The Future City Lab exhibit in the Museum of the City of New York was an extremely interesting interactive exhibit. There was a station with crds that said “what if” on one side and “then” on the other allowing participants to write their thoughts and opinions about the future. The part the interested me the most was the interactive screens in the “Teleport to the Future” section. I was able to create my own city, park, or residential area and monitor the environmental, economic, and social impacts of my future. After finishing the creation of my city or area, I was able to upload it to a bigger screen for it to be send and shown on. When looking a the big screen participants are able to stand on a spot labeled “stand here to see yourself in the future” and can look at a version of themselves standing in the world they just created. I found it extremely interesting to be able to create and control a future society by adding more trees and greenery to improve the environmental impacts and make it a better version of what New York City currently is. It is a difficult task to try to create a perfectly balanced society because it is hard for the environmental, social, and economical impacts to all be stable or better in one society. When I was creating a park, the people on the screen were giving comments to guide the creation process such as “I wish there was more green space” or “I wish this park had more activities for my children”. It was helpful to get feedback while trying to make a park to please the people living in that area in the future. Overall I believe that exhibit was one of the most interesting that I’ve seen because it is interactive and allows you to create, build, and plan a future and also experience it in real time by being projected onto the screen in real time.
