A standard megastructure is an artificial object that’s created on a massive scale. Many imagined
examples - such as Dyson Spheres - are almost impossible with current technology. However,
one officially proposed megastructure is the Trans-Global Highway which would
link all six populated continents on Earth. But,
if the Trans-Global is built, could we also be heading to something even more impressive?
This is Unveiled and today we’re answering the extraordinary question;
what if humans lived in an ecumenopolis?
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Already, the debate around defining the largest city in the world has more than one answer,
because a city can be understood in more than one way. The United Nations, for example,
considers three key parameters - a city’s geographical borders on the map; the length of
its purely urban areas; and/or the size of its wider metropolitan areas. Some of the largest
cities (or metropolises) in the world today are Tokyo, Delhi, and New York City, but these too
could become part of an even bigger structure called a megalopolis, or supercity - which are,
in essence, multiple cities connected together. But, where does that growth end?
Now, with advancements in technology and an increasing population, more of the world is
urbanized than ever before. So, if this continues, there’s the chance (even likelihood) that one day
in the future we’ll see supercities begin to connect up, as well… until, eventually, possibly,
we’ll just have one supremely large, planet-wide arrangement. This is what’s known - in speculative
fiction but also in genuine scientific prediction - as an ecumenopolis. The term was first coined
by the Greek city planner Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis, in 1967. Back then,
just a few decades ago, the idea might’ve still felt faintly impossible… but not so much, anymore.
An ecumenopolis is an urban structure so massive that it spans the total land
area of an entire planet. In some ways it’s something of an endgame for globalization. And,
thanks largely to the advent of the internet, but also to all manner of other connecting
technologies emerging in recent times (including mass trans-continental travel links) Earth
is better globalized now than it ever has been before. But still, we’re not quite at
ecumenopolis levels just yet. There are still some further changes that we would have to go through.
Although there are undoubtedly challenges with a universal currency, economists have before
predicted that it could one day happen. Were humanity to set its mind to building a true
planet-wide city, then, we might expect it to be built on such a currency. The issue of
a proposed universal language is perhaps much more difficult to imagine and totalitarian to
implement. There’s some debate that a universal language will one day be necessary… and there’s
some debate that we might, actually, already have one, in the forms of mathematics or digital code,
or even emojis. However, whether or not an ecumenopolis would involve (or need) all
residents speaking the same language, all of the time, still seems unlikely. Today’s cities
are alive with thousands of languages as they are, and mostly without any major problems.
Given that language can be such a vital part of individual identity, it could prove that the
best and most efficient ecumenopolis is one that actively preserves some differences within it.
What’s more immediately obvious is that transportation would undergo a revolution,
were we to transform Earth in this way. And there’s some argument that
train travel might be better placed than air travel to serve an ecumenopolis. At present,
and in general, trains are more energy efficient than planes, although there are
of course longer travel times involved. That said, and as difficult as it is to imagine,
were Earth to become an ecumenopolis then there would likely be multiple, physical roads,
tracks and tunnels linking all the different land masses. On-the-ground bridges and freeways across
even the largest oceans. Highways from Europe to America; the southern tip of South America
joined to the east coast of Australia. And all along these incredible roads there would spring
up new towns and settlements on artificial islands, built to serve travelers. Again,
then, life in this alternate reality might not need air travel quite so much as we do now.
It’s one aspect of the wider, probably most significant problem of all when picturing
an ecumenopolis: energy. How would such an eye-wateringly massive city generate the power
needed to run itself? We know that fossil fuels run out, and that they cause pollution… so green
living would have to be at the heart of any successful city-planet. Nuclear energy has
its possibilities, but were an entire planet to run off of it then the immense heat byproduct
(and long term nuclear waste) could adversely turn Earth into an unlivable place. Of all the
options currently available, perhaps solar panels would be our best bet. The entire world would be
fitted with them… on all buildings, across all expanses of water, possibly even on all machines
and even objects - including clothing. And, of course, if we could build a Dyson Sphere
up there to reliably harvest and channel the sun’s energy to us, then all the better.
We would never survive on only that, though. With widespread solar panels we could quickly turn our
world into some kind of shimmering, metallic ball of blatant industry and nothing else. But,
in doing so, we’d die off anyway. A working ecumenopolis would need all that stuff to
run - roads and pylons and solar generators - but would also require green space just as much.
First and foremost to sustain oxygen levels, for agriculture, and to clean out the air. But
even were we to invent more machines that could do that, instead… we also know that nature inspires a
number of other benefits. Studies show that time in gardens and other natural spaces can quicken
healing in patients, reduce stress and violence in the community, improve concentration levels,
happiness levels, our sense of self, and more. And clearly these would all be hugely
important factors to consider when maintaining such a massive city; if the people within it can’t
breathe clean air, or if they can’t enjoy their lives... then, eventually, that city could fall.
What do you think would be the most important factor for an ecumenopolis? If you were mayor of
this town, effectively the leader of Earth, what would you focus most of your time on achieving?
Certainly, for us as we are, there’s a long way to go between now and this particular future
time. Estimates vary, but it’s thought that an ecumenopolis in full swing could be home
to more than a trillion people - at least. Even at current population growth rates,
it’s not like we’ll be needing one right away. However, if society was to evolve like this, then
Earth as we know it would gradually disappear. We’d have housing on the ocean; a belt of solar
panels along the equator; cross-country railroads from London to Los Angeles;
regional councils spanning whole continents; universal currencies and perhaps even the removal
of national and political borders. Total trust and cooperation all over the map, potentially.
Today, comfortably more than half of the people on Earth live in urban environments;
in the future, it could be all of us as standard. If nothing else,
consider the light and power that could be blazing out of our world, and into the rest of space,
if this were to happen. Earth would be lit up like never before and, indeed, some astronomers
do already look for ecumenopolises when searching for alien life. As technosignatures go,
this is the big one… but that’s what would happen if humans lived in an ecumenopolis.
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these other
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