The forest-inspired cities of the future

Humans. Beings descended from apes. Beings who developed their own culture, began to understand the natural world. Began to realize the principles of the Universe. We now have cities. We now have control of our own future, well, sort of. But humans still long for the rain forests that we once roamed in. Studies have shown that greenery in offices make employees less stressed out. The familiar greenery, the familiar plants; humans still long for them.

We live in urban areas now. Be it slums or cities, more and more people are migrating to areas of high population density. The best cities have good infrastructure and tall skyscrapers.

And what better model for skyscrapers than the tree? What better model for cities than the rain forests that we once live in? The big difference lies here; while we used to be large creatures living among the branches of trees about 2 to 20 times our size, we shall, in future, live in trees about 200 times our size. As the "water" of the trees.

The roads, pavements, walkways are the roots of the trees. The lifts, the well, are the xylem and phloem. The corridors are the branches and our offices the leaves, where all the work gets done. All that is needed is to devise a system to deliver food (directly synthesized from soil) and furniture through pipes, make our living spaces more "organic" in design, and employ "green technology". The paints on the wall will not be conventional paints; they convert the unreflected light into voltage. The laminated plastic-glass walls have nanomachines in them that purify the air, transpiring noxious gases. At the tips are flowers and fruits, a metaphor for communal spaces where we interact, work, play, create. Should we need any quick transportation, recyclable, reliable parachutes provide a quick means down.

Each space will be unique, each with its own quality. All the factors; sunlight, space, atmosphere will affect the space and structure of every space. Every piece of furniture is custom-designed to your wishes. You design the furniture you want; the computer designs the furniture. Out of a vessel comes a seed, and you place it in your room. It latches onto the wall or floor of your room, and incubates; grows. In the course of a day, you have the furniture you want. Should you decide to get rid of it, throw it into the Bin room; bacteria designed to recognize the NanoID/DNA of your furniture decomposes it in an instant.

By night; here is what you see; the dull cream or orange glow from cell-shaped rooms. The reddish or bluish bloom from the flower-shaped communal spaces. Tiny lights coming and going, in a strange network of roads; these are the cars of commuters.

To build such a skyscraper, all you need is a seed, sunlight and water. And people to live in.

Yes, the future is exciting.