Dubai: City of the future

Dubai is slated to be at the spearhead of the futuristic cities by 2030

In a riveting display of artificial intelligence and technology, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, arrived on the opening day of the World Government Summit, a hi-octane event as a 3D hologram and addressed the audience on a seven-point programme already a work in progress.
The 'I am here, but I am not' initiative underscored Dubai's clear intent to be the functioning City of the Future while others are still experimenting in miniature models. He also predicted that there would be over 500 billion AI devices functioning by 2050, but Dubai is way in front.
He said the city that has already been called a miracle in the desert would have redesigned systems so that any requirement for a resident would not take more than 20 minutes to accomplish. This could include medical aid, sustenance, support missions, online shopping and delivery and destination options.
Mobility would be dramatically changed so that commuting timings are reduced by as much as 80 per cent. Artificial intelligence will run systems and ensure energy efficiency. Horizontal and vertical farms will eliminate hunger and food scarcity will be a state of the past.
These farms are positioned as a balanced mix with farms, working areas and housing to improve the living conditions for the inhabitants. This is done by means of ramps that climb shops, an encouragement for the recycle factory and, as a result, every home has the ability to produce.
Cities will be so user-friendly as to attract talent globally because of the lifestyle edge and governments will be overhauled to seek solutions through partnerships.
Dubai has already begun its upgrade, being fortunate enough in its relative youthfulness to have capacity for an upgrade of its present infrastructure since it is easier to create a new city from the first 'brick' upwards than remodel an old one. Dubai has space, the intent and the wherewithal to set the standard for the world.
According to Peter H. Diamandis Greek American engineer, physician, and entrepreneur best known for being the founder and chairman of the X Prize Foundation, co-founder and executive chairman of Singularity University, as much as 25 per cent of new Dubai housing should be '3D'printed so ahead of the game is it.
A new city like Dubai will look more and more like it came from a sci-fi movie because it has that inbuilt capability to expand, add and absorb. It also has the mindset to make a change. The transformation will be the most rapid in the history of the world.
The city has laid out 2021 goals that include making one in four mass transit vehicles automated and driverless. In another two years, several thousand artificial trees will use solar power to create free Wi-Fi, screens with mapping information, and ports for charging phones.
This revolution does not stop here. Passenger drones and auto-pods will soon appear on the roadways capable of carrying individuals to their ports of call, and by next year Dubai will be in the top ten sustainable cities of the world.
In something that is no longer a scenario from a sci-fi movie and as automated transportation takes over 'traditional' cars will be gradually made illegal. This will remove the need for parking lots, garages and street parking. The land freed by this option will offer more flexibility in upgrading the systems.
Traffic lights will become redundant. In strategic places will be a Hyperloop like the one designed by Tesla and SpaceX, this mode of passenger and/or freight transportation functions as an open-source vactrain (or vacuum tube train) with maglev (magnetic levitation) capability to reach superspeeds.
Dubai may be small in size, but her dreams are big, and her reality even bigger.

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