Immersive Commuter

Marg lives in Edinburgh. Before 2035 there was a successful independence vote. The least predictable situation, politically. There’s really no SNP anymore. With the disruption of leading and succeeding in passing independence, previously established political parties are no longer the coherent parties they were before. Scotland has been consisting in a series of coalition governments. One of the leading new political ideologies of this new Scotland is to put real importance on cross-party green initiatives. This means there hasn’t been as much agreement on economic policies. Scotland is economically a little more unstable. For indy, they need to provide a lot more funding for local businesses that they didn’t in the past. Scotland is building a gov’t backed currency; However, the country is not yet a member of the EU because we don’t meet the entry criteria, failure to reduce national deficit. Lowering the national deficit is part of the motivation for prioritising green initiatives. 

Fewer cars in the city is due to major shifts towards cycling, scooters, skateboarding has even entered the mainstage in daily transportation efforts. But also fears of fuel, raw material (e.g. rubber for tires), and job shortages have pushed people to reduce their use of family cars, and even taxi services. In response, motorways and roads require less maintenance, but also city infrastructure keeps being redesigned for more pedestrian traffic. This has birthed all sorts of innovative ways for people to interact with their environment. Multi-tiered pathways. Repurposing existing underground passages from centuries back. Which are highly used during the colder months. Entire markets have popped up due to increased use of underground passages. Everything from lighting, colour, and sound experiences are being exploited in new and innovative ways. The very sound of commuting has changed. 

But public transport is still needed, therefore infrastructure to support it all is still needed. Electric trams and buses are still highly used. Though the visual experience of the city became a major focus during the last referendum and indy vote. This shifted priorities on public transit re-developments. Instead of last century blocky busses and metal-walled trams, these are now dome shaped and almost entirely made of a form of tempered transparent glass-like material. New raw material discoveries, as well as innovative manufacturing tech, bolstered by the latest circular economy initiatives, led to the ability to create stronger transparent materials compared to standard tempered glass windows. This has allowed all buses and trams to be constructed with nearly entirely transparent shells. Due to the flexibility in moulding of this new transparent material, the framing no longer needs to be gridded with right-angles. As a result, design engineers have taken great liberties in applying aesthetically dramatic and pleasing patterns to the framing. Swirls, curved lines, and even a nod to the MacIntosh art-nouveau style. Compared to last century, and even many major cities still, Edinburgh commuters have a dramatically different visual and auditory experience when commuting around the city and outskirts. The redesigns have also taken into consideration as full a range of passenger needs as possible. Mobility needs are supported in a standardised way, with lifts and ramps a norm in tram/bus entrances, wide entryways, and no more step-ups.

More funding for renewable means more solar panels, turbines, recycling drops and pick-up times, as well as thermal power channels leading from beneath, between, and within buildings. Recycling redevelopment has reduced people’s personal efforts to commit to actively recycling. By reducing the steps people take to actively engage in recycling, people, almost by default, are recycling more, and more waste products. This was done by integrating recycling points into the city architecture. Giant bins are hidden under the pavement, with shoots leading to external wall drops and internal building drops. Extraction machines empty the large repositories quickly and cleanly. Found cheaper means for using solar power, wind power, and other forms. Solar panels have been redesigned to blend into roof tiles and brick walls, dual functioning materials and aesthetics. People don’t even see them, yet nearly every surface is generating solar energy. Exactly the same as wind turbine implementation, which are dotted about on roofs across the city. People complained at first, but eventually accepted the change in their visual reality. They’re convinced their inclusion is worthwhile. The thing you notice most, energy generation is more transparent in the city. making us more aware of what is sustaining us. turbines on top of buildings, surrounding hills, solar panels. 

There’s relatively good potential for using DNA for long term information storage. Maybe we see an increase in the ability to speed in read the info stored in DNA, we see reduction in energy for data storage. Biostorage. DNA replacing hard drives. Current world’s info stored on DNA, size of the back of a van. Enormous data centres could be replaced entirely. Refrigeration tech becomes a major player since all DNA storage units require a specific temperature for maintenance. Most important for long term data that don’t require immediate or daily access, such as the world’s archives.