In all these comments re: rural versus urban versus megacities, nobody seems to have brought up arcologies (as per the sci-fi'ish concept, not half-baked experimental villages like Arcosanti):
A city contained within a single megastructure, or a small cluster of megastructures, with large areas of natural/semi-natural, green, forested lands around them.
Manufacturing and energy generation for all the needs of their residents would be done inside the megastructure or adjacent to it.
Let's see:
• People love living spaces that they have complete control over.
• People love being near other people, without being forced to always be near other people.
• People hate feeling crowded, without any convenient escape to solitude.
• People hate long commutes.
• Unbroken stretches of concrete jungles are dystopian and depressing as hell, no matter how "modern" or glamorous they may be (see places like Dubai.)
• People love greenery, occasional communes with nature, the babbling of brooks and seeing other lifeforms flourish without impinging on human habitats.
• If given a choice without giving up convenience, people want to avoid pollution.
Cities compressed into a few ecological + ergonomic + economic megastructures would tick a lot of those boxes.
The tech may not be there yet, but I hope to see a functional arcology in my lifetime.
Without self-sufficiency it won't fix the problem that they will still be exacting a toll (in pollution, destruction of habitat for other species) on places that they don't physically occupy.
Completely self-sufficient megastructures may still pollute their immediate surroundings, but that may be easier to contain and manage.
A city contained within a single megastructure, or a small cluster of megastructures, with large areas of natural/semi-natural, green, forested lands around them.
Manufacturing and energy generation for all the needs of their residents would be done inside the megastructure or adjacent to it.
Let's see:
• People love living spaces that they have complete control over.
• People love being near other people, without being forced to always be near other people.
• People hate feeling crowded, without any convenient escape to solitude.
• People hate long commutes.
• Unbroken stretches of concrete jungles are dystopian and depressing as hell, no matter how "modern" or glamorous they may be (see places like Dubai.)
• People love greenery, occasional communes with nature, the babbling of brooks and seeing other lifeforms flourish without impinging on human habitats.
• If given a choice without giving up convenience, people want to avoid pollution.
Cities compressed into a few ecological + ergonomic + economic megastructures would tick a lot of those boxes.
The tech may not be there yet, but I hope to see a functional arcology in my lifetime.