urbanism

Welcome to Xanadu, the (foam) house of the future

Throughout the 1980s, tourists flocked to the Xanadu House, a futuristic home in Kissimmee, Florida. This domestic pleasure dome was made of polyurethane and filled with “friendly computer servants.” In 1983, the Xanadu House in Kissimmee opened to visitors. A previous Xanadu home had opened in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin in 1979. Bob Masters, one of…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 24

The (Literal) Street Art Of Japanese Manhole Covers

In Japan, 95% of the 1,780 municipalities boast unique manhole covers showcasing historical events and local color. Photographer Remo Camerota has captured the Japanese proclivity to place this public art underfoot. In his new book Drainspotting Camerota explains why common sewer covers are dolled up so resplendently: In Japan, all objects are created with an…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 16

Atomurbia: The Most Spaced Out Neighborhood In America

In 1947, Life magazine published an article on how to atomic bomb-proof America: by spreading the entire population across the nation checkerboard style and burying all industry underground. The cost in 2010 money? $5 trillion. [via Ptak Science Books]

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 9

The Secret Underwater City In The Heart Of Minnesota

A parody site created back in the 1990s claims there’s a giant underwater city within “the crystal clear waters of the Minnesota River.” And people have been visiting from as far away as Texas to discover the Atlantis of Minnesota. I love the “official Mankato, MN web page“, which was created in 1996 by Don…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Apr 20

10 Weirdest Urban Ecosystems On Earth

Cities are havens for weirdness. From communities built around garbage to dogs that ride the subway, urban environments have fostered all manner of weird patterns. Here are the 10 freakiest urban ecosystems on the planet. The other day, we showed you the Kowloon Walled City — a bizarre, super-dense development that arose as an accident…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Apr 16

The Walled City Where Sunlight Couldn’t Reach

A dystopian megacity, in which buildings merge together to become a single solid block, is the stuff of science fiction — but it already happened, in Hong Kong. The Kowloon Walled City was packed so tightly, it became an arcology. Kowloon Walled City arose out of a weird circumstance in the treaty between the Brits…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Apr 8

Excavations Begin on Syria’s 7000-Year-Old Metropolis, Known As “Zaidan”

The prehistoric cultures of Mesopotamia gave rise to literacy, bureaucracy, agriculture, and modern cities. And now a nearly-untouched city in Syria will give us a peek at what urban life was like 7000 years ago in the so-called Ubaid period. The remains of a city called Tell Zaidan, or just Zaidan, are located in northern…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 6

This Vast Ocean City Was Supposed To Be Our Salvation, But It Could Be Your Tomb

In the near future, we’ll all live in tightly packed arcologies, including ocean cities — where we’ll shoot at each other and fire rocket launchers in the air. This gorgeous “seagoing eco-city” comes from the first-person shooter Brink. https://gizmodo.com/is-this-the-beginnings-of-the-first-megacity-5412939 In a new blog post, Lead Writer Ed Stern explains how the writings of BLDGBlog writer…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Mar 8

Los Angeles Is More Science Fictional City Than New York, Says Charlie Huston

Charlie Huston‘s new novel Sleepless is the most science-fictional thing he’s ever written. And he partly credits the influence of moving from New York to Los Angeles, because L.A. is a more science-fictional city. Let the debate begin! In Sleepless, a weird epidemic of insomnia overtakes the world, and as people go for months without…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Jan 21

The Future of Vancouver Takes Shape

In the misty distance is the gleaming sphere of Science World, and in the foreground is Vancouver’s ultra-green Olympic Village, which planners say will hold 16,000 people by 2020. They’ll eat food grown on roofs and drink reclaimed rainwater. The village is located in the heart of Vancouver. Here are some of the green features…

io9 Annalee Newitz Nov 11

A Bicycle Superhighway With Timed Lights for Copenhagen

Copenhagen is already one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world, with 55% of its citizens riding a bicycle daily. Now the question is how to get commuters from outlying areas biking too. The answer is the bicycle superhighway. Local pro-bike blog Copenhagenize reports that the city is planning a series of super bicycle…

io9 Annalee Newitz Sep 17

Bruce Sterling And Jeff VanderMeer Offer 2 Lessons On How To Build A Science-Fictional City

Science-fiction fans and writers, alike, tend to think of cities in too simplistic a fashion. Quotes from The Caryatids author Bruce Sterling and City Of Saints And Madmen author Jeff VanderMeer explain how you should really view urban infrastructure. Bruce Sterling, interviewed by Slashdot’s readers in 1999, says that what we think of as community…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Sep 17

Welcome to the Future Metropolis

Cities contain highly-concentrated human activity. That’s why they represent our glorious, high-tech future – and threaten us with dystopian social collapse. This week on io9, our Future Metro section explores the wonder of cities in fiction, art, and real life. One of the most haunting images from recent science fiction is the garbage city where…

io9 Annalee Newitz Sep 14

Is The Bike City An Alternate Universe, Or A Glimpse Of Your Urban Future?

Amsterdam is the future – if you think that cities devoted to bicycle transportation are the next step in urban evolution. Over the past two days I’ve been exploring Amsterdam, a city known for its unconventional transportation network. People get around scooters, motorized bicycles, cars, and even on canal boats, using canals mostly built during…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 13

The Most Fantastical Cities On Earth, As Chosen By Ursula K. Le Guin And Michael Moorcock

Their books take you to strange cities from other planets, alternate histories and mythical realms. But what real-life cities inspire Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Moorcock, Nalo Hopkinson and China Miéville? The SharedWorlds project found out, with fascinating results. The SharedWorlds project sends teens on a two-week camp focusing on science fiction and fantasy, at…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Jun 17

The Same Cityscape According To Star Trek And Terminator Salvation

Mega-nerd Protohiro compared screenshots of the exact same view of San Francisco from the Star Trek and Terminator Salvation trailers. Here’s Trek’s super-bright, super-big Frisco. Click through to see Terminator’s gloomy, Skynet-infested version. https://gizmodo.com/star-treks-future-san-francisco-would-never-get-past-th-5169270 Here’s the bleak post-Judgment Day version: It’s pretty striking to see the exact same shot as portrayed in two very different…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders May 12

Star Trek’s Future San Francisco Would Never Get Past The Board Of Supervisors

Most people saw the massive cityscape in the new Star Trek trailer, and drooled. But not San Francisco activists, who’ve battled to keep mega-buildings out. Did Starfleet scrap our zoning laws? They ask. [SFIst]

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Mar 13

The Cities Bloomed with Mushroom Tops That Drank the Sun

Cities whose power comes from the sun must grow into these organic shapes. Homes cling like fungus to tall, fat stalks, and solar panels stretch awkwardly open above each neighborhood. These concept designs are by TROPICOOL @ KL, and emulate the several layers of a tropical forest, with the canopy flying high over the rest…

io9 Annalee Newitz Feb 11

Forget The Shiny Toys — Urban Transit Will Go Low-Rent

Whenever public planning types talk about urban transportation’s future, they always discuss light rail or tiny electric yuppie-mobiles. But future urbanites will really get around in the cheapest, most low-overhead manner possible. It seems like every day, we come across about the “city car of the future.” It’s usually lightweight and next-gen, with an electric…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jan 22

Remains of a 1500-Year-Old City Uncovered in Amazonian Jungle

A 1500-year-old Amazonian city, full of artificial lakes, large public plazas, and agricultural regions (including fish farms), is being excavated and mapped for the first time in modern memory. Until recently, the remains of the ancient city had been almost completely hidden by jungle. A group of Brazilian and U.S. researchers report in tomorrow’s issue…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 28

Welcome to Xanadu, the (foam) house of the future

The (Literal) Street Art Of Japanese Manhole Covers

Atomurbia: The Most Spaced Out Neighborhood In America

The Secret Underwater City In The Heart Of Minnesota

10 Weirdest Urban Ecosystems On Earth

The Walled City Where Sunlight Couldn’t Reach

Excavations Begin on Syria’s 7000-Year-Old Metropolis, Known As “Zaidan”

This Vast Ocean City Was Supposed To Be Our Salvation, But It Could Be Your Tomb

Los Angeles Is More Science Fictional City Than New York, Says Charlie Huston

The Future of Vancouver Takes Shape

A Bicycle Superhighway With Timed Lights for Copenhagen

Bruce Sterling And Jeff VanderMeer Offer 2 Lessons On How To Build A Science-Fictional City

Welcome to the Future Metropolis

Is The Bike City An Alternate Universe, Or A Glimpse Of Your Urban Future?

The Most Fantastical Cities On Earth, As Chosen By Ursula K. Le Guin And Michael Moorcock

The Same Cityscape According To Star Trek And Terminator Salvation

Star Trek’s Future San Francisco Would Never Get Past The Board Of Supervisors

The Cities Bloomed with Mushroom Tops That Drank the Sun

Forget The Shiny Toys — Urban Transit Will Go Low-Rent

Remains of a 1500-Year-Old City Uncovered in Amazonian Jungle

Somehow Paramount’s ‘Avatar’ Movie Has Leaked, Too

The World Is Basically Begging for Another iPod

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

OpenAI Says Elon Musk Is ‘Injecting Chaos’ with Recent Legal Maneuver

Google Displayed Polymarket Bets as News ‘In Error,’ Google Says

‘Marvel Rivals’ Wants to Start Being More Than Just a Hero Shooter

‘How Do We Make Sure That Claude Behaves Itself?’: Anthropic Invited 15 Christians for a Summit

See the Next ‘Hunger Games’ in This Trip Down Memory Lane

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

Let us help find what you are looking for...