Following publication of the CIC’s Built Environment 2050 report, the National Space Centre has come up with its own take on what the UK’s major cities will look like in 2050, producing these visualisations complete with commercial spaceports and futuristic transport hubs.
Leicester’s National Space Centre worked with 3D visualisation specialist Real Visual to produce the images, which represent a future just 30 years hence, when the era of commercial space travel that is just taking hold today is flourishing.
The visualisation of London features a huge wheel-shaped space port that dwarfs Tower Bridge and straddles the Thames, while Manchester is depicted with space craft swooping in and out of a large circular space port. Cardiff, Glasgow and Leicester are also given futuristic makeovers.
Glasgow now (top) and visualised in 2050
Real Visual, known for its work producing simulated 3D environments for real life construction projects, was asked to reimagine the five cityscapes as part of a promotion for the new sci-fi video game Destiny.
The National Space Centre was asked for insights on what the future of space flight might be like and these ideas fed into the cityscape images, said the Centre’s education presenter Josh Barker.
He explained: “As people become more comfortable with [space] technology, it will move nearer to where they live and work. As the business of space travel changes we see new markets open up and some countries are beginning to invest in frameworks to support the commercialisation and future accessibility of space travel.”
Although they seem improbable, many of the ideas explored in the visualisations are already being planned, he added: “Requests for ultra-cheap reusable space planes, short haul tourist flights to the edge of space and asteroid mining are all possibilities being talked about today, which open up great possibilities for us to continue to explore our universe.
Cardiff, before and after
“Suborbital flight could be used to provide tourists a voyage into space and may even become a replacement to commercial jet liners as a suborbital flight can travel long distances much quicker. And reusable and multipurpose space planes will hopefully be a huge part of future space travel as this will help to reduce the cost of space exploration,” Barker added.
Destiny, developed by Bungie and published by Activision, launched earlier this month and is billed as a groundbreaking MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game).
The game is set 700 years in the future in a universe where humans have spread out and colonised planets in the solar system, but a mysterious event, known as “The Collapse”, saw the dissolution of these colonies, with mankind teetering on the brink of extinction.
The Construction Industry Council did its own bit of future gazing earlier this month with the publication of the BIM 2050 report looking at the future impact of digital technologies on the sector’s operations and workforce, predicting “auto-procurement”, self-assembling structures and self-healing materials.
London, before and after
