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Document 1: City of the Future Sci-Fi: Future Atomic City (1942) This painting by Frank R. Paul of a city of the future is pretty typical of sci-fi predictions. The city is a massive pile of steel, plastic and glass put together in a way that not only has no
Document 1: City of the Future Sci-Fi: Future Atomic City (1942) This painting by Frank R. Paul of a city of the future is pretty typical of sci-fi predictions. The city is a massive pile of steel, plastic and glass put together in a way that not only has no past, but actively rejects it. It is a place of heroic technology with skyscrapers the size of whole districts, roof-top aerodromes, wide pedestrian boulevards, and metal roadways strangely 5 devoid of traffic. There are even urban space launch pads where giant rockets are winched upright before blasting off to the heavens. The iconic image of the future is the city. Think about it. In how many films have directors established the fact that we’re in the future by conjuring up some landscape of incredible buildings with air cars whizzing about like semi-regulated gnats. Metropolis, Bladerunner, 10 Just Imagine, Things to Come, and any number of Star Trek instalments. That’s because a city’s skyline tells you so much about the culture that built it. New York looks different from London because New York is different from London. Skyscrapers suit New York. They tell you about New Yorkers and the de facto capital of the United States. This was the reason why Stanley Kubrick decided against setting on Earth any scenes from 15 his film 2001: a Space Odyssey. He felt it was impossible for him to predict what a city on Earth would look like in 2001. From davidszondy.com 13ANTEV2ME1 Page : 2/5 Document 2: Detroit’s Urban Renewal Detroit’s bleak landscape is slowly changing due to the efforts of urban farmers and community gardeners determined to grow their city’s revival. Once America’s most productive manufacturing city, Detroit was home to a thriving automotive and music industry, with almost 2 million residents and a robust economy. A 5 dramatic decline began in the mid-1960s as factories began closing their doors for overseas opportunities. The City eventually suffered near-collapse as residents left in droves to find work elsewhere. The exodus is well-documented, as entire communities decamped, parts of the city were literally abandoned and buildings were demolished or left neglected, with blocks of houses torn down or left for ruin. 10 For residents that stayed, lack of employment, crumbling school systems, and the sheer size of the city (which could fit all of Manhattan, Boston, and San Francisco inside and still have room