The reading discusses various examples of sci-fi migratory cities in fictitious films. However, as all films do, the phenomena could be explained by societal desires and anxieties.
Using one example, the Walker City in Flood (2009) was a mobile “self-contained mini-city” supported by advanced heavy machinery that allowed it to move on and roam the catastrophically-devastated post-global climate change Earth, constantly scavenging for food and resources for its residents. The tale brings forward the realistic fear of reallife city-dwellers, as symptoms of climate change bit-by-bit propels cities in our very real-lives to transform. The air temperature gets higher and higher each summer, winters get shorter, sea-levels rise and water resources become more and more depleted over a majority of cities around the world. It wasn’t until the around last fifty years someone started to coin the term “green city” and governments, engineers and architects would decide to reconstruct the city more sustainably. Without the signal of an upcoming climate change, we might not have the motivation (or at least governments wouldn’t promote) to install solar panels on our rooftops, build wind turbines all over plains, or construct hydroelectric dams over all possible waterways. Ever since birth, cities have been evolving day-by-day to meet the needs of inhabitants, yet climate change seems to be unstoppable and worsens day-by-day as well. The Walker City would provide an insight to a city at the ultimate of its evolution, as it struggles to keep itself functioning while never giving-up on its own life.
Chan Long Hei
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