Real world inspiration and designing the future map of Earth.
In the world of 2220 nation states no longer exist. There is no Finland, Sweden, Somalia, or Thailand. Nor are there local federations such as Russia, United States or European Union. Instead the world is divided into federations of ideology and common purpose, and cities from all continents can belong into the same union, while their neighboring cities belong to a different Faction. Of course, languages, cultures, and cities have not disappeared.
Designing the future map of Earth, I tried to make sure to include all the biggest cities that we have now – unless they had somehow been destroyed in the meanwhile. I was surprised by how many of the most populous cities were in Asia, but made sure to also include locations based on other criteria, such as how much UNESCO world heritage sites they contain, or how hi-tech they are seen to be. Africa and South America are often overlooked in sci-fi, but even today there are many places with booming tech sectors and space industries.
Lagos in today’s Nigeria was an obvious choice as one of the most important globally, because it is the most populous city in Africa, of the boom it is anticipated to experience, and because of its location near the Equator, a place ideal for launching rockets. Indeed, it became the capital of Global Society, one of the four big factions. Another possibility was to look at cities which might thrive in the future, but do not exist yet in such a capacity. If we can settle moons and asteroids, surely we can build cities in the Antarctic and Greenland, in the Sahara, and in oceans!
Researching the matter a little bit, I found oasis towns in the Sahara which could be imagined to grow into sprawling garden metropolises in two hundred years. Likewise, the research stations in Antarctica could become big urban centres. And perhaps small towns in Pacific islands could evolve into massive cities. There are also some cities where nothing exists currently, such as the Greenlandic ice sheet and some in the middle of the sea.
