Projects of Future Cities. How Future-Proof Are They?

When we think about the future of the urban environment, we imagine it as technologically advanced as possible. Large-scale projects to build new smart cities from the ground up often reinvent familiar concepts and ideas: for example, a plan to exclude roads and cars, as in the case of NEOM in Saudi Arabia, or to only use renewable energy, as in Akon City in Senegal. However, technology is rapidly changing and evolving, such as air conditioning, which was still 30 years away from widespread use; hence it was not considered in the layout structure in most of the world.

• What technological ideology do the authors incorporate in the Future Cities projects?
• How can cities built today avoid becoming obsolete in a few years?

• What mandatory approaches and components should smart cities have to stand the test of time?