Today, the world is rapidly urbanizing. With half of the world population expected to live in cities by the early part of the 21st century, the Shanghai 2010 World Expo’s focus on a better city bears profound meaning.

What might future cities look like 28 years from now? Here are some scenarios: things to come, things to go.

Newspapers to disappear

American scholar Philip Meyer predicts that newspaper will come to an end in 2043. Utagawa Reizou, former editor-in-chief of The Mainichi Daily News, believes that the newspaper will be gone in 2030.

This kind of prediction may worry those in print news business. In the U.K., the circulations of national newspapers are declining. Major Japanese newspapers have gone into debt. In the U.S., declining circulations and ad revenues have forced several newspapers to stop printing paper editions.

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch thinks the future of media relies on interaction through the Internet. In the future, digital newspapers will be sent to portal web terminals through wirelessly. Readers can discuss issues with journalists and editors. Information will move faster.

Oil to run out

In August 2009, Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency, said that oil is running out faster than expected and that the world will likely feel the tightness in supply in the next five years.

Scientists have found substitutes for oil as fuel. Coal, natural gas, solar power, nuclear power and even water can replace oil as sources of energy. Flammable ice reserves alone can support humans for the next 1,000 years.

But if oil runs out, the petrochemical industry will suffer the most. More than 5,000 products are made with oil, and the industry exerts a vast and profound influence on people’s lives. If it is affected by oil, the impacts will be relayed to society as well.

Zero waste

Waste disposal is one of the biggest headaches for cities. Apart from recyclable waste, everything is buried or incinerated, only to pollute the environment. Plastic waste remains underground for several decades. The world produces much more garbage that it can dispose of.

Now at the Expo, all waste is delivered to a compression station where the waste is sorted, filtered, decontaminated, deodorized and compressed before finally being disposed of at designated spots. In Beijing, people living in the Asuwei area turn their household waste into organic fertilizers which are used to grow plants at residence communities.

Glasses to disappear

The heritability of myopia is as high as 89 percent, indicating that myopia is determined by genetics. Scientists have found the genes for myopia and by controlling them, may be able to cure myopia.

No more transportation problems during Spring Festival

The Spring Festival, the most important Chinese holiday when everyone returns home, has caused headaches for millions of Chinese. More than 2 billion people travel at the same time, making obtaining travel tickets and the journey difficult.

But in 28 years, Spring Festival travel may not be a problem at all. China plans to have more than 120,000 kilometers of railway and a rapid transportation network that will serve 90 percent of the population by 2020. And because most of China will be cities, people will not have to go to other places to find a job, so migration will no longer be so large-scale.