Ideas worth spreading

Planet City -- a sci-fi vision of an astonishing regenerative future

2,201,062 views |

Liam Young |

TEDMonterey

• August 2021

Get transported on a stunningly rendered, sci-fi safari through Planet City: an imaginary metropolis of 10 billion people, from the brain of director and architect Liam Young. Explore the potential outcomes of an urban space designed to house the entire population of the earth -- and imagine answers to what is possible, and what is sustainable, for the planet.

Get transported on a stunningly rendered, sci-fi safari through Planet City: an imaginary metropolis of 10 billion people, from the brain of director and architect Liam Young. Explore the potential outcomes of an urban space designed to house the entire population of the earth -- and imagine answers to what is possible, and what is sustainable, for the planet.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Learn more about the Half-Earth Project and how you can help support species diversity.

Learn more about Liam Young's fiction and entertainment masters program at SCI-Arc, an innovative and world-renowned architecture school.

About the speaker

Liam Young

Director, production designer, architect

See speaker profile

Liam Young is a speculative architect, production designer and director who operates in the spaces between design, fiction and futures.

Liam Young | Uro Publications, 2020 | Book

Planet City

Set in an imaginary city for 10 billion people, Planet City is a book based on the film by Liam Young that explores what would happen if humanity surrendered the rest of the world to a global scaled wilderness and returned stolen lands.

Kim Stanley Robinson | The Guardian, 2018 | Article

"Empty half the Earth of its humans. It's the only way to save the planet"

Science-fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson argues for Edward O. Wilsons "Half Earth" proposal — to contract human development to about half of the planet in order to leave space for nature to return. Wilson explains this plan to stave off mass extinction in his seminal book Half Earth.

Liam young | BBC Culture, 2019 | Article

"Liam Young: The man designing our futures"

Liam Young explains how sci-fi can help us navigate the present.

Learn more

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Learn more about the Half-Earth Project and how you can help support species diversity.

Learn more about Liam Young's fiction and entertainment masters program at SCI-Arc, an innovative and world-renowned architecture school.