Shanghai doesn’t feel like the future in a vague, marketing-slogan way. It feels like the future in a literal one: things exist and function here that most cities are still rendering in concept videos. Seven places that made me check what year it was.
1. The Maglev to Pudong Airport
431 km/h, floating on magnets, airport to city edge in about eight minutes. It opened over twenty years ago, which somehow makes it more impressive, this has been normal here for two decades.
2. Shanghai Tower’s Observation Deck
The second-tallest building on Earth, with an elevator that hits roughly 18 meters per second. Your ears pop before you’ve finished reading the safety notice.
3. Lujiazui’s Elevated Walkways
A circular pedestrian loop threading between megatowers. At night, with the LED facades running, walking it feels like being inside a screensaver.
4. The Bund, Facing Forward
The classic view, colonial stone behind you, sci-fi skyline in front. The century gap across one river is the most cinematic urban contrast I’ve filmed anywhere.
5. 1000 Trees
A building that’s also a mountain that’s also a forest, hundreds of planted columns rising over Suzhou Creek. Architecture as landscape.
6. West Bund Art District
Former industrial riverfront converted into museums, hangar galleries and skate-friendly concrete. It’s what every city says its waterfront will become in 2035, already finished.
7. The Metro, Honestly
Over 800 kilometers of it, the largest network in the world, clean, fast, and signposted better than most airports. Infrastructure is rarely the highlight of a trip. Here it’s a legitimate attraction.
Go before 2050. It’s already there waiting.
