Speculative City
Only a few years from now, it becomes apparent that due to torrential rains and flooding, the sea level is rising faster than the world can try to recover. So instead of trying to heal their land, governments across the world focus their efforts on creating evacuation plans to get people to safe locations before the surface is submerged. Many of them opt to relocate the population to a cluster of small “floating cities”, which are built on elevated platforms as high above the ground as their resources allow. However, these measures are only temporarily effective. Over the decades, the sea level would continue to rise and threaten the survival of these cities.
Karachi’s population is also relocated to these man-made islands. Residents live in tall apartment buildings, but employment opportunities are limited, depending on the island they were assigned to. Most people act as factory or office workers. Each factory manufactures some basic necessities and one or two other items exclusive to that island, which they trade with surrounding islands. Each city is powered by hydroelectricity and the main form of transport is bicycles.
Air pollution continues to be a massive issue as the small cities are usually overcome by the fumes of their respective factories. Since the island is crowded and completely concrete, vegetation is scarce. Most plants are cultivated on either rooftops or very small patches on the ground so there is less oxygen in the air. The city is grimy and in disrepair as little importance is given to maintaining cleanliness and municipal management.
