Futureville Ireland is an ambitious new 3-part series that offers a vision of a new Irish City for 2050 – what would it look like? what would daily life be like for the residents? And what are the latest innovations from the Irish Research community that will make it possible?
Athlone has chosen to be re-imagined as a near future metropolis, a capital of the midlands and a new home for a quarter of a million people in 2050. This exciting transformation, built on Irish scientific research, could happen just as easily to any other Irish town or urban centre.
The series is the centre piece of RTÉ & Taighde Éireann’s (Research Ireland) broadcast collaboration for National Science week beginning on Sunday, 10th November. It will broadcast across three consecutive nights during Science Week on RTÉ One at 7.00pm each evening – Tuesday 12th, Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th of November.
Futureville Ireland is co presented by RTÉ’s Carla O’Brien and Dr. Lorraine (Lollie) Mancey (UCD Innovation Academy).
EPISODE ONE
In Episode 1, we highlight the newest technologies that will enable our vision for this city of 250,000 people to become a reality. We focus on the housing and sustainable urban design of the future, how to bring new life to the main streets of our towns and cities, how robots will become an integral part of our daily lives at work and at home, the shopping experience of the future and how breakthroughs in neural technology could benefit all of us.
The episode features a number of expert contributions on different elements of the journey to creating this future city.
Orla Murphy, Assistant Professor, UCD School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy and Seán Harrington, Architect talk about the sustainable urban design & new building technologies that will help us build enough quality homes for everyone in Futureville.
Gerry Lacey, Professor of Engineering at Maynooth, explains how Robots will become a key part of our daily lives, Miriam Simon, Consumer & Retail Expert, talks about the changing consumer experience and Manus Biggs, Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering, reveals how neural implants will become a key part of our treatment of brain disorders in the future.
The episode also features a blend of Athlone residents – Leah Moloney and brothers Adam & Ross Mulvihill who are desperate to move out of their family homes and find a place of their own, Rosie Boles, owner of Ireland’s oldest Department Store, Darren Magee, business owner and former Dublin GAA star and Tadhg Kelleher – who all provide insights into the daily lives, the challenges they face and their hopes for the future.
Carla also gets introduced to Megabyte, the robot pet of the future.
