REPRESENTATIONS of the URBAN FUTURE



The urban environment was born in conjunction with the industrial revolution. Its initial form provided poor living standards. People lived in congested spaces. Work environments were extremely hazardous. Pollution littered the streets, the air and the water. The urban environment squandered in unsanitary conditions that harvested disease. It continued to grow despite these negative effects. It has developed at a rate unprecedented by anything else in the history of civilizations. In under 200 years it has evolved from a concentrated event in Europe to a global phenomenon. In 2007, for the first time in history, one out of every two people on earth will be living in an urban environment. Its scope and nature render it impossible to entirely comprehend. Its condition in the present and future is something left to the imagination. The primary currents of this speculation are surfaced in film through its representations of the urban future.
"In 2007 for the first time in history
one out of every two people on earth
will be living in a city"
(Vieira)