How do you envision the city of the future ?

1. City of the Future

2. We often imagine the city of the future with an ambitious and futurist architecture and
crowded with flying cars as in science-fiction movies. However a city is much more
complex and does not resume itself to its architecture.
The city of the future will mostly define itself by the solutions it will bring. With a
continuous evolution, cities must reinvent themselves and create new solutions to
today’s issues with a long-term perspective.
The cities of the future must face new problems such as the increasing urban
population and the energy crisis, two essential challenges as cities have a global
impact on the rest of the world.
Even if we do live in the present and believe that we do not know what the future is, we
already live in it as well!
Small retrospective of the best that I learned from the world of science, art, design,
architecture, high-technologies and robotics and my vision of the city of the future for
the next generations: a smart and connected city.

3. Consequent figures
Every week
in the world,
1 million individuals
come to settle
in cities.
They shelter more than
50 % of the population
while they occupy only
2% of the Earth’s
surface.
The number of
city-dwellers should
increase from
3,6 to 6,3 billions
in 2050.
Cities represent
80 % of the energy
consumption
and 70 % of CO2
emissions.

4. How could the cities of the future
overcome these limits while
respecting
the well-being
and the societal life
of its inhabitants ?

5. 2. … And which respects its architectural
inheritance and fights against the social division
by adopting a modern vision…
Contents
1. A city capable of answering to the needs of its
inhabitants …
3. … And while considering the ecological
impact and the environment for the health
and the well-being of the city-dwellers.

6. 1. A city capable of answering
to the needs of its inhabitants …

7. A - Public transports accessible to everyone
to increase conviviality
2 types of transports to develop:
• Some sustainable and environmentally friendly public transports which should be: safe,
fast, free, clean, and accessible to everyone (from children to handicapped persons).
• Some individual transports which should as well be clean, free, sustainable, fast and in a
large number… Good examples of that today would be the bikes in town and the small two
seats electric cars in a few capitals even if it is only at a primary stage for now.
These transports could permit:
• To increase exercise (bikes)
• To respect the environment
• To reduce the time spent in cars
and traffic to encourage a better
mood among the citizens.
• To reduce social inequalities

8. B – But also some private transports more adapted
to an sustainable city of the future
These new types of transports would combine safety, sustainability and high-
technologies. They would be completely autonomous, for example: the Google
Car or the Tesla.

9. C – The possibility to stay connected whenever you want
Communication and the free and continuous access to the Internet is, according
to me, essential to the good functioning of a city of the future.
Indeed, the USA recently defined the Internet as “a common good”.
Example of projects:
In London the availability of
the Wi-Fi in the
underground.

10. D - Safety at the heart of the development
of the cities
Safety in the cities will be better than today in the sense that the well-being of
the citizens cannot exist without a confident and safe feeling. Indeed the
growing size of the cities will naturally increase the feeling of insecurity. For
example by installing cameras at the corners of the streets while keeping horse
riding and biking policemen…

11. E - An autonomous and reassuring city
Copied on the « Smart City » model, it would be able to control the public sector as
well as the private on (environment, economy, transports, safety…) thanks to an infinite
number of smartphone applications and their data.
Some concrete examples are already settled and keep improving:
- In transports, captors and cameras analyse the traffic, therefore, citizens of the Smart City can
be informed of the state of circulation thanks to a smartphone app. It also works for available
parking spaces.
- A smart public lighting could detect the presence of people or cars in the street and light
according to them.
- The sustainable treatments of wastes could be improved thanks to technology. For example
when the bins are full it would send a signal to the waste reception centres.
- The QR-Codes dispersed in the whole
city will permit to furnish all kind of
practical information (buses hours,
touristic information…)
- Captors, will permit to detect the
weather forecasts or the variations of
temperature in real time to inform the
citizens as soon as possible.

12. F – Independent houses at the heart
of an independent city
Already pretty improved, “smart homes” will not cease
evolving and will be omnipresent in the city of the future.
Every feature in the house will be connected and controlled
via smartphones or tablets.
For example:
• The light that turns off when you leave the room.
• The cameras that turn on when you leave the house.
• The doors and the windows that can lock themselves
in a click.
• Some tactile captors that will start an alarm in case of
the falling of an old person.
• The automatic air conditioning when air humidity is too
high.
• The temperature of the radiators regulated in
accordance with the outside temperature and
automatically lowered during the night.

13. G - Protection of the small traders
A return to small traders would permit the creation of job opportunities and a
stronger social link between the citizens.
Studies prove it :
Super-stores like Wall-Mart
kill off local small businesses.
See attached the development
of the brand in USA.
Daily News 4/11/2011

14. H – Other missions that an evolved city
should take care of
• Education for all
• Maintaining a high level of job
opportunities
• Bring health and hygiene
everywhere
• Bring a pleasant living
environment
• Being able to respond to the
energy demand
• Propose cultural and sport
activities to the population
• Increase the number of green
spaces.

15. 2. … And which respects its
architectural inheritance and fights
against the social division by
adopting a modern vision…

16. A – Urban Sprawl reinforcing social division ?
• Therefore there is a need for a return of
cohabitation between the different
social categories.
• Moreover, being far can have bad
consequences for jobs by dissuading
people to work because of high
travelling costs compared to their
salaries.
• On their side, employers could hire
less the people that leave too far from
the workplace.
• Urban sprawl is not in favour to social mix as it separates population into
different neighbourhoods.
• The lack of mix could lower the exchanges between inhabitants and increase
segregation (age, income, ethnicities…)
• It can also increase daily journeys

17. B – Adapt architecture to the needs of a growing city
For Example :
However they have to pay attention
not to extend too much at the risk of
damaging the environment but also
not damaging their historical
heritage. London proposed a
new way to regenerate disused and
discarded parts of the city. London
found an interesting and ambitious
alternative: to convert “the
prestigious riverfront offices” of
Portcullis House – currently home to
the UK Parliament – into luxury
waterfront apartments.
It is estimated that some 364 flats
could be built
With the increase of the population and the increase in prices of the real estate, the
biggest capitals of the world have to adapt themselves quickly.

18. C - The City of the Future will be the smart
combination of a past, a present and a future
Melbourne, Australia
Paris, France
London, UK
The modern architecture should never cause
damages to the cultural heritage of the city
which will have to respect its past while
permitting modernisation.
Here are a few examples which according to
me illustrate this point in three capitals.

19. D – Architecture should be in harmony
with the environment
Through the materials used or
the shape of the building, it
should be perfectly integrated
to the landscape of the city and
its heritage but it should also
reflect the natural environment
it is surrounded by.
It is the architect Frank Guérhy’s
vision of the city of the future.
Other examples:
The architects
Bjarke Ingels and
Antoine
Predockfor the
Telus Sky Tower

20. E - An “ideal” workplace
Improving the workplace in cities is essential for the well-being of the citizens. It should
emphasize on the direct link to the environment, nature, optimization of space to increase
communication between employees (no walls for example) and emphasize on the health of
employees thanks to relaxation and fitness spaces as well as cycle tracks.
Examples : on the right, Google’s future
headquarters realized by the architects: Bjarke
Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick, who give a real
importance to the well-being of employees by
creating an aesthetic and balanced space.
Below Amazon’s future headquarters in Seattle.

21. F - The city of the future will ameliorate
and conquer unusual spaces
For the city of the future I imagine a
development of kitchen gardens on the
building’s roofs, revisited underground stations,
many floating banks along the rivers… The
purpose would be to recreate in a sustainable
and smart way every unexploited spaces of the
big cities!
Example: Plans Before / After To Convert London’s Old Street tube station Into Public Square

22. G - A convivial city which favours pedestrians
Example: The Garden Bridge
by Thomas Heatherwick, an
original project.
Others examples of design
bridges :
The more the pedestrian’s access will be numerous, the more the citizens will
favour walking for daily journeys to go to work, study or just to have a walk, or
do sport.
The arrangements of design bridges exclusively accessible by pedestrians or
cyclists is an interesting option to consider.

23. 3. … And while considering the
ecological impact and the
environment for the health and the
well-being of the city-dwellers.

24. A - Will the city of the future be 100% ecological
and sustainable?
The development of sustainable cities is today at the heart of the debate for the future
towns. Through my researches I found that some big cities already found innovative and
relevant solutions to resolve a part of this problematic. Here are a few examples:
- Norway: Construction of many hydroelectric
dams which allow cheap electricity and the
creation of free electric borders for cars in town.
- Bahia de Caraquez, Equator: the city settled the
sorting of wastes and steadied organic agriculture.
- Vancouver, Canada: more than 90% of the energy
of the city comes from sustainable energy like the
wind, the tide, the sun and the waves.
- Malmö, Sweden: a lot of its neighbourhoods
adopted an ecological design, making the town a
real “eco-zone”.
- Portland, USA: it is the first American town which
adopted a program for the reduction of
greenhouse gases emissions

25. B - Optimizing the spaces to answer
to the energy demand of the cities
The roads we created have a negative impact on the environment (soil erosion,
impoverishment of the biodiversity…). So… what if the roads could become a way to
create energy?
A project called “solar routes” invented by the American Scott Brusaw sounds extremely
promising to me for our cities of the future. These new routes will give the energy
required by the citizens thanks to a system of solar panels, they will also be an
advantage to the safety and the organization of the transports.

26. C - The reuse of the resources instead of
their destruction is vital !
Less wasting, more recycling. The purpose of my future
city will be to consume less but also to reuse better!
For example:
- Water is a rare resource that we should not waste
anymore. The recycling of water for every shower
would permit a decrease of water consumption by 80%
compared to a classic installation.
- The sorting of the garbage should be more traceable
so that it becomes efficient. It will permit a better reuse
of the resources, for example reusing the wastes to
create heating or to clothes.
- The wastes can also be turned into alimentary
resources, it is the case of urban farms… Like the
company Upcycle which produces quality mushrooms
thanks to coffee wastes taken from coffee machines.

27. D - Parks will be omnipresent and maintained
for the wellbeing of citizens
The more the cities grow, the more the green spaces are neglected or even forgotten.
Therefore it is necessary to preserve our environment for the wellbeing of inhabitants.
Places like Central Park (New-York) or Hyde Park (London) are essential however they
need a particular financial attention which threatens them a lot by closing.

28. E - Governments will encourage the development
of the biosphere
The Kew garden is according to me a great initiative. This park of 121 hectares in
London financed by government is not only a place to visit or relax but also a research
centre of botany which is influent and groups more than 30.000 species of vegetables.
Other good initiatives took place at the opposite side of the planet in Curitib in Brazil
where 50meters square were attributed per citizen.
Kew gardens London, England

29. F - The city of the future should also think about
changing its crowded cemeteries
An original idea which tends to combine life and death. It is the project of an Italian
company “Capsula Mundi” where the creators Anna Vitelli and Raoul Bretzel propose to
forget about coffins by replacing them by biodegradable eggs in which the body is in foetal
position. This egg will permit a tree to grow.
Human is therefore an integrated part of the cycle of life and the tree represents the union
between earth and sky. The idea is simple, the eggs are conceived to contain a body each.
Once the egg is buried, a tree is planted over it. The coffins are made with the wood of an
old tree and have a short-term life. Capsula Mundi proposes a biodegradable alternative
which uses a tree to give life to another.
Giant forests would then replace the cemeteries. This new generation of “green
cemeteries” are an ecological and original way to imagine a second life.

30. CONCLUSION
Through my travels, I visited Dubai, I have been seduced in the first time by its
incredible architecture. However I realized it is not actually a city of the future. It
favours roads and malls rather than giving an answer to tomorrow’s stakes like
social mix, ecology and sustainability.
This is why my city of the future will mix aesthetic of the past and crazy projects
of the present. My city will astonish visitors. It will emphasize meetings between
citizens and will reinforce social links by avoiding exclusion.
It will have control on the pollution it produces to avoid damaging the health of
the inhabitants. It will consume a minimum of resources to become more
sustainable.
The time in the transports every day will be reasonable and economic activities
will not be far from habitations.
This city of the future will also be a place for relaxation, amusement and culture.

31. The city is today at the heart of debates for
politics, citizen and architects. Our urban model
seems out of breath and some people suffer by
living there.
But nevertheless, city-dwellers will be more and
more numerous in the next decades.
It becomes urgent that we ask ourselves the rights
questions!

32. References
• Wifi project in the Subway : Konbini.com
http://www.konbini.com/en/lifestyle/futurehype-london-tube/
• Smart homes/ Smart cities : Arte.TV
http://future.arte.tv/fr/sujet/la-ville-du-futur#article-anchor-17976
• Wall-mart : nydailynews .com
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/study-proves-walmart-super-stores-kill-local-small-businesses-
article-1.140129
• Parliament in London : Konbini.com
http://www.konbini.com/en/lifestyle/topic_society/politics/parliament-luxury-flats/
• Telus sky tower : official website
http://telussky.com
• Google’s headquarters : Youtube.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3v4rIG8kQA&t=36
• London Old Street station : Konbini.com
http://www.konbini.com/en/inspiration/futurehype-plans-old-street-public-square/
• Heatherwick’s bridge : Konbini.com
http://www.konbini.com/us/lifestyle/futurehype-heatherwicks-visionary-london-garden-bridge-underway/
• Solar roadways : Youtube.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlTA3rnpgzU
• Upcycle, urban farms : Demainlaville.com
http://www.demainlaville.com/video/upcycle-transformer-les-dechets-en-ressources-alimentaires/
• Capsula mundi : Official website
http://www.capsulamundi.it/bosco_eng.html