Urbanism in Star Wars

Science fiction has predicted the future of the city in many different ways. There are extremities such as the frequent utopias/distopias and more realistic - even cynical - version of what is to come. Star Wars had been a landmark in futuristic city design not as much as in inventing the concepts of the urban sprawl or the megacity but as combining these elements to a coherent vision. In 1977 we were introduced to the desert spaceport of Moss Eisley, the most wretched hive of scum and villainy... Its architecture is both primitive and technologically efficient, with mud houses, rusty constructs and fully automated launch bays containing state of the art vehicles.

Next we are transported to the beauty of the Cloud City, a clockwork society that is relying in many ways on a very delicate balance. It is a utopian society that cannot really function and so it is abandoned immediately after its corruption. The visuals are stunning although the concept had been used before in Flash Gordon and has been used again repeatedly. Still in all mythologies there should be a city in the clouds!

Lucas' vision of the perfect city continues in the city of Naboo where we are presented with an archetype of renaissance urbanism integrated in a scenic, watery environment. High technology is discreet and it is not used in the urban fabric that is both vernacular and grand. The domed architecture can be referenced in the Roman Pantheon or the Byzantine Hagia Sophia. It is city that chooses tradition and tries to overcome the consequences.

Alderaan is in many ways similar to Naboo in that it is a peaceful society that tries to incorporate its urban fabric to the mountainous expanses of the planet. In contrast though it is a highly stylized, technologically advanced city, organic in form with sleek curves that resemble natural patterns. Futuristic vehicles show no contrast in this setting, they are extensions of the architecture. People appear blissful in their perfect society completely unaware that they will eventually be blown up by the megacity called the Death Star...

Coruscant and the Death Stars are probably the prevailing models of urbanism in the Star Wars mythos. They are the megacities planets covered completely in artificial structures or mechanical planet constructs. Essentially they are the center of power and the greatly exaggerated function of the city in society. That is the industrial city of course where machine rules over nature. It is a dystopian oppressive vision that has not yet been verified as possible. Still the mechanical planet of Coruscant is impressive in scale, visual power and is more familiar to modern society than the other city models that George Lucas imagined. Its imagery are influenced by the American Metropolis and the illustrations of Hugh Ferris. So is the Megacity the shape of our future? Tendencies tend to change...