Earthism as a religion, canals through Piccadilly Circus, gene editing on the NHS: Chatham House's next century for London
Always looking for tools whereby a sense of “the future is in your hands” can be generated, and enacted. We’ve just found a great example of future-tools in this Chatham House exercise in forecasting the future of Piccadilly Circus in London, taking four great leaps into the early 22nd century, using Storyscaping technology:
Piccadilly Circus 2035 depicts an urban environment adapted to meet emission reduction goals and to serve people rather than commerce and cars. Storytelling benches use augmented reality to make new human connections, while aspects of a wellbeing economy have taken root.
Piccadilly Circus 2060 imagines a city adapting to rising sea levels, bisected by new canals that support water transport and floating venues. Powered by efficient renewable energy, it’s a world transformed culturally as much as physically, with insect-based snacks on sale and an economy evolved around principles of upcycling, upgrading and exchange.
Piccadilly Circus 2090 is an environment shaped by vertical farms, giant energy and lighting structures, new religious identities and flying ‘sky barge’ homes.
Piccadilly Circus 2121 is part of a world positively transformed by artificial intelligence, where low gravity marketing pods simulate Lunar and Martian lifestyles, buildings shapeshift to accommodate varying use, and pedestrians traverse the space in highly adaptive and expressive AI clothing.
Chatham House encourage input and critique of these scenarios, at the Twitter hashtag #CHfuturescapelondon. We’ll respond with some tweets, their text is below:
#CHfuturescapelondon 2035: we’re fascinated by your assumptions that there will be a retail/consumerist response the limits imposed by emission reduction goals. What else is a great city for than just shopping?
#CHfuturescapelondon 2060: seems plausible that the tidal overrunning of London will compel the shift to “upcycling, upgrading & exchange”. The new eco-citizens that now occupy the old money towers—where have they come from?
#CHfuturescapelondon 2090: we like the idea that a new religious “Earthism” emerges, to make sense of the permanent adaptation demanded by a climate that’s passed the tipping point. Might there also be less beatific reactions? Elites defending their right to the best conditions?
#CHfuturescapelondon 2121: this shapeshifting, AI-driven London assumes that warming has left us in a zone of habitability. Also, that off-worldism follows a tourist urge. Perhaps Cosmism, instead? Stewards of a stable but broken planet, wanting to secure our existence elsewhere?
