The city of 2050

Thinking about what life might be like in the future is always an interesting topic for our students. They are the ones who will be designing and building the technology we will use, the cities we will live in, and the societies that will exist.

This BBC website has a page that "takes a look through the crystal ball to imagine what city life might be like in 40 years' time."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23524249

A large graphic is displayed, with various features labelled. You click each picture to read a short description of the feature. These features are:

• Delivery drones
• Farmscrapers
• Smart networks
• Smart buildings
• Shopping
• Sensor networks
• Urban spaces
• Human network
• Robo-texis
• Living street lights

Each description includes a picture, and is short enough to use for lower-level students. It would be interesting for more advanced students to choose one of these features and add more information (either through research or according to their own ideas).

Groups in different areas of engineering could also focus on those features they feel will be related to their current or future professional field.