Future Cities

An eye-opening investigation into how our ever-expanding urban highways accelerated inequality and fractured communities—and a call for a more just, sustainable path forward.

No metropolis has been more loved or more hated. To its official boosters, "Los Angeles brings it all together". To detractors, LA is a sunlit mortuary where "you can rot without feeling it". To Mike Davis, the author of this fiercely elegant and wide-ranging work of social history, Los Angeles is both utopia and dystopia, a place where the last Joshua trees are being plowed under to make room for model communities in the desert, where the rich have hired their own police to fend off street gangs, as well as armed Beirut militias.

Immerse yourself in the visionary world of "Cities of Tomorrow," an insightful and thought-provoking eBook that transports you to the cutting edge of urban innovation. As our world becomes increasingly reliant on technology, the concept of smart cities has evolved from a futuristic dream into a tangible reality. This riveting exploration takes you deep into the heart of modern urban living, offering a panoramic view of the technologies, designs, and philosophies shaping the metropolises of the future. Embark on an intellectual journey through the intricacies of smart cities, beginning with ...

In the year 2035, homelessness in the United States had reached catastrophic proportions. With the country overwhelmed by the crisis, the President of the United States covertly planned that a secret “Homeless City” would be built to take care of the exploding homeless situation. The city was built and the homeless began being rounded up and taken there by force. As the last phase of the city was being constructed, a secret underground room from an old abandoned military base was unearthed. The room was empty except for a shimmering mold that coated its cement walls. The mold, when ...

The AI future is unfolding right now, and it’s arriving at lightning speed. Are you ready? This unique and important book is your indispensable guide to the emerging world of AI. But it’s not just AI. Quantum computing, robotics, mixed reality, and synthetic biology are all powerful forces that are today redefining what is possible, because what was once impossible has suddenly become inevitable. Together they bring us into a highly chaotic and disruptive era, one filled with enormous risks, but also huge opportunities. The authors are world-renowned experts who put forth clear ...

Cities define the lives of all those who call them home: where we go, how we get there, how we spend our time. But what if we rethink the ways we plan, live in, and move around our cities? What if we didn't need a car to reach the grocery store? What if we could get back the time we would have spent commuting and put it to other uses?

In a dystopian future, a high-tech city named after the French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir was supposed to be a utopia where society and technology flourished outside of government control. Step into the neon streets of Noir City, a realm reminiscent of Cyberpunk 2077, West World, and Sin City, where shadows conceal secrets and technology holds sway over every aspect of life. As an enigmatic signal looms ominously, threatening to disrupt the delicate balance, the lives of its inhabitants become entwined in a web of mystery. Initially appearing disparate, each story holds a sinister ...

A pioneering exploration of four cities where East meets West and past becomes future: St. Petersburg, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Dubai. Every month, five million people move from the past to the future. Pouring into developing-world “instant cities” like Dubai and Shenzhen, these urban newcomers confront a modern world cobbled together from fragments of a West they have never seen. Do these fantastical boomtowns, where blueprints spring to life overnight on virgin land, represent the dawning of a brave new world? Or is their vaunted newness a mirage?

Earth is not well. The promise of starting life anew somewhere far, far away—no climate change, no war, no Twitter—beckons, and settling the stars finally seems within our grasp. Or is it? Bestselling authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith set out to write the essential guide to a glorious future of space settlements, but after years of original research, and interviews with leading space scientists, engineers and legal experts, they aren't so sure it's a good idea.

America's most storied urban underdog, Brooklyn has become an internationally recognized brand in recent decades - celebrated and scorned as one of the hippest destinations in the world. In Brooklyn: The Once and Future City, Thomas J. Campanella unearths long-lost threads of the urban past, telling the rich history of the rise, fall, and reinvention of one of the world’s most resurgent cities.

"The Future Grid: Navigating Smart Cities" is a comprehensive guide that explores the intersection of technology, urban development, and sustainability in the context of smart cities. This insightful book delves into the evolving landscape of urbanization, presenting a roadmap for navigating the complex challenges and opportunities facing modern cities. From the integration of cutting-edge technologies to the promotion of equitable growth and resilience, "The Future Grid" offers a holistic perspective on the transformation of urban environments. Readers will discover in-depth analyses of ...

An expansive and revelatory historical exploration of the multicultural, water-seeking, land-destroying settlers of the most arid corner of North America, arguing that in order to know where the United States is going in the era of mass migration and climate crisis we must understand where the Southwest has already been.

Speculative futures—design approaches that help us visualize new and potential worlds—move us beyond what currently exists into what could one day be. Inspired by art, film, fiction, and industrial design, they use speculation to provoke, imagine, and dream into what lies ahead. Written for futurists, urbanists, and artists looking to enact city-wide transformation—and for listeners at the intersection of disruption, design, innovation, and city living—this book offers creative paths toward urban resilience, using design tools that already exist.

Are you an entrepreneur or investor seeking a fresh landscape for opportunity, far from the constraints of traditional economic models? Look no further. “Pioneering Prosperity: The Morazán Model for Free Cities” is a gateway to understanding how autonomy and innovation can spawn not just a city but a thriving economic ecosystem. This is a blueprint for those who dare to envision and build their havens of freedom and prosperity. In this accessible and action-driven guide, you’ll explore: The Morazán Model in action: a tangible prototype for free cities that are already taking shape ...

What if the greatest threat to the future isn’t war or disaster… but control disguised as order? In a world rebuilt after economic collapse, towering city-states enforce rigid systems, surveillance, and silence. Malik Varen is just another citizen in the Walled City—until he uncovers a hidden protocol from the old world. A blueprint not for domination, but for freedom. As he races to share the truth, Malik becomes the target of the Watchers—silent enforcers who erase dissent without warning. With time running out and betrayal lurking in every shadow, Malik must risk everything to ...

THE LAST STARSHIP Before her sentencing for a murder she did not commit, River Langstrom had been an external station repair technician aboard the space station Danbury. Hovering in a geostationary orbit above what had once been the North American continent, Danbury, a massive spoked wheel, was home for ten thousand colonials, refugees from Earth. Two hundred years earlier, Earth’s atmosphere was rendered toxic in a catastrophic conflict now long forgotten. Despite its many dangers, River found working in the vacuum of space both challenging and exciting, or at least she did before her ...

Since the beginning of civilization, humans have built cities to wall nature out, then glorified it in beloved but quite artificial parks. In Urban Jungle Ben Wilson—the author of Metropolis, a seven-thousand-year history of cities that the Wall Street Journal called “a towering achievement”—looks to the fraught relationship between nature and the city for clues to how the planet can survive in an age of climate crisis.

From centres of antiquity like Athens or Rome to modern metropolises like New York or Shanghai, cities throughout history have been the engines of human progress and the epicentres of our greatest achievements. Now, for the first time, more than half of humanity lives in cities, a share that continues to rise. In the developing world, cities are growing at a rate never seen before. In this book, Professor Goldin and Tom Lee-Devlin show why making our societies fairer, more cohesive and sustainable must start with our cities.

A penetrating look at near-future disruption as truly autonomous vehicles arrive.

As a Hungarian immigrant working as a studio hack writing monster movies in 1950s Hollywood, George Curtis must navigate the McCarthy-era studio system filled with possible communists and spies, the life of closeted men along Sunset Boulevard, and the inability of the era to cleave love from persecution and guilt. But when Madeline, a famous actress, offers George a writing residency at her estate in Malibu to work on the political writing he cares most deeply about, his world is blown open.