Cities are one of the most common science fiction settings, along with spaceships and habitats and the surfaces of distant planets, but their role in speculative fiction has received relatively little sustained attention.
Efforts to define a typology of science fiction cities or to categorize their roles in literature and film include Brian Stableford, “Cities,” in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, ed. John Clute and Peter Nicholls (New York: St. Martin’s, 1993), 226–27; John Dean, “Science Fiction City,” Foundation 23 (October 1981): 64–72; John Clute, “The City and Urban Fantasy,” ParaDoxa 2, no. 1 (1996): 19–26; Vivian Sobchack, “Cities on the Edge of Time: The Urban Science-Fiction Film,” in Alien Zone II: The Spaces of Science-Fiction Cinema, ed. Annette Kuhn (New York: Verso, 1999), 123–43; John Gold, “Under Darkened Skies: The City in Science Fiction Films,” Geography 86 (October 2001): 337–45.
Treatments of the tension between depictions of utopias and dystopias often highlight cities in the course of their discussion. Examples are Tom Moylan, Scraps of the Untainted Sky: Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia (Boulder, CO: Westview, 2000), and Rob Latham and Jeff Hicks, “Urban Dystopias,” in The Cambridge Companion to the City in Literature, ed. Kevin R. McNamarra (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014).
A challenging analysis of the function of cities within the science fiction imagination is found in Gary K. Wolfe, The Known and the Unknown: The Iconography of Science Fiction (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1979).
Scholars have gravitated to a number of individual science fiction cities as iconic or representative cases. Examples are the city of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, the Los Angeles of Blade Runner, China Miéville’s New Crobuzon, Arthur C. Clarke’s Diaspar, Samuel R. Delany’s Tethys, and the urban settings in William Gibson’s “Sprawl” and “Bridge” trilogies. Coruscant in the Star Wars universe has accreted a vast body of fan-sourced commentary and elaboration. Other science fiction cities, such as those depicted by C. J. Cherryh or Alastair Reynolds, have yet to acquire the same thickets of popular and critical consideration.
Much of the scholarship on science fiction comes from the fields of literature, media studies, and cultural studies (fifteen of the seventeen editors and contributors to the recent Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction are from these fields, for example). In addition, sociologists, geographers, urban planners, and other social scientists are often interested in the intersections between science fiction, social theory, and political practice. For example, the specific category of cities in cyberpunk fiction has attracted comment from Mark C. Childs, “Learning from the New Millennium: Science Fiction Cities,” Journal of Urbanism 8, no. 1 (2015): 97–109; Natalie Collie, “Cities of the Imagination: Science Fiction, Urban Space, and Community Engagement in Urban Planning,” Futures 43 (May 2011): 424–31; Robert Warren, Stacy Warren, Samuel Nunn, and Colin Warren, “The Future of the Future in Planning: Appropriating Cyberpunk Visions of the City,” Journal of Planning Education and Research 18 (Autumn 1998): 49–60; and others, including myself.
SCIENCE FICTION NOVELS AND STORIES
When a reprinted version has been quoted, the original publication data and reprint information are both given.
Aldiss, Brian. Non-Stop. London: Faber and Faber, 1958.
Asimov, Isaac. Caves of Steel. 1954. New York: Bantam Spectra, 1991.
———. Foundation. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1951.
———. Foundation and Empire. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1952.
———. Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1954.
———. Second Foundation. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1953.
Bacigalupi, Paolo. The Water Knife. New York: Knopf, 2015.
———. The Windup Girl. San Francisco: Nightshade Books, 2009.
Ballard, J. G. “Billennium.” 1962. In Cities of Wonder, edited by Damon Knight, 92–107. New York: Macfadden-Bartell, 1967.
———. “The Concentration City.” 1957. In The Complete Short Stories. London: Flamingo/HarperCollins, 2001.
———. High-Rise. New York: Liveright, 1975.
Banks, Iain M. Surface Detail. New York: Orbit, 2010.
Barnes, John. A Million Open Doors. New York: Tor, 1992.
———. Mother of Storms. New York: Tor, 1994.
Baxter, Stephen. Flood. New York: ROC, 2009.
Bear, Elizabeth. “The Red in the Sky Is Our Blood.” In Metatropolis, edited by John Scalzi, 121–58. Burton, MI: Subterranean, 2009.
Bear, Greg. Moving Mars. New York: Tor, 1993.
———. Strength of Stones. New York: Warner Books, 1988.
Benford, Gregory. In the Ocean of Night. New York: Dell, 1977.
Blish, James, Cities in Flight. New York: Avon, 1970.
Boyle, T. C. The Tortilla Curtain. New York: Viking, 1995.
Bradbury, Ray. The Martian Chronicles. 1950. New York: William Morrow, 1997.
Brin, David. Existence. New York: Tor, 2012.
Brunner, John. The Sheep Look Up. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.
———. Stand on Zanzibar. 1968. New York: Orb, 2011.
Buckell, Tobias. “Stochasti-City.” In Metatropolis, edited by John Scalzi, 71–120. Burton, MI: Subterranean, 2009.
Butler, Octavia. Parable of the Sower. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1993.
Cadigan, Pat. Tea from an Empty Cup. New York: Tor, 1998.
Cherryh, C. J. Cyteen. New York: Warner Books, 1988.
———. Downbelow Station. New York: DAW Books, 1981.
———. Regenesis. New York: DAW Books, 2009.
———. Sunfall. New York: DAW Books, 1981.
Christopher, John. Wild Jack. 1974. New York: Collier Books, 1991.
Clarke, Arthur C. The City and the Stars. 1956. Princess Anne, MD: Yestermore, n.d.
———. The Sands of Mars. 1951. In Prelude to Mars. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1965.
Cline, Ernest, Ready Player One. New York: Random House, 2001.
Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire. New York: Scholastic, 2009.
———. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008.
———. Mockingjay. New York: Scholastic, 2010.
Coupland, Douglas. Generation X. New York: St. Martin’s, 1991.
———. Microserfs. New York: HarperCollins, 1995.
———. Shampoo Planet. New York: Washington Square, 1992.
Cronin, Justin. The Passage. New York: Ballantine. 2009.
Delany, Samuel R. Babel-17. New York: Ace, 1966.
———. Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia. 1976. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1996.
DeLillo, Don. Cosmopolis. New York: Scribner’s, 2003.
Disch, Thomas. 334. London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1972.
Donnelly, Ignatius. Caesar’s Column. 1890. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1960.
DuPrau, Jeanne. City of Ember. New York: Random House, 2003.
Ellison, Harlan. “A Boy and His Dog.” 1969. In The Essential Ellison, edited by Terry Dowling, 905–38. Omaha: Nemo, 1987.
England, George Allan. Darkness and Dawn. Boston: Small, Maynard & Co., 1914.
Forster, E. M. “The Machine Stops.” 1909. In The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, vol. 2B, The Greatest Science Fiction Novellas of All Time, edited by Ben Bova, 248–79. New York: Avon, 1973.
Frank, Pat. Alas, Babylon. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1959.
Gibson, William. All Tomorrow’s Parties. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1999.
———. “The Gernsback Continuum.” In Mirrorshades, edited by Bruce Sterling, 1–11. New York: Arbor House, 1981.
———. “Johnny Mnemonic.” In Burning Chrome, 1–23. New York: Arbor House, 1986.
———. Neuromancer. New York: Ace, 1984.
———. Virtual Light. New York: Bantam, 1993.
Gloss, Molly. The Dazzle of Day. New York: Tor, 1997.
Griffith, Nicola. Slow River. New York: Ballantine, 1995.
Hamilton, Peter. Fallen Dragon. New York: Warner Books, 2001.
Harrison, Harry. Bill, the Galactic Hero. 1965. New York: ibooks, 2001.
———. Make Room! Make Room! 1966. New York: Orb, 2008.
Harrison, M. John. Viriconium. New York: Bantam Dell, 2005.
Heinlein, Robert. The Door into Summer. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1956.
———. Double Star. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1956.
———. Red Planet. New York: Scribner’s, 1949.
———. “The Roads Must Roll.” 1940. In The Man Who Sold the Moon. Chicago: Shasta, 1950.
Holland, Cecelia. Floating Worlds. New York: Knopf, 1976.
Hopkinson, Nalo. Brown Girl in the Ring. New York: Grand Central, 1998.
Kadohata, Cynthia. In the Heart of the Valley of Love. New York: Viking, 1992.
King, Stephen. The Stand. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978.
Kuttner, Henry. Fury. 1947. Republished as Destination Infinity. New York: Garland Library of Science Fiction, 1975.
Lake, Jay. “Cascadiopolis.” In Metatropolis, edited by John Scalzi, 9–70. Burton, MI: Subterranean, 2009.
Le Guin, Ursula. The Eye of the Heron. In Millennial Women, edited by Virginia Kidd, 124–302. New York: Dell, 1978.
Leiber, Fritz. “A Pail of Air.” Galaxy, December 1951, 58–70.
Lem, Stanislaus. The Futurological Congress. 1971. Translated by Michael Kandel. New York: Seabury, 1974.
Locke, M. J. Up against It. New York: Macmillan, 2011.
London, Jack. The Iron Heel. New York: Macmillan, 1908.
Lovecraft, H. P. At the Mountains of Madness. 1936. New York: New American Library, 2005.
MacDonald, Ian. Ares Express. 2002. Amherst, NY: Pyr Books, 2010.
Martel, Suzanne, The City under Ground. New York: Viking, 1964.
Matheson, Richard. I Am Legend. New York: Gold Medal Books, 1954.
McHugh, Maureen. Half the Day Is Night. New York: Tor, 1994.
McMahon, Donna. Dance of Knives. New York: Tor, 2001.
Miéville, China. The City and the City. New York: Ballantine, 2009.
———. Embassytown. New York: Del Rey Books, 2011.
———. Perdido Street Station. New York: Ballantine, 2001.
———. The Scar. New York: Ballantine, 2002.
———. Un Lun Dun. New York: Macmillan, 2007.
Murphy, Pat. The City Not Long After. New York: Bantam Spectra, 1990.
Nagata, Linda. “Nahiku West.” In The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, edited by Jonathan Strahan, 543–63. San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2013.
Niven, Larry. The Patchwork Girl. New York: Ace, 1980.
———. Ringworld. New York: Ballantine, 1970.
———. The Ringworld Engineers. 1980. New York: Ballantine, 1981.
Niven, Larry, and Jerry Pournelle. Oath of Fealty. 1981. New York: Pocket Books, 1982.
Norton, Andre. Star Man’s Son: 2250 A.D. 1952. In Darkness and Dawn. New York: Baen Books, 2003.
———. Star Rangers. 1953. In Star Soldiers. New York: Baen Books, 2001.
Oliver, Chad. “The Wind Blows Free.” Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1957.
Platt, Charles. The Twilight of the City: A Novel of the Near Future. New York: Macmillan, 1977.
Pohl, Frederik. The Years of the City. New York: Timescape Books / Simon & Schuster, 1975.
Pohl, Frederik, and Cyril Kornbluth, Gladiator-at-Law. 1955. New York: Bantam, 1977.
Priest, Christopher. Inverted World. 1974. New York: New York Review Books, 2008.
Randall, Ron. Trekker. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Comics, 1987.
Reeve, Philip. Mortal Engines. New York: Scholastic Books, 2001.
———. Predator’s Gold. New York: Scholastic Books, 2003.
Reynolds, Alastair. Chasm City. 2001. New York: Ace Books, 2003.
———. Terminal World. New York: Ace Books, 2010.
Richerson, Carrie. “The City in Morning.” In Bending the Landscape: Original Gay and Lesbian Science Fiction, edited by Nicola Griffith and Stephen Paget, 232–41. Woodstock, NY: Overlook, 1999.
Robinson, Kim Stanley. Fifty Degrees Below. New York: Bantam, 2005.
———. Forty Signs of Rain. New York: Bantam, 2004.
———. The Gold Coast. New York: Tor, 1988.
———. Green Mars. New York: Bantam, 1994.
———. Red Mars. New York: Bantam, 1993.
———. Sixty Days and Counting. New York: Bantam, 2006.
———. 2312. New York: Orbit, 2012.
———. “Venice Drowned.” 1981. In Remaking History and Other Stories. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 1994.
———. The Wild Shore. New York: Ace, 1984.
Rusch, Kristine Kathryn. Anniversary Day. Lincoln City, OR: WMG Publishing, 2011.
———. City of Ruins. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2011.
Sargent, Pamela. Cloned Lives. Greenwich, CT: Fawcett, 1976.
Sawyer, Robert. Red Planet Blues. New York: Ace, 2013.
Scalzi, John. “Utere Nihil Non Extra Quiritationen Suis.” In Metatropolis, edited by John Scalzi, 159–210. Burton, MI: Subterranean, 2009.
Scott, Melissa. Burning Bright. New York: Tor, 1993.
Shirley, John. City Come A-Walkin’. 1980. New York: Four Walls, Eight Windows, 2000.
Silverberg, Robert. The World Inside. 1971. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2010.
Simak, Clifford, City. 1952. Baltimore: Old Earth Books, 2004.
Smith, Cordwainer. “The Ballad of Lost C’Mell.” 1962. In The Best of Cordwainer Smith, 227–306. Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, 1975.
———. “The Dead Lady of Clown Town.” 1964. In The Best of Cordwainer Smith, 117–92. Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, 1975.
———. “Under Old Earth.” 1966. In The Best of Cordwainer Smith, 193–234. Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, 1975.
Smith, David Alexander. “Dying in Hull.” 1988. In Future Boston: The History of a City, 1990–2100, edited by David Alexander Smith, 71–82. New York: Tor, 1994.
Steele, Allen. Lunar Descent. New York: Ace, 1991.
Stephenson, Neal. The Diamond Age. New York: Bantam, 1995.
———. Snow Crash. New York: Bantam Spectra, 1992.
Sterling, Bruce. Islands in the Net. New York: Ace, 1989.
Varley, John. Dark Lightning. New York: Ace, 2014.
Whates, Ian. City of Dreams and Nightmares. Nottingham, UK: Angry Robot, 2010.
Zahn, Timothy, Heir to the Empire. 1991. New York: Ballantine, 2011.
FILMS AND TELEVISION PROGRAMS
The Abyss. Dir. James Cameron. 1989.
Akira. Dir. Katsuhiro Otomo. 1988.
Alphaville. Dir. Jean-Luc Godard. 1965.
Babylon 5. 1994–98.
Battlestar Galactica. 2004–9.
Blade Runner. Dir. Ridley Scott. 1982.
A Boy and His Dog. Dir. L. Q. Jones. 1975.
Captain Nemo and the Underwater City. Dir. James Hill. 1969.
City of Ember. Dir. Gil Kenan. 2008.
Demolition Man. Dir. Marco Brambilla. 1983.
Escape from New York. Dir. John Carpenter. 1981.
Futurama. 1999–2013.
I Am Legend. Dir. Francis Lawrence. 2007.
In Time. Dir. Francis Nicol. 2011.
Just Imagine. Dir. David Butler. 1930.
The Last Man on Earth. Dir. Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow. 1966.
Logan’s Run. Dir. Michael Anderson. 1976.
Metropolis. Dir. Fritz Lang. 1927.
Minority Report. Dir. Steven Spielberg. 2002.
The Omega Man. Dir. Boris Sagal. 1971.
Snowpiercer. Dir. Joon-Ho Bong. 2013.
Soylent Green. Dir. Richard Fleischer. 1973.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. 1993–99.
Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Dir. George Lucas. 1999.
Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Dir. George Lucas. 2002.
Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Dir. George Lucas. 2005.
THX 1138. Dir. George Lucas. 1971.
Total Recall. Dir. Paul Verhoeven. 1990.
WALL-E. Dir. Andrew Stanton. 2008.