Urban Life: From “The Flintstones” to “The Future”

Humanity has always had a fascination with the unknown and the desire to explore. People have wondered what the future of cities would look like. Trying to imagine the future has proved just intriguing. Ideas that seem weird no more than 30 years ago are fast becoming a reality, perhaps some of the concerns too.

As a child I used to be fascinated while watching ”The Flintstones”, not because of “The Future”, but because of “The Past”. It was so nice the way they lived, cooked, and so on. I also used to be enchanted by ideas while reading about floating cities where people would live in ring-like structures that would not move, but people would be free to move from place to place by undocking their living pod from the central core and travelling to their desired ring.

I remember picturing in my mind the entire street network planned on a combined radial and orbital pattern, pedestrians enjoying, buildings raised on supports, escalators linking the pedestrian ways, levitating cars and so many good futuristic ideas. Those cities were everywhere and nowhere.

Perhaps the most intriguing idea: the telephone and the radio would replace face-to-face contact. Today, with the internet, mobile communications, digital communities and virtual reality, which have already diminished the need for face-to-face contact, this idea no longer seems as strange as once it might.

People would shop by picture phone, cook on a solar range and eat food made from sawdust. Sounds familiar? For many it is a vision of utopia. Actually, some of these ideas are coming to fruition in places such as Songdo, in Korea.

Whether we like it or not, technology is going to play an increasingly important role in our lives. The “internet of things” aims to link everyday objects in to a vast network, which can be controlled remotely. It is already happening.

The question is, is it easier to develop systems that serve our needs and interests or is it easier for humans to conform to the demands of technology? Either way, the fascination of imagining, creating and visioning will always play its role.

by Ale Madia