The year is 2100. The population of London is now 30 million. Life is so fast paced and rapidly changing that most people are moving somewhere most of the time. Private car usage, the movement of underutilised vehicles, is a thing of the past. Various types and sizes of automated vehicles exist at surface level at low speeds through pedestrian areas. Most are small and carry goods from place to place.
Manufacturing tends to be done locally with material synthesised from the local environment and produced with rapid fabrication machines such as 3D printers and laser cutting. Products can be ordered, materials gathered and delivered entirely without human input. The tools and plans the machines are built from are open source and the physical places themselves are owned and managed collectively by local communities.
Given this level of automation, most basic needs are provided for for free and those who do work for extra money generally provide services of entertainment, design or therapy. Many don’t work but pursue semi-professional creative activities or help to manage local production collectives.
The level of space required for movement has meant that living and work has largely descended into underground skyscrapers. Light pipes and effective dampproofing make this a viable option. The space above is largely parkland which leaves people to roam free. Some public structures that provide protection from the elements exist above ground that allow for recreation and temporary office space.
To get from one side to the other of the city generally involves a train journey making use of the extensive underground network with stations that open up into the housing and office basements. The trains operate at various levels, serving many floors of the underground skyscrapers with vertical tracks and interconnecting lifts.
Trains are equipped to handle passengers and standard size containers can be easily transferred by robot cranes into designated carriages. Local journeys can be made by single passenger vehicles like airwheels, bicycles, segways and skateboards. A larger cargo vehicle arrives at the correct time to collect the container and transport it to the user’s destination’s cargo bay automatically.
Because of the adaptability of the kinds of vehicles that provide mobility to cargo and people, there is no need for roads anymore. Hard permeable hard surfaces are provided for common routes but they are not required to be flat and the preference is for organic shapes that undulate across the landscape.
The pursuits of the city are largely outdoors in festival-like pop-up structures above ground which host restaurants and theatres. It tends to be warm outdoors as heat energy can be diverted from the extremely efficient underground housing. As well as the generic shared spaces which provide facilities for the majority of activities.
