Urban Designers and the Cities of the Future

Experts predict that almost 70% of the world’s population will migrate and live in cities in the next 30 years. Will that affect the cities and cease the existence of cities as we know them? Many predict the transition of megacities to cities 4.0 or so-called smart cities. These cities will have the different infrastructure, to satisfy the new needs and solve the issues of such cities. 

Such smart cities would be managed by innovative systems such as IoT, and, as a matter of fact, some cities are already trying these methods. It is crucial for the development of smart megacities that these systems prove productive in some smaller cities first. 

What would the role of an urban designer be in all of it? Or, to be precise, what are the factors they need to consider to make these cities progress? What should the students interested in urban development need to know about the cities of the future?

Heading Towards Smart Cities

It is predicted that in the next thirty years or so, all the major American cities will expand and deal with increased population. People are progressively migrating to urban areas, and over the next three decades, this will be our reality. 

There will come to an increase in the older population in these smart cities. Of course, these older people won’t have the same needs as the older population nowadays. They will be different in terms of lifestyle, thinking, working patterns and more. This should affect urban designers’ working methods. They need to modify the urban infrastructure, home designs to the elderly ones. 

All That Awaits Us

New designs and the look of these cities will largely depend on current trends, innovations, technology, and current environmental issues. One of these things includes transport, and logically a bigger city will need better and bigger transport solutions. Naturally, the emission of carbon dioxide will have to be reduced to a minimum, so some of the solutions might be electric cars or networked road systems. 

In terms of architecture, it should also change greatly over the next 30 years. Rethinking these concepts won’t be easy for those interested in urban designing, but they are an inevitable part of the future. If you are thinking future, urban design students should think green roofs, urban agriculture, self-sufficiency, renewable energy sources and more.

IoT

The role of technology and IoT in smart cities will be essential. Mapping and analyzing the urban environment data will affect the management if these enormous cities and make them more self-sufficient. In addition, it will improve cost reduction in almost every aspect of life in urban cities. Unfortunately, such systems will directly affect many working positions that will be considered unnecessary. 

Some of the cities already practicing these “methods” are Medellín in Colombia with a  cable-car system and library-parks. Additionally, we have Tokyo with robot taxis, multilingual service bots for the 2020 Olympics, and more. 

Way to Impact the Change

The thing all the young or future urban designers should think about when the cities of the future are in question is definitely tech, information, management, city project, and culture. All future professionals in this field could face many urban development challenges. Moreover, they should think about the most convenient ways to implement new technologies and use various digital solutions to overcome those challenges.