Since the 1920’s, predictions of how people will live 50 or so years in the future have spurred the imaginations of readers for magazines such as Popular Science. Some of the more fantastical concept art and theories are ludicrous by today’s standards and have been labeled as retro-futurism in popular culture.
However, it seems humanity’s habit for predicting the future of technology and engineering hasn’t been left in the past.
Imagine communities thriving in floating cities on the ocean’s surface, as more land is lost from rising sea levels due to global warming.
Farms are moved to the tops of skyscrapers, with ultra-deep basement homes manufactured with 3D printing. Cities designed with a focus on ‘aquatecture’ harness solar and tidal energy for power.
For daily commutes, drivers cross mega-bridges spanning entire cities, with spaceports for direct access to the moon and Mars. Buildings have unique micro-climates, allowing humans to colonize previously uninhabitable areas of the earth’s surface.
These concepts may not seem so outlandish when looking back at Popular Mechanics Magazine’s predictions for the “City of the Future,” published in 1928.
The fantastic predictions for the 22nd century were made by the Royal Academy of Engineers in London, England, with award-winning architects and lecturers from the University of Westminster.
Theories behind these predictions and how they are possible will be broadcast on a new British TV show titled Impossible Engineering, scheduled to air on UKTV’s Yesterday Channel.
“Impossible Engineering shows how a series of seemingly unconnected breakthroughs can be put together to create amazing feats of engineering, but anything could happen in the next 50 years,” said Adrian Wills, general manager of Yesterday in an interview with the Daily Mail.
In accordance with the name of the program, the theories proposed are noted to be impossible feats of engineering by today’s technological limits.
“There is rarely a 'eureka' moment,” said Dr. Rhys Morgan, director of engineering and education at the Royal Academy of Engineering. “As such, engineering feats which are currently out of reach require time for the pieces to fit together and the minds responsible for developing the ideas to work through all the wrong avenues before achieving what is currently impossible. Impossible Engineering really highlights this collaborative nature of progress.”
Impossible Engineering premieres Tuesday, May 26. To learn more about the show, visit yesterday.uktv.co.uk.
What are your thoughts on the concepts described above? Let us know in the comments section.