In the cartoon Futurama, New York City was an idealized version of the cities of the future: hyperlinked and highly technological with robots fully integrated into society. While we still don’t have flying taxis and tele-transportation solutions, innovation has nevertheless begun to impact modern society with the development of smart cities. Silicon Valley, a once sleepy area just south of the San Francisco Bay Area, now runs on technological innovation and as a result, it powers the same advancements at a global level.

The strategic research and development arsenals within companies like Google, Facebook and Apple have allowed Silicon Valley to consolidate regional wealth and cultivate entirely interdependent economies, making it one of the most expensive places in the world to live. It may not have been the city that cartoons envisioned but it is undoubtedly shaping the world to come.