The vertical cities: reality or utopia of the future

Growth of population affects the increase in demand for development of new areas. The article discusses current problems and trends in the development of vertical cities of the future. The last decade has seen the consolidation of the urban environment and the transition of urban planning from horizontal to vertical. The structure of future vertical cities minimizes land use and contributes to solving environmental problems and de-urbanization. The authors analyze the origin of «utopia» word and its meaning in the concepts of utopian cities since ancient times. The formation of a comfortable vertical city is a utopia aimed at turning it into the reality of the future. A general analysis of space-planning and architectural solutions of modern concepts helped to formulate the basic principles of creating a vertical city. The identified criteria of the architectural space will allow humanity to live in a comfortable environment, including the period of forced critical conditions. During the research, we presented a hypothesis of the emergence of vertical cities in the world and in Russia. The study can become the basis for forecasting the processes of urbanization and deurbanization, also as a concept creation for the development of a sustainable model of the future vertical city