A vision of NYC 120 years from now
Weighty ‘‘what if?’’ takes readers on a rollercoaster ride through New York in the next century, writes David Herkt.
Sea-levels have risen. New York’s towers are surrounded by water. Storms are extreme. New York 2140 is a ‘‘high concept’’ novel by one of the most popular of recent sci-fi authors, Kim Stanley Robinson.
Clocking in at 613 pages, it is speculative fiction, a weighty ‘‘what if?’’ that deals with the aftermath of climate change in the world’s most symbolic city.
The old Met Life Tower on Madison Square, surrounded by canals, has been recreated into housing. There are garden floors, boat-docking, and skyways that connect the building to other blocks.
Robinson intertwines the stories of a number of its residents, including a kidnapped pair of programmers, a black female police-chief, a young financial genius, a harried housingofficer, the building supervisor, and two street-kids, to create a plot that projects the possibilities of contemporary life a century into the future.
Robinson is the much-awarded author of the acclaimed Mars Trilogy series and Antarctica. Many of his novels have an ecological focus, exploring how natural systems connect with human life, and how a planet, whether it be Mars or Earth, can be managed and regenerated. New York 2140 presents a detailed alternative to the destructive forces of modern capitalism.
While the Met Life tower is a creative environment rising from flooded streets where vaporettos shuttle from block to block across polluted waters, the old forces of finance still battle over real estate in the inter-tidal zones. Recovering from the human-caused ecological disaster that saw the world’s seas rise, it seems no lessons have been learned.
Vlad, the building’s supervisor, learns the underwater foundations are under destabilising attack by drones, just as an unexpected hostile bid comes in to buy out the building coop. The two missing programmers are a puzzle until Inspector Gen’s overworked NYPD team discovers connections with high-finance and those who see recovery from a natural disaster as a means to make a profit.
New York 2140 is a novel of connections. Its multitude of characters form an ever-changing cast, all with stories of their own. Robinson effortlessly takes a reader on a journey of blockbuster spectacle as airships cluster in the sunset over drowned towers or a super-storm falls upon the vulnerable city.
At times, Robinson shows his roots in good old-fashioned ‘‘space-opera’’ and a billion-dollar treasure and rampaging polar bears can feel a step too far.
However, New York 2140 is frequently an effective and thoughtprovoking exploration of a future that seems too close for comfort.