A Visitor to the Future - 47 - Vertical Living
There were other people walking the wall in the opposite direction to us, and one or two would occasionally give Robin a wave, which he would return - though no-one came up to speak with him. It seemed that people seemed to understand that he was talking us through things. Robin gestured up at the skyscrapers to our left as we continued our walk.
"People had been living in skyscrapers for hundreds of years by the 2200s, and there had been a lot of innovations made. However, the vertical living approach was different because it was an attempt to understand, design, and essentially create a philosophy around living in dense areas that would keep everyone happy. The Netherlands had a reputation as a great place to live, routinely landing in the top ten of the Happiness Index year after year. Everyone wanted to ensure that this new approach would not sacrifice that progress, turning what had once been open towns into uncomfortable crowded places. It was a fifty-year initiative, though it took much longer considering the events of the first Cyber Crisis and the Black Sea Conflict. I've compared the vertical living design philosophy to other different approaches - if designs in the past followed the mantra form follows function, the vertical living approach is form follows footprint."
He pointed to the docks to our right. Boats moved about the area, and drone-craft took off and landed frequently.
"The first main innovation was transport, which was massively subsidised. The planners recognised that a country without good transport links is a dead one. Protecting rail and road infrastructure was fairly straight forward and in fact often solved two problems in one, acting as defences against the ocean. But in the long term the Netherlands leaned on drone-craft for transport. They used airships to begin with, or where the terrain allowed, naval vessels. Airborne drone-craft like those in use in the Consortium didn't really become popular until the early 2400s, and rockets weren't cost-effective for such short distances. I believe that it was these convenient transport links that allowed the Netherlands to remain a coherent whole, even when neighbouring towns were separated by a body of water."
Robin drew our attention to the very top of one of the nearby skyscrapers, where I could just make out the vague green shapes of the rooftop garden. "The next main point of focus was what was broadly considered access to amenities. It was very important that people did not lose the things that made life worth living despite the increased density - parks, recreation spaces and so on. The transport links connecting the new islands with the largely unaffected eastern side of the Netherlands helped a great deal, and each preserved area did include greenery and wildlife. The agricultural knowledge of the Netherlands also meant that they were a world leader in hydroponics, leading to some of the finest vertical parks in Europe. Sadly, the greatest parks of that time have not survived to today."
"Is there any particular reason why?" Tungsten asked.
Robin shook his head. "Time and corporations. The vertical living philosophy did not have a very good time with the corporate years on Earth - the very amenities that were meant to ensure a good quality of life were underfunded and collapsed. IJmuiden today is what we historians call a reconstructed city - it was largely developed in this style over the hundred years between the 2200s and 2300s, but then came fully under corporate control in the 2340s. They really messed up the whole point of vertical living, hoho! So when the Consortium came about, IJmuiden was redesigned to better reflect that early vertical living philosophy. Reconstructed cities are actually fairly common - New York, Budapest, and Crensolt are all examples of large cities that were significantly redeveloped over the past four hundred years to better suit the residents. That's why IJmuiden lacks many of the features of modern Consortium cities, such as local flight drones and even floating sea platforms - because the people here choose to live in this style. Old-fashioned, yes, but fun!"
He stopped suddenly and scratched his head, his brow furrowed in thought. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes, space! One of the key principles of vertical living might seem a little contradictory - you must give each person as much space as reasonable and possible. Apartments must be sized such that it is possible for a whole family to live there comfortably. That means three bedrooms, an office or two, a living room, kitchen and dining space and sufficient bathrooms - for every single family. That might seem very normal to Tungsten and Sarkona, but the idea of space not being at a premium was unusual at the time. It's also why buildings from that period focused on the idea of space and openness in design wherever possible, lots of open plan spaces."
"Doesn't giving everyone a lot of space defeat the purpose of vertical living - saving space?" I asked.
"No!" said Robin sharply, "Because there are other savings made because of it. Giving everyone plenty of space helps a great deal in keeping everyone content and happy. Greater happiness means less crime, less unrest. Even things like increasing average sleep quality of each person has a long term positive impact upon average happiness and life expectancy. Besides, thirty houses stacked on top of each other still have less of a footprint than thirty separate houses."
"But surely that must have cost more to implement?" I said.
"Yes," continued Robin, "The expense of the overall vertical living project was often criticised by its opponents. But remember the saying - Een goed begin is het halve werk. A good start is half the work! The designers wanted to start as they meant to go on, and set a blueprint for the future of the Netherlands."
"Can you tell us more about the opponents?" I asked.
"Hoho, there were a lot of them. The whole issue of course caused a divide in the country - the west with the increased population density and brunt of the impact of climate change, and the east largely unchanged from the traditional way of life. Both halves of the country had greatly different opinions on many things, from use of organic dairy products to whether they even had a driving license. Most political parties were even seen to have either a rural or urban focus."