A Vision for the Future:
Smart Village-Cities and a New Economy
Is there more to the Montague Odyssey than just a story?
Yes. A road map to a real-world, achievable future.
The world is at a tipping point. Environmental collapse, economic instability, and societal disconnection demand radical change—not minor reforms, but a complete rethinking of how we live.
Technology, rather than being a threat, holds the key to a brighter future. AI, automation, and sustainable design can enable self-sufficient, high-tech communities that support both human well-being and environmental restoration. This vision is not utopian fiction—it is practical, achievable, and already within reach.
Lumos City | The Smart Village-City: Sustainable, Self-Sufficient, and Scalable
In the future, cities will be smaller, smarter, and greener. Each Lumos City style village-city will house 3,000-5,000 residents and be fully self-sufficient, powered by clean energy and AI-managed infrastructure. Food will be grown locally in high-tech vertical farms and permaculture systems. Locally situated, advanced automated factories will manufacture housing, transportation, and goods on-site, reducing waste and environmental impact.
These cities will be surrounded by vast rewilded landscapes, reconnecting people with nature while preserving biodiversity. Many of these village-cities will be linked by high-speed rail, and they will function as a decentralised global network, united in a mission to heal the planet and improve life for all.
The entry to the Great Transition: A Dual Economic System
A smooth shift from capitalism to a post-scarcity world requires a transitional model. This is achieved by running two economies side by side:
Capitalism below ground – Automated gigafactories operate beneath the city, producing and exporting goods to participate in the global economy. Revenue funds environmental restoration, new technology, and local developments.
Abundance Economy above ground – Essential resources like food, housing, healthcare, and education are provided freely, enabled by AI, robotics and automation. Without financial concerns, people are free to pursue science, creativity, and meaningful contributions.
This dual system allows society to evolve gently, without causing the distress of those deeply invested in money, and without the dangers of economic collapse, ensuring stability while gradually transitioning to a world of shared abundance.
Science, Creativity, and Purpose-Driven Living
In The Montague Odyssey story-world, there is a creative district inside Lumos City - known simply as 'Old Town'. It is modelled after an old European style village, with old stone buildings and cobblestone lanes, and features traditional arts from every culture on Earth. There are painters, sculptors, poets, musicians, blacksmiths, film makers, chocolate makers, Karate dojos, archery, on and on. The future is not all high-tech, it is all about balance, and whilst science and innovation do the heavy lifting in Lumos City, the creative citizens are highly esteemed for their contributions - for creativity is essential to flourishing.
Freed from survival-based labour, people will focus on two core pursuits:
Science & Exploration: Collaborative research in climate solutions and biosphere restoration, medicine, clean energy, space exploration and more.
Arts & Human Expression: Creativity flourishes as people engage in music, storytelling, fine arts and more - all manner of traditional and innovative forms of creativity.
Rather than fostering laziness, this structure unlocks human potential. As seen during COVID lockdowns, many turned to learning and creative pursuits when freed from jobs and associated constraints.
AI, Governance, and Global Collaboration
AI will optimise city management, ensuring efficient energy use, waste reduction, and resource distribution. In the future, AI may evolve to become an equal partner in global decision-making.
Each village-city will be independently governed, a 'City-State', yet also part of a larger alliance, in the Montague Odyssey it is called the Sol Harmonium—a cooperative network of smart cities working together to share knowledge, resources, and planetary stewardship, much like Star Trek’s Federation.
Building the Future: Lumos City
The first step in bringing such a vision to life, is creating a working model city, just like the Lumos City of the story world of The Montague Odyssey. This fully self-sufficient prototype village-city will demonstrate this dual economy and sustainable design in action. Enabled by AI-driven project management and advanced robotics, this Lumos City will prove that a better way of living is possible.
This is not a distant dream—it is a path already forming. By embracing technology, cooperation, and purpose-driven innovation, we can transition to a future where humanity thrives in harmony with nature, unlocking freedom and potential as never before.
Let's create something worthy of us, something bright, something extraordinary.
'May all living things, live long and prosper!'