No tags yet.
Society perceives cities as hubs of technological, social innovation and subsequently often have leading roles in futuristic stories. In the case of the urban living and its exponential growth over time, the outcome is frequently associated with an overpopulated series of skyscrapers. Mortal Engines addresses this trend (albeit through the lens of a ubiquitous surveillance machine dictating terms to the smaller players in the urban living game). Passengers explores urban living from the perspective of long-haul space flight, a phenomenon which can be associated with current developments in fast tracking a space voyage to Mars or operating under conditions similar to what is expected at the International Space Station (ISS).
Mortal Engines (Novel Series, Upcoming Film Adaptation)
Majority of the world depicted in Mortal Engines coheres to a technological ecosystem underlined by Municipal Darwinism. Municipal Darwinism is centred around the cycle of predator and prey; if the bigger town is faster than the smaller, the smaller town will be consumed. Vast metropolises are built on tiers which move on gigantic wheels or caterpillar tracks; each city survives by hunting other cities for its resources and fuel.
Naturally this would require vast amounts of fuel (survival of the fittest), meaning that Municipal Darwinism would be the main form of energy consumption. To carry more people on these mobile tiers, the city’s infrastructure must be vertical. Traction cities have both power and influence on others, with greater size implying greater power and influence. A vertical design of the metropolis would mean that more people are transported whilst asserting dominance over smaller cities for resource harvestation.
Overall, the film portrays humanity’s efforts to reduce architectural area by developing mobile and vertical infrastructure. However, moving metropolises are an infeasible solution to the problem due to resource usage eventually exceeding resource harvestation.
Passenger (2016)
The Sci-Fi film Passengers takes viewers on a journey, where an interstellar starships can transport thousands of hibernating passengers to planets in neighbouring star systems. The ship is designed to ensure the survival of humankind while they search for a habitable planet. A human settlement with high population density and infrastructure of built environment best describes the urban living condition within the “Avalon” starship.
Transportation of human life through space for extensive periods of time, has been a popular concept explored in numerous Sci-Fi films. The plausibility of this concept depends on multiple factors including space travel (i.e.: speed etc) and living conditions within the ship itself. Whilst most Sci-Fi movies present urban living on land and in the sky, movies like Passengers find methods to articulate this problem in a cosmic manner.
Sustaining human life inside a space vessel takes on the challenge of urban living and lifestyle to a whole new level. Although the urban living vision showcased in the film seems a little far fetched, the concept of transporting the human race across space for longer durations of time may soon become a reality (i.e. Space Voyage to colonise Mars).
Sci-Fi movies such as Mortal Engines and Passengers have inspired us to envisage the possibilities of future human transportation and urban living. Whilst Mortal Engines focuses on an urban lifestyle (albeit primitive due to extreme circumstances of war) here on Earth, Passengers explores another aspect which is currently orbiting our imagination. The scientific accuracy seen in both films may be insufficient, but the vision highlighted in Passengers resonates with our current desire for interstellar travel and adventure (namely a wider exploration of Mars - thanks Elon Musk). For society to transcend the current boundaries of living, once must not suppress the desires of building a futuristic living landscape that supersedes today’s standards. With an ever growing trend towards vertical urban living, understanding the multiple benefits (particularly from an environmental standpoint) is key to ensure that the transition between horizontal and vertical is demystified.