Improved Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

Information and Communications technology, otherwise known as ICT, is going to be a big deal in the future. In fact, when you think about what cities will look like in 2050, ICT might very well help to shape them. Improvement in these systems will make cities much more capable of handling times of crisis. This might allow them to prepare for natural and other disasters much faster. On top of this, ICT improvement might help them restore services after disasters or storms knock them out of use somehow. New economic zones are already coming out of this. Some countries are even becoming world leaders within the information and communications field, which might result in their economies going through a boom period by 2050.

The Hyperloop

While plans developed by Elon Musk for the Hyperloop are certainly not very good, the actual hyperloop will be part of future cities. Places like Virgin have already developed incredible working models. Thus, we will likely see this and other high-speed rail projects in the coming years. High-speed rail or bullet trains have already been in use in places like Japan for years now. The hyperloop will likely be another step in this direction. Only, the hyperloop will be built underground and supposedly move at hundreds of miles per hour. Thereby cutting travel time down to destinations by an extreme amount. Planes may no longer be required to go from state to state here in the U.S. or nation to nation in places like Europe and Asia. A hyperloop could be employed instead, and potentially be much cheaper too.

Smart Health

As we move forward to the future, we will most certainly see healthcare improvements. Some expect organs to be grown in labs by this point, cutting out the need for donors. That could allow life expectancy to go up dramatically. Yet healthcare overall will improve in how we both diagnose and treat sicknesses. Tech will allow us to also support a person’s well-being. This might be through things like intervention and/or prevention for things like mental health and addiction. Yet it might also be for areas like potential organ damage, where we can keep track of how everything is working and ensure someone is getting the proper treatment.

Renewable Energy

While many of us might use electricity in our homes, that is only possible still due to the burning of coal in most places. Yet we’ve already proven that hydroelectric and nuclear energy are both possible and can be more widespread in the United States. Places like Norway make most of their money through exporting oil but happen to be the “cleanest” nation on Earth. Why? They use wind energy to power most of their cities. Solar energy has also proven to be valuable along with geothermal. Power grids can be hacked and altered, and power plants among other things are only bad for the environment. Why are we not taking advantage of these renewables? Simple, it’s a political thing. Oil, Gas, and Power Companies will lose money when we move in this direction and they have money to pay politicians.

The Rise Of AI

Artificial Intelligence will become one of the most important parts of our society. When you think about what cities will look like in 2050, most of the stuff we think about will be controlled in some form by AI. That does not mean it’ll control everything, but it will certainly assist us with most of the stuff we do. Cities will need AI to be smart and powerful enough to handle complex problems. If today is any indication, our AI is clearly becoming pretty impressive. Again, every single image in this article was generated using AI software. While the author of this article had to alter and use some math to get the images perfect, the AI still did most of the work. Thus proving there will still be a need for humans but AI will still help us keep cities intact.

Where Do We Find this Stuff? Here Are Our Sources:

United Nations

European Union

United States Department of Transportation

National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

Vanderbilt University

USA Today

NBC News

CNN

CBS News

BBC

Wall Street Journal

Scientific American

National Geographic

The Futurist