Why Sci-Fi Cities Always Get It Wrong

Futuristic cities look cool but most of them are unlivable. From Blade Runner to Cyberpunk to Coruscant, science fiction keeps showing us urban dystopias but rarely cities you’d actually want to live in. In this deep dive, we explore why sci-fi cities get urban design so wrong and what it tells us about our real future. Watch to the end for a vision of future cities that could actually work. 📚 References Alexander, C. (1977). A Pattern Language. Oxford University Press. Graham, S. (2011). Cities Under Siege: The New Military Urbanism. Verso. Harvey, D. (2008). The Right to the City. New Left Review. Jencks, C. (2005). The Iconic Building: The Power of Enigma. Frances Lincoln. Lynch, K. (1960). The Image of the City. MIT Press. Scott, J. C. (1998). Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. Yale University Press. Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. PublicAffairs. 📍 Chapters 00:00 – Intro 00:33 – Why Sci-Fi Cities Look Amazing but Feel Empty 00:59 – Blade Runner’s Urban Nightmare 01:27 – Coruscant: No Ground, No Life 01:51 – Cyberpunk Cities: Shiny but Broken 02:17 – Sky Cities and the Problem with Vertical Design 02:48 – The Good: Sci-Fi Cities That Work 03:14 – Efficiency Isn’t Enough 03:32 – The Disappearing Commons 03:50 – Sci-Fi Cities as Warnings 04:08 – What Future Cities Should Actually Look Like #UrbanDesign #SciFiCities #CityPlanning #UrbanDecode #movie #cyberpunk2077 #marvel #bladerunner #cinema