Dome and Away: Logan's Run Post-Apocalyptic Cityscapes

• Autor(a) principal: Sol, Hermínia
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/38204
• topic: cinema; cidade; demografia; literatura

The rapid growth of population has been a global concern for quite some time due to its severe environmental, poverty control and social instability implications. A concern that becomes even more acute if one is to accept the United Nations’ Population Division latest predictions that by 2050, more than two-thirds of the world’s population is to live in cities (United Nations 1). Despite not being new, the concept of smart city has, in recent years, acquired privileged status amongst city planners and imagineers all over the world due to the belief that its focus on innovation, technology, ecology and people’s well-being can contribute to a more sustainable urban paradigm (Cowley; Dameri; Lindner). Mostly, smart cities are fast becoming a tangible representation of the futuristic cityscapes which were, till recently, confined to science fiction literature and cinema. Thus, it is no wonder that these tend to be regarded as a sort of dream-come-true project with a strong emphasis on the notion that the products and mechanism generated therein will ultimately “ensure the ‘good life’” (Foley et. al. 84). Whether this premise is a hundred percent valid it remains to be seen as smart-city initiatives are still being put to the test. Yet, the dangerous implications of present-day societies’ blind faith and dependence on technology have been persistently tackled in science fiction texts since the 1950s. A fine example of one such text is Michael Anderson’s film Logan’s Run (1976), a dystopian account of the pleasures and perils of the inhabitants of a computer controlled domed city in a post-apocalyptic future scenario. As defended by several researchers (Bina et al.; Foley et. al.), science fiction’s speculative spectrum regarding architecture and urban planning is particularly relevant as it provides “alternative insights into what challenges lie ahead,” both in terms of “future ‘possibilities’ and ‘warning signals’” (Bina et. al. 167). Consequently, both material and imaginary cityscapes “mingle and resonate together in complex and unpredictable ways” (Graham 395) since they influence each other. Bearing all this in mind, this article will first consider science fiction’s impact in the conception of the city of the future. While doing so, it will also consider how the notion of city of the future often carries utopian overtones, only to see them degenerate into dystopian scenarios. Subsequently, it will examine the different architectural styles present in Logan’s Run and their intended symbolism. Lastly, it will look into some warning signs regarding the environmental and personal privacy challenges that come with living in a smart city.