Science Fiction and Urban Design

Matt Jones has written a terrific article for the sci-fi blog i09 about the future of cities. He takes inspiration from such diverse sources as 60′s experimental architecture collective Archigram, modern comic books and ubiquitous computing – weaving together a story of how cities and their inhabitants are evolving to face the challenges of the coming times.

Jones speaks about architect Richard Rogers’ ideas about  human infrastructure:

… the near-future of cities as one increasingly influenced by telecommunications and technology. He stated that “our cities are increasingly linked and learning” – this seemed to me a recapitulation of Archigram’s strategies, playing out not through giant walking cities but smaller, bottom-up technological interventions. The infrastructures we assemble and carry with us through the city – mobile phones, wireless nodes, computing power, sensor platforms are changing how we interact with it and how it interacts with other places on the planet. After all it was Archigram who said “people are walking architecture.”

i09: “The City Is A Battlesuit For Surviving The Future”