Metaverse is one of the emerging concepts of the 21st century. Apple and Microsoft are two businesses that believe at least some of tomorrow's world will take place in the metaverse. In order to achieve this companies are spending a buck load of money on research and development. 

Recently Microsoft just paid US$68.7 billion to acquire the industry titan Activision Blizzard. Therefore it is high time that people should start thinking about how the metaverse would affect their lives in the future. Metaverse’s introduction for sure would affect the future cities' appearance.

Science fiction not science or technology is where the phrase "metaverse" first appeared. In 1992 Neal Stephenson introduced the phrase to describe a dystopian virtual city in his book titled Snow Crash. The image of Stephenson's metaverse is that of an extremely long boulevard produced by supercomputers. The metaverse in his book is a virtual urban environment totally governed by private interests those of the global leaders in digital technology and big businesses that have either purchased or hired the areas.

Metaverse would have numerous impacts on the real world. Starting with social activities several metropolitan attractions like theatres dining establishments museums and historical sites will experience a decline in the number of visitors coming through their doors. The infrastructure resources and acreage required to house the computer servers that power the metaverse will increase as it will expand. Although the experiences are virtual their costs in terms of money energy and the environment will continue to rise with time.

In addition to removing the limitations of distance and lowering our reliance on urban transportation virtual meetings will also let us choose a venue for a meeting anywhere on the planet. The helmet makes viewers feel as though they are in the stadium while watching the game and enables them to use hand signals to communicate with the screen.

Many businesses including Samsung and Nike who have opened stores in the metaverse hold the belief in metaverse shopping. Recently the apparel line of Ralph Lauren debuted a digital line in the immersive Roblox universe. Though it might seem premature or even a little far-fetched to envision a time when social interactions take place in the metaverse the transformation has already begun.

With its HoloLens augmented reality helmet Microsoft has already provided a glimpse of the metaverse events. The Sundance Film Festival is one significant event that has already moved to virtual settings and singers like Ariana Grande J. Balvin and Travis Scott are giving virtual performances. Additionally more and more physical activities will be done digitally including traveling. Another example is the business Tempo which offers in-home workouts with a virtual personal trainer using artificial intelligence.

Although useful this transition to the metaverse will alter how people would engage with urban environments. This in turn compels us to reevaluate our goals for cities. Many cities still put a lot of effort into increasing the amount and quality of their parks and green spaces. Nonetheless if tomorrow's city people conduct the activities of congregating socializing and exercising online the use of parks and green spaces would perish.

The advantages of living in a city might be lessened if urban areas and the industries that support them were no longer necessary. There might be a fresh urban exodus if many people will be able to perform their social and physical activities remotely from the metaverse in addition to working from home. Numerous metropolitan areas infrastructures and constructions will need to be reinvented. 

Nonetheless to determine what functions we want the metaverse to perform in future cities current inhabitants should get involved. There isn't much that can be done to stop Stephenson's nightmarish metaverse from coming to pass. At least people would be able to limit or expand its influence at their convenience if they would start thinking about it today.