Fantasy City/Urban Area Locations
It is the 21st century now. Humans have the following capabilities:
–Production of artificial light, heat, and cooling
–Instant global communication
–Transportation of large volumes of water hundreds of kilometers
–Artificially-controlled environments that, in theory, allow any plant from anywhere on the planet to be grown anywhere else. (Sure building an aeroponic LED-illuminated greenhouse for a redwood tree would be difficult, especially after 500 years or so, but we could do it with present-day tech if we wanted to for some reason)
–Food preservation and packaging technology that allows us to eat fruit and vegetables in antarctica and seafood in Kansas City.
–Planetary multimodal transport network that allows travel between any two network nodes in less than 48 hours, any two points anywhere on the network in less than week, and any two arbitrary coordinates on the planet in less than a month.
We also have the technology –although not really the need, or the economic or political means– to build large, dense settlements anywhere we want, with minimal impact to all the land that isnt occupied by the city itself, and with minimal dependence on the land for resources. If, to use an American example, every building in phoenix, vegas, and LA implemented greywater recycling systems, and people stopped wasting water on lawns, fountains, swimming pools, etc, the desert southwest could remain habitable basically indefinitely (at least in terms of water, anyway), while retaining its current standards of living.
Given these capabilities, humans, for better or for worse, are no longer required to live in regions suitable for agriculture. And while many cities have historically emerged in locations which are strategic for manufacturing, transport, trade, or resource extraction, none of these activities today require large numbers of people, although high-volume cheap labor is still used instead of robots in some parts of the world, for political and economic reasons.
With the above in mind, where would you place a new city or urban area today? It can be anywhere on the planet. The only criterion is that the new city/urban area must have at least 500k residents.
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You guys are laughing now but Jacksonville will soon assume its rightful place as the largest and most important city on Earth.
I heard the UN is moving its HQ there. The eiffel tower is moving there soon as well. Elon Musk even decided he didnt want to go to mars anymore after visiting.
Last edited by jbermingham123; Sep 7, 2021 at 10:03 PM.
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