Life In The City
London in 2035 hasn’t changed that much. A few more sky
or alcohol-free wine thou not as popular as the real thing, and
scrapers adorn the city’s famous skyline. The city received a
are often purchased by the lower classes. After a plague in 2014,
facelift towards the end of the first decade to co-inside with the
which culled 7-10% of the male population in every European
London 2012 Olympic Games.Most people live in houses built
country, the way people lived became forever changed. With
before 2000; roads, pavements, and gardens had changed little
intruders now seen as a source of disease as well as crime, the
as well as furniture. New houses that are built are assembled
middle classes seized on the new menace of plague as a pretext
from light prefabricated units, easily replaced or re-arranged if a
for protecting their estates against the underclass. Many people
change in architectural design is needed. Food is essentially the
now live on enclosed estates with restricted access. Membership
same. Thou as well as traditional food you can try artificial meat
of your home estate give you access rights to estates. However, the 3
underclass, including anyone convicted of a serious offence, are
the world, society was now sharply polarized: either you lived on
obliged to live in the so-called `free’ or `unrestricted’ zones, where
an estate, or you were condemned to the free zone. After the
crime and poverty were rife, and public services are minimal.
plague, the distinction between the developed countries and
Schools and shops began to be resisted so that excursions
the third world became less significant. After a plague in 2015,
outside the estate are rarely necessary. Within protected estates,
which culled 7-10% of the male population in every European
crime rates among adults fell almost to zero. Some estates went
country, the way people lived became forever changed. With
as far as banning cars, which had to be kept in a multi-storey park
intruders now seen as a source of disease as well as crime, the
inside the main gate. Parents could once more allow their small
middle classes seized on the new menace of plague as a pretext
children to roam freely around the villages or estates. Throughout
for protecting their estates against the underclass. Many people 4
now live on enclosed estates with restricted access. Membership of your home estate give you access rights to estates. However, the underclass, including anyone convicted of a serious offence, are obliged to live in the so-called `free’ or `unrestricted’ zones, where crime and poverty were rife, and public services are minimal. And if the plague of 2015 wasnt enough, towards the end of 2015, London was dealt another blow.
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The Flood of 2015
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On the evening of October 4th, a large North Sea tidal surge,
Emergency was declared. The surge continued its way up the
coupled with an unusually high tide lead to the flooding of
river gathering speed and power as it destroyed and submerged
great swathes of central London. The surge traveled mercilessly
places such as the O2 Arena and Canary Wharf, killing thousands
down England’s East Coast and into the Thames Estuary.
of people. Electricity and gass lines then had to be cut to avoid
Overwhelming the Barrier, torrents of water poured into the
fires breaking out leading to further problems.
city. The Prime Minister activated the flood protocol which would leave to the evacuation of London. However, millions of people couldn’t leave the city because of major traffic problems spread throughout the city, and it wasn’t long before a State of 7
Image taken from movie - “FLOOD” - 2007
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Evacuation proved too late for many and the city has never fully recovered. It proved to be the catalyst which would forever divide the classes in London and lead to large parts of the city, simply being abandoned.
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The surge passed into the residential part of London, flooding homes, flats and other buildings. Finding its way into the underground and drainage. On the surface, drains and manholes exploded under the pressure of the water that seeps beneath them, sending people and cars into the air.
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With many parts of the city simply being abandoned by the public for higher pastures, large walls were erected around the abandoned zones so the clean up and reconstruction could begin. But a mixture of red tape, political changes and financial problems lead to some zones simply being left to rot. Furthermore, many have become home to some less than desirable members of society.
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Many side streets and back alleys remain untouched and as they were the day of the flood, however many have become clogged in decaying urban clutter. They have become windows into life before the flood but have become reminiscent of many run down areas of Russia.
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Parts of the city were simply patched back together leading to stark contrasts of old and new architecture with many first and second floors of buildings abandoned for fear of further flooding, so a lot of the new building work began from the second floor up.
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Post Flood City
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In the aftermath of the surge, looting, violence, and other criminal
But many have since argued the government should have
activity became serious problems. With most of the attention of
concentrated on residential redevelopment first. Only now in
the authorities focused on rescue efforts, the security in London
2035 are the population numbers getting close to what they
degraded quickly. Most of the major roads travelling into and
were at the turn of the century.
out of the city were damaged and it took a long time for any kind of order to be re-established. Once the major transport routs had been fixed the clean up was remarkably fast. Cleanup was arranged in order of financial and historical significance. 19
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The charges for cars in central London became so expensive by 2020 that the demand on public transport in London began to choke the city’s infrastructure, while a number of extra underground lines had been built, their simply wasn’t enough room to dig any more wholes under the city. The solution was a mixed underground and monorail system, which utilised many of the roads that were no longer jammed with traffic.
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Early 21st century issues including global warming and rising energy bills inspired a series of solutions that utilised the large open spaces between and on top of buildings throughout many cities’ approaching the mid 21st century.
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Both solar and wind power had become commonly used in many homes and business as fuel prices began to asphyxiate the economy. By 2030 solar technology had become a common sight on many roof tops. London especially was noted to have a glistening quality when seen from the air with light reflecting of thousands of panels.
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As part of the restoration effort post 2015 flood, many tube stations now adorned large glass roofs in an attempt to make them more open and calm. Although know body said it, many people believed it was done to make the new stations as far from the old ones as possible. Many of the images of flooded tube stations, which had been packed with evening commuters still haunted many people.
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Technology
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With increasing robotization of factories, the industrial working
People are still concerned with how they present themselves,
class shrank to under 5% of the workforce, a level comparable
both in physical space and in cyberspace. The fraction of
with the agricultural sector. By 2020, almost all work belonged
the income that people spend on personal presentation has
to the sector of information and social services, and could be
increased steadily throughout the century. As it became easier
performed through a videophone link. In 2030, human skills and
to satisfy material needs, people began to focus more on what
creativity still dominated many professions, and there were still
and who they are in relation to others.
influential people who claimed that they always would. Ownership of land and physical resources still matter, but even more significant is the ownership of intellectual property, including intellectual property that had been generated by intelligent computers rather than people. 29
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Much of the architecture, be it the pavement, walls, advertisements, even the vending machines have some degree of interaction or visual medium, displaying information or services. Many can also be used by the public to display their own information if needed, however more often than not the public utilise public booths or surfaces created solely for the use for people to use to display information in a larger scale from their array personal devices.
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By 2010 many people complained that the huge army of security cameras on almost every street corner infringe on Londoners’ civil liberties, and some critics said they weren’t quite the boon to law enforcement that some people had claimed. Never the less this didn’t hinder the development of more advanced security and monitoring platform. By 2028, the development of autonomous aerial security drones, or A.A.S.D’s for short had lead the creation of a completely mobile security force capable of picking out a person’s face out from a crowed street to perusing individuals without their knowledge .
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Their unique engine noise gave them the nickname, “buzzers”. Fears about society becoming similar to Orwell’s 1984, with Big Brother watching you all the time have long since diminished. The general mentality has become allot like staying in a nudist colony: when everybody is naked, the embarrassment quickly wears off. All the little secrets that people thought were so important quickly faded as peoples standards adapt and they became more tolerant. As long as you’re not doing anything really bad or break the law, you don’t have to worry about.
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Holography had become prolific by 2030. While not the holograms like those in movies or TV shows, these did give the illusion of a 3D object interacting with the world around. Some merely hovered in large open locations for public information announcements, warnings etc. New political views, opinions, policies etc could be constantly stream to the public. But this has only served to put more and more people off politics with 24 hour, saturation campaign from political parties battling for votes out in public for everyone to see.
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But many found a home outside shops or in shop windows selling people all manner of products while towering above them. While these figures looked to be miraculously floating in mid air, they were actually nothing more than a simple projection system, projecting the same image from different angles onto a sheet of highly transparent material.
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Cheap Internet access has transformed economic life. Just as even the poorest families found ways of viewing television at the end of the 20th century, so unemployed people in the free zone manage somehow to connect to the Internet. Further more, large media terminals now grace many street corners just as the red telephone boxes of old. They provide free network access and display all the latest news and events.
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