Written by Michael McDonough in January 2000, this article tells a story of ‘Newer York’, a high-tech, bright-green city built to replace New York after it was destroyed by ‘The Great Blaze of 2015’.

Part daydream, part hopeful prediction, McDonough shows us a super-efficient city, fully integrated with modern technology that allows it to be a sustainable utopia.

Nine years after it was first written, it’s interesting to see how the ideas presented have progressed, or stalled. We are already in a position where we can hook up our homes and gardens to the web to assist in their maintenance, though this technology is a long way from mass adoption.

Because of its speedy growth and incredible strength, bamboo is presented as a key player in the bright-green credentials of Newer York, but back in the real world its use is still not big enough to see real benefits to the environment.

Some predictions seem way off the mark (Bill Gates? Surely 2015 will belong to Steve Jobs…), but it is still only 2009. We’ve got a few years.

Image courtesy of The Daily Ornellas on flickr