The history of urban civilisation shows that the city changes as society evolves. Here is how citizens' lifestyles will transform our metropolises.
The city has already lived through the day the first bus pulled out of a depot in place of the horse-drawn omnibus, the day the first electric street lamp was switched on and the oil lamps were switched off, the day houses were fitted with indoor plumbing and the streets were cleared of open sewers. The history of urban civilisation shows that the city changes as society evolves, along with the people who inhabit it. Citizens' lifestyles will continue to reshape our metropolises, consigning many of their negative aspects to history.
Cities have changed in order to be functional, efficient and healthy, but have never altered their identity. The city of the future, at least the foreseeable one, will not be so different from today's — it will simply be smarter, capable of meeting and accommodating the needs and lifestyles of its inhabitants.
The technological heart at the service of citizens is the true engine of change. Technology will enable a dialogue between new forms of sharing and society; it will act as a binding agent between innovations in architecture and mobility, helping to overcome logistical difficulties and the challenge of sustainable resource consumption. It does not matter if, in order to get there, we have to leave behind certain aspects of the contemporary metropolis — many of them we certainly won't miss.
What was once imagined at the dawn of television series and science-fiction films is already happening today. Cars that run on water (hydrogen) exist and work perfectly. The exhaust of fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) emits only water vapour, with no other polluting substances. Pneumatic waste collection is a system in common use in English-speaking countries and northern Europe, and is beginning to gain ground in some Italian municipalities as well. This type of waste sorting starts from public or communal "bins"; air pressure drives the waste through ducts into a collection facility that is emptied by the refuse service.
The sense of taste will be rediscovered through local flavours, traditional dishes and seasonal produce sold at organic markets. In the future, greenhouses and urban allotments will have taken the place of degraded land and reclaimed fertile soil from urban sprawl. A purely Italian example is Miraorti, the project that is regenerating Turin's historic industrial area through urban farming programmes.
Fibre optic cables will run beneath our homes, while car parks will all be underground — hidden away — allowing us to once again appreciate the views and most beautiful vistas of our country. The number of Italian municipalities that have adopted underground car park solutions is considerable; somewhat fewer have opted for automated underground parking. Here the cinematic analogy fits perfectly: vehicles are left by the owner on a street-level platform, which uses a mechanical arm to "park" the car in the first available underground space.
We will forget the noise of car horns and traffic, and return to appreciating the sounds of nature and city life, thanks to the near-silent hybrid cars or hydrogen-powered cars and the development of sustainable mobility, and why not, self-driving cars.
Bluetooth and wi-fi data transmission will activate household appliances and regulate domestic energy consumption. The smart home is the product of this technology. Solar panels and wi-fi connectivity for televisions and computers are being superseded by smart fridges that alert us when products are approaching their expiry date, by bioplastic LED lamps, by heating systems that activate only when people are present, and by cloud-connected appliances.