Fresh Curd

So, I spent some time on the bus ride home last night, thinking about the City. I don't really have an answer to the question, just a series of questions that I had to ponder on the way to discovering that I had no answer. I was trying not to be too swayed by the multitude of sci-fi books that I've read. So... here's what I thought.

What will the City of the Future look like? Part of it depends on the people who live there. Will people still live in the City? Or will they just commute to work from the Ring of Suburbia? Or will all the jobs move out of the city, so that the traditional commute is reversed? Will people be able to afford to live in the City, or will housing be limited to the very rich and the very poor, even more so than it is now? Will people own real estate, or will everything be controlled by the government and/or corporations? Will there still be parks and playfields? Gardens? Public spaces? Privacy?

Will cities even exist in the future? Will threats of terrorism, disease, and/or warfare make it dangerous and illegal to have such a concentration of people? Or will cities become the *only* places people can live, for more efficient use of dwindling natural resources?

How will people get around? Will we start exploiting the airspace above the streets, with hovercrafts or more sophisticated elevated trains? Will people ever completely buy in to public mass transit, or will we simply find new ways of making private vehicles the staple transportation mode? Or will the concern about obesity in America lead to a mandate that everyone has to walk or bicycle everywhere?

Will the City of the Future still be a center for entertainment and the arts? Will the divide grow between the commercial and independent art and music industries, such that one takes over the suburbs and the city is left with the other? Will city people regularly come together for group socialization/therapy, or will they seek elusive solitude in meditation?

That's all I managed to come up with by the end of the bus ride. Sorry it's not more opinionated; I have a tough time deciding how I think things will turn out.