The paradise that is Sydney 2037

Some days this place truly is a mad house, Domainfax:

Self-driving cars on roads with solar panels, hologram commercials, drones making deliveries, skyways between buildings, a magnetically-levitating train pulling into Circular Quay and trees. Lots more trees.

It’s a view of how Sydney could look in 20 years.

A virtual reality vision of the future city has been launched as part of the four-day International Festival of Landscape Architecture in Sydney.

As well as removing the Cahill Expressway and the shops below to open up the city to the harbour, it suggests a future where cars will be replaced by a variety of futuristic vehicles – some self-driving, others that look like high-tech scooters and rickshaws.

The city will have taken a lead from China and Tokyo with a mag-lev high-speed train. There will be a lot more public art. And pedestrians and cyclists with share plazas with the odd robot.

As well the virtual reality look at the city in 2037, the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects has turned a section of Alfred Street, near Circular Quay, into what it calls a Future Street for the festival.

Chief executive Tim Arnold said the institute wanted to suggest a greener and smarter city and show how landscape design, infrastructure and technology could make it more livable.

That meant creating a street that had been reclaimed from cars.

“Cars still may be a part of it but it’s about making it a zone for the community where they can come and relax, entertain, rejuvenate and mingle with their friends and colleagues,” Mr Arnold said.

“[There are also] all the environmental benefits of a green canopy that makes our streets cooler, absorbs all the energy and is a lot better for our air pollution as well.”

Given the Fake Greens aim to drive Sydney population up by another 1.54 million to 6.4 million on the back of rampant immigration:

MB has commissioned some more honest artist mock-ups for what the place will look like:

Domainfax: Independent Always.