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SKY CITY | Future Urbanism
Speculative Design Film by Ceren Özgen & Gökalp Kumdakcı
Sky City is a speculative design and storytelling project that explores the future of cities through the lens of aerial mobility, automation, and social division. Set in a near future where flying vehicles have transformed urban life, the film follows two parallel characters — Sarah, a privileged architect living in the floating metropolis of Sky City, and Eva, a resilient community member surviving on the abandoned, rewilded ground below.
The story examines the promises and consequences of technological advancement. While Sky City offers clean air, effortless transit, and AI-managed comfort, it also reveals a society deeply surveilled, emotionally detached, and increasingly divided. Meanwhile, the ground level — once abandoned — has become a site of resistance, resilience, and reconnection with nature.
The project imagines what happens when utopian visions tip into dystopia, and asks what it truly means to live well. Is it the sterile perfection of automation above, or the raw imperfection of community and care below?
The narrative was created using a mix of AI and digital tools to create Sky City. ChatGPT helped write the script and build the characters. DALL·E 3 and Photoshop AI generated the visuals, with Photoshop fixing common issues like awkward proportions or misplaced objects. Runway ML handled animation but often struggled with alignment. Play.ht provided voiceovers, and DaVinci Resolve was used to edit the final video. Along the way, we dealt with visual glitches, AI biases, and questions about the environmental impact of these tools.
Sky City looks at how new technologies shape cities and deepen divides. It questions who benefits from so-called smart futures, and what’s lost when nature and community are pushed aside. The film doesn’t offer easy answers, but asks whether it’s possible to build something better—somewhere between control and chaos, machines and people.
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