Cities of the future: reimagined

Urban planners are converging on a new template for the mid-century city: dense, transit-anchored districts that produce much of their own energy and treat housing, mobility and climate adaptation as one integrated system.

Pilot districts on three continents now pair district-scale geothermal and rooftop solar with mandates that new construction be retrofit-ready. Early data suggest per-capita emissions in these districts run 60 per cent below their metropolitan averages, at living costs comparable to conventional development.

The harder question is retrofit: the overwhelming majority of 2050's urban fabric already exists. The most closely watched experiments are therefore not new districts but block-by-block conversions of ageing postwar housing stock.