
The Gyre Seascraper is basically a giant floating city.
Most of the structure would be submerged, stretching 400 metres below the water's surface – a skyscraper in reverse, basically.
The kilometre-wide mega-city is designed to house around 2,000 people, and would be entirely self-sufficient.
"Gyre creates a new class of Eco-tourism by bringing scientists and vacationers together to understand what is the least known environment on our planet, the ocean," its creators, design firm Zigloo, explain.
"Its unique design permits the simultaneous application of wind, solar, and tidal energy generation technologies thereby making it truly ‘off-grid’.
"Peaking at a depth of 400m, its ample space provides for a comfortable living and working environment, including space for shops, restaurants, gardens, and recreation."
Unfortunately, the seascraper is just a concept for now.
Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid
This proposed project would involve building a giant pyramid over Japan's Tokyo Bay.
Around one million people would be expected to live inside the 2,000-metre-tall structure, which would be comprised of five stacked sections.
Given that Tokyo is one of the most densely populated places in the world, it's not actually a bad idea.
The problem is that the designers admit it's not possible to build a pyramid this big with modern materials.
So we'll need to hang around for super materials of the future to be created.
Plans originally aimed for a 2030 construction date, but the proper deadline is 2110 – so if you're reading this article in 2018, you may never see it completed.
X-Seed 4000
This incredible skyscraper concept was created in 1995.
If created, it would be by far the tallest building ever created, rising up a ludicrous 4,000 metres – or 13,123 feet.
That's just under half the height of Mount Everest, and roughly five times the height of the world's tallest current building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa.
It's intended to have 800 floors that would house between 500,000 and a million people.
Estimates put the amount of steel required to build the structure at around 3,000,000 tons.
The fact that it climbs so high means that there would need to be internal air pressure regulations to protect people living inside from altitude illnesses.
Potential sites for the building include several locations in Asia, including Tokyo – but sadly there are no current plans to actually build the X-Seed 4000.
Masdar City, Abu Dhabi
Masdar City is a work-in-progress eco-city over in Abu Dhabi.
Designed by prestigious British architect firm Foster and Partners (who also masterminded the Apple Store's new look), Masdar City is supposed to be the first human settlement to be completely environmentally friendly.
That means no waste, no carbon emissions, no cars – and juiced up on completely recycled water.
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It's been under construction for 10 years, but it's still largely occupied by sand – rather than the 50,000 residents originally planned for.
Right now, around 1,300 people live there, and that number is mostly made up of students.
And rather than being carbon-free, project heads seem to have settled on carbon-neutrality instead.
Which of these mega cities would you most like to live in? And what would your dream mega city look like? Let us know in the comments!
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