Perth in the Future -- Life in A Post-Carbon Age

This project forecasts the futures of more than 1000 cities across the globe as though they've somehow overcome all the grave environmental challenges our age and grown to become super Green and super-ecofriendly. This month, we highlight the future of Perth, Australia.

Some cities in the developed world are manicured to within an inch of life. They have precisely cultivated trees lining quiet sidewalks fed by impeccably timed water sprinklers. Perth, the capital of Western Australia, is one such city. It is a suburban utopia of green lawns and clean streets with fresh new cycleways and a light railway to boot. There are plenty of highways and cars and traffic lights in Perth, too, but do not worry: all are well-monitored by a citywide computer system to keep the cars moving around in an energy-efficient and time-saving manner.

The Perth city government also invests resources in educating Perth residents about how to curate their own lawns in an eco-friendly manner, including information regarding the best time of day to water the lawn so that the water isn’t just evaporated by the glaring sunshine and what type of grass is more resilient for residential use. Perth then publicizes to the world how Green it is.

Perth’s well-kept lawns and suburban roads lie in stark contrast to its long-term future.

The Perth climate is getting hotter and drier and the soils thinner and more saline. Heat waves arrive so often that they become the new normal. To fight against climate change—and make huge amounts of money at the same time—the Western Australian government will probably soon approve the opening of uranium mines all across the state. The uranium will then be used, they will argue, to power “climate friendly” nuclear energy stations around the globe.

The scenario depicted here is not so optimistic about Western Australia’s uranium future. It suggests that sometime in the late twenty-first century, one particular uranium mine hundreds of miles away from the city ends up having its huge tailings dam breached, thereby contaminating the rivers that flow through Perth with vast amounts of radioactive sludge. Many people in the city are forced to evacuate or choose to leave for other towns rather than face the high risk of health problems.

Alas, despite this uranium push, global climate change is not halted, and the city of Perth is not only contaminated with long-lived radiation but also ravaged by climate change disasters, including extreme drought, devastating wildfires, and disastrous soil loss. When water comes, it arrives in flash floods, which not only sweep away homes and roads but end up washing more contaminated sludge into the city. Any human survivors will have to downscale or de-develop the city, and they will have to learn to live on remaining local resources in order to survive.

In this future Perth scenario, two reliable resources are Balga grasstrees and mud. The remaining residents build their houses out of mud, sourced from the uncontaminated pockets of nearby earth and mixed with rocks, shells, fish bones, and dried plants. For strength, as well as decorative appeal, the dwellings are biomorphic, being inspired by the skeletons of local sea urchins. Alive, sea urchins are covered with an array of formidable spines. But when desiccated and denuded, the striking radial patterns of the sea urchins are exposed. With warm, contaminated seas lapping at the future Perth coast, there may be plenty of sea urchin skeletons lying around to serve as inspiration for the sturdy structure of the mud huts. However, there are no smart water sprinklers and so no green lawns.

The sea urchin mud huts might serve as infrastructure, but the economy in general is based on the cultivation of Balga, a type of grass-tree adapted perfectly to dry Australian environs. The Balga can supply the practiced cultivator with all manner of products. The resin, for instance, can be used as an adhesive in toolmaking, the floral nectar provides a sweet drink, and the floral spike can serve as an effective fishing spear.