PREFACE

My Dear Reader!

Allow me to say something about myself in few words…

My name is Ivett Levai, and I am an optometry student in Budapest, Hungary. Another year has passed and I was happy to read that the “Horizon 2100” international scientific youth competition will be organized this year as well. I learned a lot of new things on the forum last year, and I am grateful that I can present this work to you this year through the competition. Since then, I have been thinking a lot about the future, how can we make our homes more efficient places for the future generations, while taking care of our Earth.

My goal is that after reading my work, you will think about a bit how you could make your home more environmentally friendly in the future.

 

 

 

It is 6 o'clock in the morning. My alarm goes off as usual, but today I do not wake up to the usual tune. I hear birds chirping, as the titmice and thrushes used to sing on late spring mornings. It is strange to see the sunlight shining on my stomach as I rub my eyes and look out the window at the trees with beautiful green leaves. But I know it is still dark outside, as it usually is in December. I cannot stand the harsh, cold winter, so today I chose the topic called "spring in a village" from my "home environment" application. It is so good that with this one app, I can change the decoration of my house at the push of a button. In the meantime, I look at the analyses on the display next to my bed. I mostly slept soundly during the night, although I also get an analysis of the REM phases. I must be thanking my automatic heating blanket and the floating pillow for the restful sleep, but I have to hurry, because my robot kitchen made my morning coffee.

...I am grateful to live in 2100, because I cannot even imagine how people could live in previous centuries, where homes without such basic functions existed...

Does this morning routine and technology-rich home sound foreign at first? However, in the not-so-distant future, these will be the standard expectations when someone wants to buy a new apartment. At the same time, the question arises as to how large the ecological footprint of these homes will be.

In 2100, the value system will change, as will our lives and habits, and our homes will not be left out of this either.

In the future, it will be an important aspect to design the houses in such a way that they can provide shelter to their residents even in the event of a natural disaster or a pandemic. Learning from pandemics, the architectures of the future will pay special attention to the fact that a house functions as a workplace, a place of entertainment, a place of health care, a resort and, last but not least, a home. This is not surprising, since one of the great lessons of the epidemic situation for the future is that we must also take care to create spaces suitable for work in our homes. In many companies, it has now been proven that remote work can be easily solved, it is not necessary to work from the office on all working days of the week, and this requires rethinking the previous working conditions at home.

As today's data and forecasts show, cities will soon become overpopulated, as the world's population is growing rapidly. Thus, it can be expected that more people will desire places closer to nature. The leaders of the cities will solve this by using the parts of our Earth covered with water, since they can only expand on land with skyscrapers or underground buildings. Thus, floating cities above the water will become natural, which can be easily approached by various watercraft.

The homes of the future must be characterized by liveability, sustainability, adaptability and closeness to nature - even within the walls of the classic metropolitan panel on the mainland. Darwin himself said that it is not the strongest species that survive, but those that are most able to adapt, and it seems that we will need this adaptation very much. If we look at a drone footage of a metropolis in 2100, we will see that every single apartment has a garden. It will be as expected as a bedroom in a classic home. It will be enshrined in law that every home owner must create a "garden terrace" with at least two pieces of wood. In this way, air pollution will be reduced in the future and depression among city dwellers will be greatly reduced. Several studies prove that physical contact with plants has a beneficial effect on our mental health. Surrounding ourselves with plants can improve our mood, cognitive functions, creativity, and reduce stress and anxiety. In addition to their health-improving effect, plants also act as natural humidifiers: they bind harmful substances and improve air quality. Also, if we grow our own fruits and vegetables, it also gives us the opportunity to know what we are actually eating. Self-sufficient farming can also be solved in a multi-storey house if the balcony has a different function in the future.

If you look at a home from the inside, the smart home devices will not suddenly stand out. But of course, these are houses rich in technology, as you can read in the introductory text. It will be such a central control that we can use to trick our own brains as well. From one moment to the next, we choose a season and a theme for our home, as we like. Everything will be automatic and the devices will be connected. Unfortunately, as everything has advantages and disadvantages, the question arises as to how private and limited the data and information sharing will be with these home systems. Sensors surround our home, so we learn a lot of information about ourselves, such as our health. There will be many more fit and healthy people, precisely because of this type of home, many people's lifestyles will be taken in a positive direction. We will learn information about our eating habits and our daily movements. There will be sensors in our bed, so it will analyse our entire sleeping habits. The sensors will also be found in the bathroom, so you will get an immediate health analysis on the toilet, but of course if you do not want others to see your data, these functions can be turned off manually. If necessary, the house system will take care of us - we will have a dietician, personal trainer and family doctor at the same time. In the future, health science will develop enormously, so we will have our own robot doctor who will diagnose in our apartment through various devices.

Furthermore, the question arises of how to solve the need for a lot of energy - stoves and fireplaces can gain a new meaning, more and more people will use mixed fuel boilers or even solar systems. The goal will be complete independence from the outside world, minimizing the risks of contact with others. In the water houses, solar and wind energy are used, but if these cannot be realized, then reserve elements will provide the energy and electricity.

In conclusion, we have many questions to answer in the future. For example, we need to know how to make our city apartment more close to nature and more liveable, as well as how to apply environmentally friendly solutions in our home, while getting the luxury we expect from a high-tech home. I have a completely positive view of the future generations, I think we are on the way to a future that is much more environmentally friendly, self-sustaining and innovative. Also, our planet will not necessarily be dominated by structures made of metal, but we will also take into account the protection of the Earth in addition to our own comfort.

 

 

THE LIST OF SOURCES

• Mindset Pszichológia: Gondozom, tehát vagyok! – a szobanövények jótékony hatása
• Abishur Prakash: Mesterséges értelem rajzolja a jövő térképeit