The current thesis tries to explore ways with which the metropolis of today can look at its future self in order to find solutions to its inherent problems. Cinematography and science fiction architecture are two of the main characteristics of the future metropolis along with tools that contribute to envisioning and realizing it. From the beginning of the twentieth century the vision for the ideal city was reinforced, starting from the changes in the urban landscape followed by the First School of Chicago and Modern.
Science fiction is not limited to novels, but is starting to shape the perception of the future, either through architecture and design or through the spread of motion picture in the urban culture. Narration through cinematography brings imaginary worlds to life transforming cinematic time and space to real ones. “Los Angeles of 2019” is equally realistic and recognizable with its true self 30 years before the designated date. A dense metropolis of multiple socioeconomic classes and population shifts. Nevertheless, it lacks the shine of the reconstructed Everytown of H. J. Wells and is equally dystopical with its refined self, thirty years later in Spike Jonze’s film. The cinematic city of science fiction seems to be more able to document observations and reflections for the future than to seek their resolution. Cinematography and architecture seem to have lost their boldness to design and envision imaginary dreamlike worlds that Jules Verne invented a century ago, which is discouraging for the future.