Research and analysis

Future of cities: a visual history of the future

Report exploring the ways future cities have been depicted in print and on film over the last 100 years.

Documents

A visual history of the future (WP14)

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email contact@go-science.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

Depictions of future cities can play an important role in shaping our thinking on cities and our future urban strategies. This report explores the ways future cities have been depicted over the last 100 years and considers what these depictions sought to communicate and why. Its aim is to identify and understand the types of cities visions which have had the most influence on UK cities.

This working paper was commissioned as part of the Foresight future of cities project.

Illustration of a future Paris by Eugène Hénard

Eugène Hénard, 'The Cities of The Future', published in American City, January 1911.

Published 25 September 2014