A 1927 Vision of 2026

How Fritz Lang’s Metropolis imagined the year 2026 as a city shaped by technology, power, and invisible labor

Author

Yagmur Baydır
January 05, 2026

Dear PA reader,

Revisiting Fritz Lang’s Metropolis reveals how the film’s 1927 vision of 2026 still resonates with contemporary tensions between technology, labor, and urban life. Meanwhile, Brisbane has appointed a global team to design its new 63,000-seat stadium at Victoria Park for the 2032 Olympics, aiming to blend Queensland’s character with major event legacy use. In Morocco, the Grand Stade Hassan II is rising near Casablanca with a planned 115,000-seat capacity, poised to be the world’s largest stadium and a centerpiece of the country’s 2030 FIFA World Cup ambitions.

Carsten Höller’s Pink Mirror Carousel turns a historic ice rink in the Swiss Alps into a slow-moving, reflective installation that reframes leisure, perception, and public space through color and motion. While Mongolia’s Hunnu City concept maps an ambitious vision for 2050 urban growth in the steppe, exploring future-forward city building.

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Metropolis (1927) and the World of 2026: How Fritz Lang Imagined the Future of Cities

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