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San Francisco, 3:26 AM
Wed Feb 10
25 posts in the last 24 hours

IO9 TEAM

#conceptart

Wandering Cities That Roam The Steppes

In the future, cities will have no single location. Mounted on huge vehicles, skyscrapers will roam the steppes of Russia, forming temporary citiscapes then wandering on. This gallery of fantastical cities includes atmospheric purifiers beyond Earth and a waterfall metropolis. More »

01/22/10

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By Annalee Newitz

#futuretransportation

Super High Speed Trains Might Be A Part Of Your Future Holiday Travel Plans

Since many Americans spent part of the last few days traveling home for Thanksgiving on trains, Scientific American chose to mark the occasion with an in-depth report on the future of rail travel. The future looks promising... and fast. More »

11/26/09

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By Alasdair Wilkins

#conceptart

Bioshock Paintings Take Glourious Neon and Art Deco Underwater

Tim Warnock has provided concept artwork and designs for Watchmen and Harry Potter. Just for fun, he's created a series of stunning matte paintings that capture Bioshock's underwater city of Rapture in its glory days, all shimmering art deco. More »

11/24/09

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By Lauren Davis

#megaenvironmentalism

The Future of Vancouver Takes Shape

In the misty distance is the gleaming sphere of Science World, and in the foreground is Vancouver's ultra-green Olympic Village, which planners say will hold 16,000 people by 2020. They'll eat food grown on roofs and drink reclaimed rainwater. More »

11/11/09

0

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By Annalee Newitz

#architecture

Quarantined in Utopia

When we talk about the cities of tomorrow, it's easy to think only about futuristic architecture, or the urban technologies that are yet to appear. But we never think about the diseases, pandemics and viral outbreaks that'll also shape them. More »

09/21/09

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By Geoff Manaugh

#guestblogger

The City Is A Battlesuit For Surviving The Future

The architecture of science fiction has profoundly changed urban design. When building cities of the future, our best guides may be places like comic book megalopolises Mega-City-1 or Transmet. More »

09/20/09

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By Matt Jones

#futuremetro

Death To Future Metro Disaster Porn!

The future of the world is unmistakably urban (UN estimates put 70% of the world's population living in urban areas by 2050), so why do we still expect the worst about cities? Click through for fictional destructions galore. More »

09/20/09

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By Graeme McMillan

#habitatmachines

The Ultimate In Urban Recycling

Canadian artist David Trautrimas creates imaginary cities of the future by digitally-manipulating photographs of found objects into steampunk-esque surreal urban environments as part of his Habitat Machines series. [Habitat Machines] (Via) More »

09/20/09

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By Graeme McMillan

#triviagasm

7 Science Fictional Bars We'd Like to Visit

Life in the cities of tomorrow is filled with stressful encounters involving flying cars and Robopocalypses, so where can you find a nice place where everyone knows your designation? Here are seven science-fictional bars we wish we could visit. More »

09/20/09

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By Alexis

#futuremetro

Our Cities Are Like Our Brains

Next time you get mad about the growth of cities, take some comfort in the newly-discovered fact that there's more at work than just inept town planning. Apparently, city bosses are just subconsciously mirroring what's happening inside their own brains. More »

09/19/09

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By Graeme McMillan

#geowanking

A Map Of Your Future Mega-Cities And Megalopolises

The cities of the future are massive, sprawling, beautiful monsters, covering entire coastlines — and in some cases, entire continents. Whether it's Judge Dredd's Mega-Cities or William Gibson's "Sprawl," future cities always devour land. Here's a map of future megalopolises. More »

09/18/09

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By Charlie Jane Anders

#fantasynoir

The New Noir Fantasy Shows Magical Cities In Decay

A noir light is shining over fantasy — many of the best fantasy books on the shelves right now feature bloody-minded, morally gray protagonists battling their way through rotten cities and bleak landscapes. Here's why noir is truest urban fantasy. More »

09/18/09

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By Charlie Jane Anders

#urbanapocalypse

How Los Angeles Destroyed the City of Keeler

Keeler, California was once an attractive lakeside resort on the shores of Owens Lake. But as waters from the lake were diverted to Los Angeles, the shoreline receded, triggering a small, quiet apocalypse in Keeler. More »

09/18/09

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By Lauren Davis

#futuremetro

When Cities Clash - Literally

Cities drive us into techno-overload all the time. But what happens when cities are so automated that they transform into giant robots and punch each other? More »

09/18/09

0

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By Graeme McMillan

#maps

A Bicycle Superhighway With Timed Lights for Copenhagen

Copenhagen is already one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world, with 55% of its citizens riding a bicycle daily. Now the question is how to get commuters from outlying areas biking too. The answer is the bicycle superhighway. More »

09/17/09

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By Annalee Newitz

#quoteoftheday

Bruce Sterling And Jeff VanderMeer Offer 2 Lessons On How To Build A Science-Fictional City

Science-fiction fans and writers, alike, tend to think of cities in too simplistic a fashion. Quotes from The Caryatids author Bruce Sterling and City Of Saints And Madmen author Jeff VanderMeer explain how you should really view urban infrastructure. More »

09/17/09

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By Charlie Jane Anders

#conceptart

Visit the Planet Coruscant, Home to the Ultimate City

This is Star Wars concept designer Ralph McQuarrie's vision of city planet Coruscant's entertainment district - where some of the new live-action Star Wars TV series will take place. Check out Coruscant's gorgeous and seamy sides in our gallery. More »

09/17/09

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By Annalee Newitz

#conceptart

Mutant Bugs Attack Moscow's Subway System

If you're nervous about riding the subway, you may want to steer clear of Alex Andreev's Moscow Underground art series, which fills the Russian subway with giant mutant cockroaches, malevolent metro conductors, and other bits of urban horror. More »

09/16/09

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By Lauren Davis

#futuremetro

What Will Today's Cities Look Like in the Future?

What will the New Yorks, Londons, and Tokyos of tomorrow look like? Will they be technological Edens, grim dystopias, or entirely obliterated? We look at science fiction's take on the future of today's cities to gauge our urban future. More »

09/16/09

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By Lauren Davis

#design

Everyone In America Lives Out of Containers

In the wake of the housing crisis, self-storage spaces hold a lurid fascination. Some contain all that remains of people's formerly middle-class lives. Others are mountains of neurotic garbage. The NYT magazine has an amazing story about self-storage culture. More »

09/16/09

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By Annalee Newitz

#top10

Top 10 Most Corrupt Mayors From Science Fiction

You think your city's leadership is bad? Just look at these 10 stand-out examples of terrible mayors and awful city leaders from science fiction and urban fantasy. They steal, they kill, they won't give the people air! More »

09/16/09

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By Charlie Jane Anders

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