HIVE CITIES: Reality or Fiction?

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00:00 INTRO
01:44 ARCOLOGY
05:10 METABOLISM
08:43 PARASITIC ARCHITECTURE
12:38 THE TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS AND CONCLUSIONS
#hivecity #architecture #warhammer40k #cyberpunk
This video examines Hive Cities, massive structures from the Warhammer 40K universe, symbolizing extreme class divides and survival struggles. It contrasts these with real-world concepts like arcologies and Parasitic Architecture, questioning humanity's survival instincts and the potential impact of AI on future societal structures.

[@DamiLeeArch]

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[@fredashay]

Kowloon on steroids!

[@fredashay]

Oh, and the astronauts on the ISS drink recycled pee water every day. Just sayin'....

[@devonbrockhaus6554]

Asimov's 3 laws need to be applied to all A.I. You'd probably have those rules selectively suspended for an elite's benefit, though. That's why A.I. can't be given to an anachronism like a political body. It'd be akin to furnishing slaveholders with tasers.

[@AMPProf]

@@devonbrockhaus6554 Exsuses exsuses..All Hail the One all Hail the AI

[@AMPProf]

[@robertgronewold3326]

Another bit of lore about the Hive Cities of Warhammer 40K is that most of them were originally stable and functional archologies built during the 'Dark Age of Technology', or the time period over 10,000 years before when there was an abundance of more advanced technology. The humans of the Imperium of Man lost the ability to create or even understand the technology, and so the Hive Cities just started to degrade and fester, killing the very planets that they were meant to originally safeguard.

[@Lightice1]

Though many of the Hive Cities were built on planets that were never capable of sustaining life independently to begin with, because they had valuable resources and the Imperium required massive output of both war machines and people to operate them. So these cities were always dependent on agricultural worlds, planets converted completely into farmland, to sustain themselves.

[@busterdog9455]

man the more I learn about 40k the more depressing it gets

[@yudeok413]

​@@Lightice1 the point is that these cities were there BEFORE the imperium so what you are talking about (over population, ecological collapse , all the social horrors) happened after the loss of the technology.

[@robertgronewold3326]

@@busterdog9455 That's entirely the point. It's the poster child of the Grim Dark genre of fiction. Its tailor made to suck from every angle.

[@KleptomaniacJames]

@@robertgronewold3326 It kinda sucks at that because it just become goofy. Oh, 100000 people died because a city shifted. Lmao. It's grimdark, but its more of a comedy than a soul-crushing verse to me.

[@phoenixtangent5647]

Funny that you mention AI at the end of the video. If you dive deeper into the lore of warhammer 40k, hive cities are the way they are BECAUSE of a massive intergalactic war that started because AI created by humanity rebelled against humanity. Hive cities were supposed to be utopias but the intergalactic AI war ended what they were supposed to be.

[@kieran2221]

Are you sure? I feel that you'd find it was just domes atop domes. The original colony ships landed, and the original domes were formed. Then they built up atop one another, heading towards the stars.

[@kaiser5910]

I wouldn't say it was the war itself (or the end of the Dark Age of Technology itself) but the decline in understanding and knowledge that came after. No one really knows how the technologies that should have kept the hives running is supposed to work, so they can't repair it. It's like to keep a modern skyscraper running with the technological understanding of the 17th century. And a ban on research on top

[@dwagonswayer.4835]

@@kieran2221Hive cities were designed to have minimal interference in environment damages before old night.

[@notthatgerry]

@@kieran2221 Remember that the STCs that allow the humanity to dominate at the begining of the Dark Age of Technology were mostly wipped out leaving humanity resourceless and uncommunicated to each other. The human colonies of the worlds had to fight for their survival during the Age of Strife. So it is pretty interesting the author to mentioned the counter part of "What if A.I. denies resources to humanity" because that's exactly what happend on WH40k, opening the possibility on our own universe. Which of course is amazing because then may be the God-Emperor of Mankind is over there pulling the strings towards the Imperium of Man. THE EMPEROR PROTECTS!!!!!!

[@dkbros1592]

@@kieran2221 yes it was designed for colonization in human golden era in warhamer 40k this was just remained worst when Emperor got stuck on golden throne

[@support_mage]

it's like the saying- "an architect's dream is an engineering nightmare"

[@theomen49]

I love it when non-warhammer people look at the 40k universe, it's fun to get an outsider's perspective. It's funny that you brought up AI at the end, in 40k humanity is in a state of technological and societal decline which was brought about by a war with AI that humanity barely survived.

[@gustavoritter7321]

It may not have been a war, according to some theories

[@vornamenachname989]

​@@gustavoritter7321What else would it have been according to theories?

[@gustavoritter7321]

@@vornamenachname989 Some think the AIs simply left and went away

[@nuclearsimian3281]

Something you might be interested in, is that Hive Cities were originally meant to be idyllic paradises, they weren't hellish wastes when they were at their peak, they could fully sustain a total massive population in the tens of billions, but since then, the entire society that used to know how to maintain them has fallen from grace, and fallen into total ruin, the architecture and engineering knowledge to build one is totally lost and cannot be reverse engineered. They're toxic hellholes now because the few people that figured out how to run certain systems are doing just as much damage to everything and everyone around them.

[@sparkyfromel]

historically , cities always had a negative birthrates , thy rely for their population on influx from outside , mostly from the countryside for a hive city to sustain itself , some population policy would have to be implemented possibly on some form of compulsory breeding or maybe rise or drop in status

[@LovelyHick]

@@sparkyfromel Most planets built for mining without a lick of farming capabilities would go down the road of cannibalizing 80% of the population once all transportation and communication went tits up for centuries from what i understand, irl i doubt we would immediately mad max ourselves once the computer lady stopped doing math for us x)

[@nickcarroll8565]

@@LovelyHickthey already kind of do in warhammer 40k. Corpse starch is a staple of their diet.

[@LovelyHick]

@@nickcarroll8565 Such a wonderful image WH40K is of the future, cant stop thinking about the happy gas mask noises that go with that starch ^^

[@sleepyburrito6348]

Part of the reason for the architecture and engineering not being able to be reverse-engineered is the blanket bans on technological advancement, or "tech heresy," from the Adeptus Mechanicus. It's not so much that things *can't* be reverse-engineered, it's that the society has expressly forbidden the advancements that would be needed in order for them to be reverse-engineered out of quasi-religious zeal. Developing, or even researching, new technology (or even old, lost technology) is considered a punishable sin by the theocratic state; it's a satire by exaggeration of real-world regressive policies.

[@Gizimpy]

Warhammer does social commentary in the most head-on, brutal, and often hilarious ways possible. "What if we depicted a system of hierarchical economic exploitation, that demands the ever increasing consumption of obviously limited resources, which will lead to its own inevitable demise, as a literal thing?" Also yes, the idea that humans are always only a few steps away from barbarism is an essential element of 40k in many ways. Others have suggested good 40k topics, but a Titan might be fun to cover; it's basically a walking building.

[@estebanatachaoarguedas6321]

A walking fortress, in fact.

[@Ornzora]

And then imagine the GIANT SHIP, it's a hove city that constantly floating and engaging in battle

[@alexanderklimek9354]

⁠@@estebanatachaoarguedas6321a walking Fortress Monastery - because some of them straight up cathedrals with Admech worshippers actively praying in them as they march to war

[@ortegonadam]

Howls moving castle or the steam castle from steamboy comes to mind 👀🖤

[@Zectifin]

warhammer is a criticism of warlike imperialism and fascism, so its funny the number of people who have no media literacy and think the imperium are the good guys and a "necessary evil". part of the reason so many people fall to chaos is because of the rigid brutal human society that is the only option to live under and the humans have no allies since they treat all xenos as untrustworthy scum.

[@MehnixIsThatGuy]

There are also "Hive Sprawls" which are Hive cities spread over entire continents. Basically like how towns in reality merge into cities but over thousands of years. Tertium from the 40k Darktide game is one such example.

[@Spudtron98]

Tertium's a regular hive city, I think. It's huge, but not _that_ huge.

[@turtleofpride4572]

Hive worlds are a thing too. Necromunda

[@josephfalardeau7841]

@@turtleofpride4572 But Necromunda is a dying planet, thet drain all ressource.

[@josephfalardeau7841]

They have many type of hive planet, cuz the main use of a Hive is packing the more people in less surface possible to allow more exploitation of the land. That could be for mining or farming

[@StallionStudios1234]

Ahh interesting, kinda like in Judge Dredd and how the Megacities formed.

[@Sherudons]

The thing about recycling being sinister in 40k is because it is, you don't bury the dead, you recycle them into paste that's eaten, nothing is wasted, the populations are usually kept in check due to tithes to either the guard, the navy or mechanicus. So while it is a miserable squalor it never truely reaches critical mass where they boil out of the ground... unless chaos.

[@Mattstanley75]

Good old corpse starch, just like Momma used to make.

[@DuhBla]

Atophagy but on a massive human scale.

[@nickashby4585]

​@@Mattstanley75just like grandma once made

[@TwoRavensMinis]

"Now kids, if you don't eat grandma, you can't have any dessert." "Oh, what for dessert!?" "That's a surprise. Oh by the way, the dog died."

[@thepolarianempire]

Not all bodies are turned until corpse starch that’s only on hive worlds most other worlds don’t have the population issues of hive worlds

[@headoverheels88]

Never in a million years did I ever think Warhammer was going to be subject of an architectural analysis. 🤣 That was a trip to watch. Kudos!

[@MilitaryHistory1]

almost expected the sponsor to be Tacticus huh?

[@Zectifin]

its probably the best and most popular depictions of hive cities so it makes sense.

[@brushdogart]

For a setting that was simply made to hold up a table-top war-gaming system, Warhammer 40k has some pretty impressive lore. Despite the absurdly horrific nature of much of the setting, the development of the various cultures are surprisingly believable and you can understand the sacrifices they are willing to make for safety.

[@ihavenojawandimustscream4681]

I don't know about the 'believable' part man, there are literal space orcs that can affect reality just by believing hard enough in 40k

[@TheFifthHorseman_]

Not safety. Survival, and perhaps not even that - just staving off extinction.

[@underarmbowlingincidentof1981]

I mean it's grimdark. and 40k "lore" is famous for not really existing. Nothing is lore. Everything is lore. That's the beauty of 40k I guess. In the end if it isn't bad enough you just have to imagine it worse. grimdark babey!!

[@Zectifin]

the reason 40k has blown up in popularity is mostly the lore, the models and the tabletop game a much lesser reason. the setting is awesome.

[@einargs]

It is not believable. There are elements of truth in it, because the heart of parody is a kernel of truth. But e.g. the dark eldar are just completely unbelievable, and the imperium as a whole while a great parody of fascism and its inherent truths is not believable. It would never actually last 10 millennia.

[@Spudtron98]

A particular danger in these hellholes are 'Hivequakes', which are what happens when a deep section finally deteriorates to the point that it collapses under the weight of everything above it. The resulting cascade can kill thousands or even millions, and still barely make the news if they don't damage anything actually deemed important.

[@Marinealver]

Originally that was only the Necromundia Hives which later GW just made them all the same. Vahalla were considered upside down where they were buried underground closer to the warm mantel instead of the frozen surface and Mordia is just a city that spans the equator being the only habitable place on the tidally locked planet.

[@charnalking]

re Mordia: its longitude not latitude so I think it would be a meridian not an equator.

[@kreigguardsman3355]

Is mordia for the Ciaphus Cain novels

[@what4521]

@@kreigguardsman3355 As far as I know no, it was another planet with similiar conditions.

[@happychappy492]

They sound like 15 min cities

[@bashermus9325]

@@happychappy492 if you think that you dont know what youre talking about

[@023barney]

When I watched your video about Kowloon Walled City, my first impression was: that's the closest thing to an actual Hive City. The boundaries, the limited resources, the society and environment evolving together, new buildings popping of on top of eachother... Thanks to the Emperor, we don't have to worry about genestealer cults, right? :D

[@anowl673]

I'm really surprised they didn't mention literally the most realistic example of a Hive city.

[@SentinalhMC]

@@anowl673 I mean it was demolished

[@scirrhia_kruden]

​@@SentinalhMCYeah, but she DID already do a video on it, so all the ground work was there to incorporate it.

[@theghostwolf15]

I will say to my self its a crossover video

[@darkwing3713]

Yes, I was thinking that the hive city looks almost like it was built on top of Kowloon Walled City.

[@bonemarrow884]

Never thought you’d talk about warhammer 40k! This video is awesome :)

[@diredier]

same :D

[@Alertacobra12]

The Emperor has blessed us with this video

[@HydraulicDesign]

ALL KZbin genres will eventually do 40K content. MUST do 40k content. You hear that Babish?

[@sgs9932]

Reminds me of Varangantua from Warhammer 40K Crime.

[@mill2712]

​​@@HydraulicDesign Which genres and KZbinrs that don't normally do 40K would make surprisingly good 40K videos? An architecture video by DamiLee is one of those surprising ones.

[@noodle1606]

Your videos about different types of architecture and explaining the functions and stuff in a digestible way really helped me able to understand how certain things would and wouldn't work within my own little stories about futuristic technology.

[@SienAppelsien]

This reminds me of a structure in a series that I always loved. The boat city in suisei no gargantia. In that anime, humans have left earth because the whole planet flooded, but some 'ancient' civilisations stayed behind to live on boats. They fish up old building materials and add houses on top like its a parasite. It got a few boats connected to each other and the buildings are massive. It really is done beautifully in that series

[@drchops]

Never in my life have I *ever* been interested or entertained by architecture, but the presentation and storytelling skills of this channel are incredible. I'm hooked!

[@freedonx]

ditto! I don't know how I arrived to this channel...yet here I am watching interesting videos

[@dorcaswinter8296]

Bro agree!!

[@rickrichter5068]

I'm more impressed with every viewed video ❤

[@artryanrock]

Your storytelling ability is exceptional

[@AntonySimkin]

Came here to say that.. she is good.

[@currentlypooping]

It truly is! I never thought I would binge an architecture channel so hard, I LOVE this channel :)

[@artryanrock]

@@currentlypooping Me also. This channel is the reason why I became more interested in architecture and curious about topics related to it

[@coffeelocks]

I got an architectures digest subscription thanks to this woman. And I'm a dumb dumb.

[@juiceereal]

This channel and others have made me want to pursue a career in some type of architecture/urban planning

[@peterdmcastro]

I am just discovering your channel and it's great! Your production value, research, writing, personality, and your blending of fiction, folklore, and history is so incredibly well done! Subbed!

[@cloudtouched]

I gotta say I love the way you tell your stories and and details and visuals you put in the videos. they are so neat. Keep doing great things!

[@poultrybird9750]

As a Warhammer 40k nerd, who also has interests in architecture this video was great

[@dlvnmedia]

Warhammer got me interested in architecture in general

[@gerbill13]

What is wild is load bearing walls are tech heresy

[@greasybumpkin1661]

I think you mean "interests in gothic architecture and no other heretical / alien architecture" or do I need to call an inquisitor?

[@thomasmann9727]

but shallow as pudle in 40K Lore an actual engineering, int was more taiment- than info

[@poultrybird9750]

@@greasybumpkin1661 I mean Craftworlds got a nice vibe and ork design has a certain charm

[@vicentedacosta]

Brazil has a lot of proto-hive cities in the form of Favelas. The chaos, the need for simply surviving is basically the same but in a much smaller scale. Loved the video

[@Tzinacacihuatl]

The ring around Mexico city is like that too and it has *insane* architecture as well.

[@chaomatic5328]

We went through a favela at Rio, once. It was to hike up the nearby mountain :D Even from atop the mountain, they look like huge, red patches, but only if you don't compare it with nearby rich buildings. You realize how small each buildings and dense the favelas are, and I always wondered if those suffered catastrophic structural collapses in the past, because Brazil's wet climate have a tendency to corrode metals quickly. Favelas make me wonder how much moderation (police, inspections...) we really need in order to live, they seem to hold out pretty well on their own (outside of gang wars).

[@HaTerM4n]

@@chaomatic5328 iirc the favelas are highly sought after and preferred as main headquarters and distribution centers by gangs because of its dense architechture. it makes defending from law enforcement and rival gangs significantly easier; they are quite literally designed for criminal activity.

[@user-ie4tt1xp7j]

I admire favelas. There is something deeply natural in that. Organic and realistic.

[@ls200076]

​@@chaomatic5328 Bro, you don't want to live in favelas.

[@roselandacademyshorts5571]

This was really interesting! This isn't my usual kind of video, so KZbin took a shot in the dark recommending your channel to me haha, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and can't wait to see more!

[@KarKarBinks]

Wow this has to be one of the best youtube videos ive seen this year. love the animations, facts and the story telling is amazing. Subbed

[@Lakrimoz]

As someone who's been into 40K since the 90's - its absolutely awesome to see this niche hobby being discovered by such a wider audience :)

[@johnrex7108]

You won't like what they do with it.

[@benoitbergeron8858]

As a gamer, the owners of the franchise didn't exactly held a tight leash on it. The quality of the games vary a lot. This can't be good for a franchise, but lately a few quality games have been making it to the mainstream.

[@razortheonethelight7303]

@@benoitbergeron8858 Eh, I would rather a company be a little bit more loose with who they let make games with their IP than a company who is extremally strict and won't allow for any creativity with. Being more loose also mean that smaller dev teams with not as much money could get use of the IP and make cool games like WH40K Gladius. However I do see your point about how that could damage the image of a IP but ya know if people are going to dislike a franchise just because they don't have many great games then those people are best to be ignored as there is a lot more to 40K than some not so great games.

[@headoverheels88]

It's been crazy right??? And the fact that there's a Henry Cavill-lead TV show is wild to me. I wonder how dark they're going to go because...

[@headoverheels88]

@@razortheonethelight7303 I mean, the MCU hasn't destroyed Marvel comics.

[@axeper0302]

Very excellent video as usual, just a minor lore correction. The lower hive workers don't just consume "leftovers". They mainly consume this thing called corpse starch, which yes..is recycled humans. 40k kinda thrives in its absurd levels of dark writing. Bonus note: About the AI at the end there, 40k does also have a section about that. The imperium completely banned it because long ago, before the current imperium, humanity was far more advanced and powerful mostly due to AI. But like as is sci-fi tradition, the AI, referred to as men of iron, rebelled against humanity and nearly wiped them out. This kickstarted the age of strife which pushed humanity to the brink, its kinda the foundation to what happened afterwards.

[@philltheotherguy1868]

Alongside corpse starch, the lower hive does eat essentially the recycled sewage of the upper levels, it’s not all cannibalism down there.

[@martinjrgensen8234]

“Soylent green is people”

[@Hatypus]

No, they don't mostly consume corpsestarch, that's generally been exagerrated by memes. Corpse starch is typically an emergency ration. The denizens of the lower hive proper and underhive consume leftovers, recycled items intended simply for basic sustenance, and what things they can make for themselves, or grow in the terrible conditions.

[@MrQuantumInc]

That isn't their main food source, but there is a lot more detail on how corpse starch is made.

[@sirpieman300]

corpse starch is really only for emergency's in most hives

[@Okada_Caelun]

A brief backstory of lore for those watching this video who are not familiar with Warhammer 40k: Humanity at one point expanded across the stars and were doing well. Their technology was great, perhaps on par or even surpassing Star Trek even. Then it all came crashing down. AI uprisings and wars against aliens devastated humanity, while increasing numbers of Warp Storms (phenomena that prevent FTL travel) cut off worlds from vital supply routes. In some cases, worlds were isolated for so long as to fully revert to mideveal or even caveman ways of life. Tremendous amounts of knowledge were lost forever. So ended the "Dark Age of Technology." So began the "Age of Strife" It was the year 25,000. Those living on Mars, dependent on temperamental machinery to survive, started to literally worship machines hoping to convince them to function. They also developed a mindset that "If it deserves to exist, it was already invented." Essentially, invention is heresy, and "new tech" must be recovered from Dark Age archaeological finds. When the Imperium was founded on Earth, the Emperor made allies of the Martians rather than fight a war with them. Thus, with these "Tech-Priests" in charge of all technology, a now bitter and jaded humanity spread forth to reclaim the galaxy. This was in the year 30,000. The modern setting of 40k is set in the year 41,000. I'm skipping over the demon invasions and space orcs to keep this tirade short and relevant to the video. 40k is an inherently dark setting, to a famously ridiculously degree. Hive Cities are a common enough sight, in come cases you even get Hive Worlds (where the entire planet's surface is covered by a Hive City). This is a setting where trillions die on a daily basis fighting wars for the sake of survival humanity is losing. A couple million dead in a single city isn't a tragedy, so hilariously absurd is the scale of the setting. If anything, the ruthless dregs from the Underhives are often spoken highly of, since the setting is always looking for born survivors to become "heroic" warriors.

[@OniGG]

She doesn't know it but she literally made the best warhammer 40k lore video in youtube like ever and i've watched thousands

[@degiomon369]

Can't believe you did a video somewhat related to 40k! So interesting, great job as usual

[@dooms8870]

Somebody tag Henry Cavil on this video, he can build scenes around this deeper concept.

[@yukikun9685]

I studied Literature for my undergrad. I wish I had your channel back then I would have been able to think of a bomb thesis! imagine studying the architecture in mangas or graphic novels. oh the beautiful theories! still these wonderful episodes are just super interesting and lovely!

[@jameslude3146]

Ok, now she has to talk about the imperial palace on terra. I think it would be interesting to analyze the differences before the seige of terra compared to during it. As well as trying to get in the headspace of Rogal Dorn as an architect.

[@paulalagar892]

I am fortifying this position

[@nekrataali]

"What if we got rid of all the trash on Mount Everest and replaced it with a giant castle that can shoot things on the other side of the solar system?"

[@dektarey4024]

Lets turn this channel into a 40k one.

[@weldonwin]

"There is no space in my head, it is too full of brain matter..." *- TTS Rogal Dorn*

[@volsenimack1135]

I AM REINSTALLING THE PALACE

[@Atzy]

When the idea that we're entering an age of abundance where everything will be solved by AI was broached I literally got chills. In the lore of Warhammer 40k, this is exactly what leads to the downfall of humanity,

[@slumsnake1303]

This can hardly be called death, rather a severe decline.

[@Atzy]

@@slumsnake1303wtf are you talking about?

[@slumsnake1303]

@@Atzy Warhammer reveals little about how people lived in the dark age of technology, other than the fact that the power of AI was unchallenged. The paradox is that the decline we see in 40,000 may be a reset of society, not a fall. People are no longer slaves to AI, but they have to pay dearly for it. On the other hand we have the Eldar, who have taken a different path. They did not have a revolt of machines, their life turned into a utopia, but it still almost destroyed them and on a scale much larger than humanity.

[@williansnobre]

Kinda. At first the AI made humanity reach absurd levels of advancement, the STC are probably AI but the Mechanicum would never admit it, but eventually, due to over dependance on AI, when something went wrong, everything was shaken down with some worlds going back to the stone age. The fall hurts more when you reach higher.

[@Atzy]

@@slumsnake1303Thanks for the lore dump. Now tell where I ever called anything "death".

[@lovegansaw]

I love Demi Lee for excellent architecture narratives and commentaries. Make me interested in architecture! Love you!

[@lunanovaa_]

super awesome, informative, interesting and well-made video!! keep up the great stuff!

[@tannergee]

I'm really surprised there wasn't comparison to the Kowloon Walled City. The heavy density and natural growth and parasitic architecture built up on a small geographic foot print. It's a real world example if what a Hive city could look like. It's all I could think about when watching the episode on the Kowloon walled city, was how it resembled a Hive city

[@DamiLeeArch]

Yes we did discuss it but it didn’t make it into the video. I think part of it was it felt redundant since we already discussed it! Now I wish I did though after seeing the comments on Kowloon.

[@rylanconnolly523]

@@DamiLeeArch You could easily fill a whole video with comparisons between the two. Necromunda, another game in the 40k universe, goes into far more detail about Hive Cities, and what living in one is like.

[@MikeSchinkel]

@DamiLeeArch - Ignore redundancy. Callbacks are the spice of storytelling. 😊

[@tannergee]

@MikeSchinkel I was mainly expecting, something along the lines of "an example from our world is the Kowloon walled city, which we have previously covered," and a link pop up in the corner.

[@xxxyz721]

Agreed, that’s the first thing I thought of…

[@Adaseuq]

This KZbin channel has quickly become one of my favorites. Architecture, culture, science, history...Dami and the team are doing amazing work.

[@KlaudiusL]

💐💐💐 Congrats on 1 Million Subs. You deserve more than that, great content chanel. 💐💐💐

[@saarlann]

Really well made inspirational video explaining all the factors and parameters. Great job.

[@nyeti7759]

Fantastic video. It's worth noting that when Warhammer 40,000 was conceived in 1987 it had a very strong element of satire, especially of contemporary politics, culture, and futurism, and the urban planning and architectural trends you talk about must have at least indirectly influenced the creators. It's no coincidence that the hive city concept comes across as a dystopian caricature!

[@temmy9]

yeah. I played warhammer 40k since the rogue trader days, and its orginal social context has long since been superseded.

[@luketfer]

Not only that but they were *heavily* influenced by Judge Dredd aka 2000AD comics. In those comics megacities are a thing, massive continent spanning cities seperated by atomic wasteland and they are 'walled in' much the same way Hive Cities in 40k are, in that they cannot spread out into the wastes so instead they build up. This ends up with the infamous 'blocks', huge towers which house an untold number of people and it isn't uncommon for 'block wars' to break out where neighbouring tower blocks will fight one another. This was in reference to the horrible tower blocks built in the 1950s and 60s that had become crime ridden places in the 80s (even to this day 'Council Estates' are usually seen as were the 'dregs' of humanity are put by the upper class).

[@gabesteinberg6244]

The claim that 40k was always satirical or social commentary is nothing but revisionism.

[@luketfer]

@@gabesteinberg6244 have you read Rogue Trader? It's very clearly meant to be satirical unless you somehow missed it.

[@temmy9]

@@gabesteinberg6244 yeah it was. anyone who lived through the 80's could see the satire. Orks were juvenile delinquents and soccer hooligans..they were literally originally depicted dressed like droogs from clockwork orange. Squats were bikers, space elves (as they were called) were new wavers and punks and the imperium itself was a parody of self deluded totalitarianism and theocracy.

[@TheHorzabora]

“Almost a caricature of a dystopian society.” Spot on catch, yes, it was - 40k as originally envisaged had a very hefty element of the British sarcastic dark humour born in the somewhat nilistic 70s and 80s, when there were no jobs, Thatcher was preaching trickle down economics, I mean, in the hive cities you have a literal vision of a society where the shit trickles down! I applaud you for approaching this concept so openly and honestly, you’ve done an amazing analysis of something others might dismiss as silly game fluff. For some of us, we grew up with or in a world shaped by that fluff, and it can touch some very real ideas, even if it’s probably impossible. I would also note that not all hive cities build ‘up’ - a couple of superb moments in often otherwise mediocre novels (sorry, Inquisition War trilogy, for one) describe how they grow organically with the constraints of their environments, so you have some that look like stacks of gigantic dinner plates, or (from Guns of Tanith, by Dan Abnett, a superior series but not it’s best novel) you have a world where the hive cities are build atop mountains, because the civilisation literally poisoned their atmosphere so badly it’s now a soup of waste and petrochemicals the ‘vapour mills’ at the heart of the city are used to extract and refine 20,000 years of accumulated toxic waste to create promethium, which is 40k petrol and so they take the form of vast domes clinging to mountain peaks, with the highest class areas being on the outside, where you get a view of the beautiful sky and clouds. Parasitic architecture might better be renamed symbiotic architecture, then it would catch on - and perhaps be more practical. The nod to the AI uprising at the end was excellent, and… I’ll believe a golden age of abundance when I see it. I was promised it by this time in my life, I wouldn’t encourage anyone younger than me to bet on it.

[@AlexanderBrinkman64]

The worst part is, an age of abundance is possible and attainable but it’s blocked and absorbed by a few who want everything for themselves.

[@CarlosGarcia-ze1mk]

@@AlexanderBrinkman64 With the advent of AI, this era of overabundance isn't just a distant dream-it's looming on the horizon. Will it be a utopia? Doubtful. Human greed being what it is, I can easily envision us regressing into a caste system, where the powerful states subsidize the population who would live in survival mod and essencial workers who cannot be replaced (yet) living good lives. The future, shaped by technology and human tendencies, seems like a murky path ahead. The main question I ponder is, how would social mobility work in this hypothesis? It wouldn't be a matter of production and resources anymore, as the demand for highly specialized labor would be minimal...

[@FalconWindblader]

@@AlexanderBrinkman64 I find it rather ironic that greed played a huge part in gathering what is materialistically necessary to bring about an age of abundance, yet it's the exact same greed that prevents us from actually reaching it. humanity is closer to achieving said age of abundance than ever before seeing how modern technology drastically reduced the amount of physical labor needed for production, transportation & even consumption of anything, where the basic amenities that a common person can have access to used to be restricted to only the likes of royalties, yet we still hafta deal with most of the same shit that has plagued humanity for millennia, simply because there will always be a bunch among the rich & powerful who wanna hoard just about everything for themselves, who wanna lord over everyone else just for the heck of it.

[@AlexanderBrinkman64]

@@FalconWindblader that’s a fantastic point and something of a paradox isn’t it? Something I completely overlooked. Where is the line of too much greed and not enough? I think that is what make political discourse so difficult. How do you promote growth in some areas, and control it in others?

[@scootsmcgoots]

Fascinating explanation on a subject I find super interesting. Thank you for making this!

[@willcifur]

OMG ! I started with one video and I am now going to spend my Sunday watching the rest. Next level content ma’am , next level !! 🥳

[@ba12357]

I remember a Science Fiction book by Stephen Baxter "Coalescent" in which a community forced underground evolved into a literal hive, like Naked Mole Rats. Interesting to think that an environment like a hive city might start forcing human evolution.

[@zalseon4746]

In some hive cities in 40k, it has. Nostramo's underclasses degraded into black eyed, albino freaks that look more like cave goblins than people. Lot of mutant civilizations, or messed up, slow burn, version of the xenomorphs will pop up in hive cities and cause revolts because they nobility genuinely paid zero mind for thousands of years and has no idea.

[@Asyndyn]

It does, though in The Imperium mutants are shunned or even killed, driving many obvious mutants into the underhive where they live among the muck and everything else unwanted in the hive itself.

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

Necromunda (the main 'hive city' scale system of the 40k stuff) has traditionally had a faction known as Ratskins to represent this, sump-level mutants who have been created through the millennia of constant toxic overflow. It's not part of the current-gen ruleset but it's likely to show up again eventually.

[@Arisilde]

Was super surprised to not get Kowloon city reference in this video, especially during the parasitic architecture section. You mused what would a city look like if that idea was followed. We've seen it :)

[@NatashaWarden]

I was about to mention walled city !!

[@thomaseley8386]

Yes spot on imo

[@SAIWFY]

If you check out the other video's they've made, they most definitely have already addressed Kowloon as a topic! Check out: "The Densest City In The World Had A (Strange) Secret".

[@Arisilde]

@@SAIWFY I'm aware. That doesn't actually address my point of the connection with the parasitic architecture comments in this video.

[@toonieven]

Honestly some of the coolest images and animations of 40k hives I've seen. And not even from a 40k channel. Major props!!

[@shawnburke-lm7gp]

Another awsome video. I want to know how big this channel will get. the growth has been amazing. Thank you

[@stodler-iz3er]

The funny thing is that the more resources we have, the less creative we are. Humanity flourishes when we overuse one resource. What I mean is that we use one material and it starts to cost too much then we look for a cheaper material that we can use in a similar or better way.

[@ernestmac13]

I disagree; it was the abundance of food that; even the simple beginnings of agriculture provided, that enabled hunter gathers to become more stationary. As agriculture improved and; thus it's productivity increased, it enabled small gatherings of people to grow into small villages, which in time grew into towns, and eventually the cities and even mega cities we see today. It's not the use of a material until its price becomes unaffordable; it's the development of new materials that are stronger, more easily manipulated, or have other properties. The technology S curve theory covers this, and shows how and why a specific technology ceases to be profitable and is replaced by a new technology with its own S curve.

[@HarrowKrodarius]

​@@ernestmac13 i both agree and disagree. The reason we have been able to get to the point of abundance of food is because we didn't have enough for it before we invented farming. So your argument kind of contradicts itself. It is a good point as in the fact that we wouldn't be able to do it without the abundance of food. as without farms most people had to wonder about, can we hunt and forage enough to survive the winter. So farming became a thing. but to keep a farm running, you need other resources. You could basically say that the first farms in the world. became the first villages, towns, cities. And so the people then needed resources like stones, Wood a lot more, And because it was tedious and inefficient, in the beginning, I mean chop a tree down with a feeble stick and stone axe. They discovered an harder material, something like Copper/Tin, Then they found out how to form it. with heat, thus most tools became Copper/Tin based. then bronze, then iron. and so on. the scarcity of one or more resources causes people to search for alternatives, to improve or replace certain materials. EDIT: Updated the comment I wrote on phone to try to better show my perspective of the point. With this I would like you to imagine the following: if Hunters (I include fish under hunters), and foragers could provide the same stability farms did. so that abundance of food was never the problem before farms. I think humanity would have evolved genetically and culturally different. Instead of wearing cotton, nylon, etc. clothes we would be wearing leather/wool clothes maybe farming would have been discovered way later. Or would we ever have been able to settle down and create the first city. Possibly, but at the same time, how would military history have changed. if this happened.

[@stodler-iz3er]

@@ernestmac13 You don't agree with what I wrote, but what you wrote doesn't refute my comment. More developed cultures were in areas that were more difficult to survive because they had to prepare for winter compared to areas where there was vegetation all year round. It was not the excess of food that led to the development of humanity, but the lack of it. People had to find ways to preserve and store food so that it did not spoil. They had to build durable and warm houses to avoid freezing. They used the easiest materials to obtain. Unfortunately, the materials that are the most explored end at some point and they need to be replaced with other ones. The lack of some raw materials leads to the search for others.

[@stodler-iz3er]

@@ernestmac13 Of Course what u wrote about food is correct. With empty stomach You will not think about creation and you need to have excess food to begin bigger project.

[@elishafollet5347]

Perhaps the reason why we seem to be uncreative after gaining many resources is because of the fact that we already spent many years experimenting with our materials until we found sufficient designs that work the best and thus we end up sticking to that design

[@TheKerson]

She did 40K!!! Congrats on the wonderful video @DamiLeee! Do you have any reading recommendation for storytelling? Your videos are always amazing.

[@Luiszelada22]

I’m so glad that I decided to watch this, what a wonderful way of presenting the information so it can be followed easily 🥹❤️ watching this and hearing about the parasitic nature of hive cities, I couldn’t help but think about Snow Piercer. Anyway, thank you for this! Your voice is very lovely to listen to :)

[@juancmoravergara]

Your storytelling is amazing, i never thought i would be interested in architecture, keep on the good work, is awesome!

[@Marauder99991]

Interesting that you refer to Hive Cities as 'pure chaos', that would get you executed for heresy in 40k! ;) The Imperium of Man bills itself as fanatical opponents of Chaos... while getting snared by it constantly. Great video!

[@VisonsofFalseTruths]

The Imperium is compromised by Khorn at its deepest levels. Virtually everything they do fuels the blood god, down to their blood-soaked and skull-festooned iconography. They literally use skulls as part of their worship.

[@Atzy]

There's a significant difference between chaos and Chaos

[@nicknox113]

@@AtzyThat sounds like Heresy-talk to me...

[@Marauder99991]

@@nicknox113 I've already informed the Witch Hunters.

[@EngineerOfVaul]

Not a crossover I was expecting, but one that is very welcome. Really enjoyed all the research you showed for this. Architecture in 40k is often absolutely insane like this. Hive cities, forgeworlds, agriworlds. Doubly so for the alien structures, like eldar craftworlds and necron tomb worlds.

[@erinhaywood4733]

I love this channel so much! I’ve told so many friends to watch it! You guys make great, very inspiring videos

[@alphatonic1481]

WTF the mosquito sound @9:35 freaked my out a lot since i use a surround sound setup on my PC i heard the mosquito fly around me.

[@iamapotato9247]

Same 😭😭 i got soooo spooked

[@heliopunk6000]

Just when you think, Dami Lee can't get more eye-opening, she discusses a scenario from Warhammer 40k 🤩 About this AI singularity and AI powered abundance talk... I don't buy it. It is too techno-optimistic. Loved your video, as always :)

[@GarioTheRock]

More of anything to do with 40k would be amazing, I would love to see anything about Commorragh, the Imperial Palace on Terra, or especially the Craft Worlds, or even anything to do with my favorite faction, the Necrons, for instance, their Tomb Worlds or even the smaller elements developed by them like tomb ships. I was already thrilled to find this channel almost a year ago but now, oh wow, I am just elated to know about you and your team. I absolutely adored this, thank you so very much! Phenomenal as always!!

[@dahammerslammer]

That was a great compliment you gave her and her staff I wish I could get a compliment like that sometimes about I won't cause I suck

[@kazwright1233]

Thank you! Nice to see you found a topic to build a solid foundation of subscribers :)

[@Scherbenprinzessin]

Thanks for tapping into Warhammer, that franchise is amazing and your video was a nice addition to it.

[@connormcguire484]

Incredible production! You and your team should feel accomplished with this incredible piece you’ve put together. The Emperor would be proud!

[@RedRocksies]

its easy when so much of it is done by AI thats trained on stolen intellectual property... but hey, its just yet another chapter of shameless exploitation in history of capitalism! :)

[@my_dad_came_back_with_milk]

The Emperor protects

[@JimmySpace69]

​@@my_dad_came_back_with_milk unfortunately, that milk is spoiled

[@my_dad_came_back_with_milk]

@@JimmySpace69 nah bro i drink that shit, it was great

[@JimmySpace69]

@@my_dad_came_back_with_milk you drank shít?!?

[@masterofspam1408]

This makes me want her to do a video about Holy Terra, and it plant wide hive cities. Ecumenopolis is the term if memory serves.

[@SordidusFellatio]

I still couldn’t comprehend that the Imperial Palace spanned the entirety of the Asia continent while the Inner part of the palace take place ontop of the Himalayas mountain ranges. That’s just unfathomably huge, even the Inner Palace itself was so damn huge enough that it can even fit two whole Titan legions deployed within the Inner Palace as a standby.

[@DavidJMann]

Thanks for another great video. Looking forward to the next! ❤

[@Suntear1]

A brilliant production. Thanks.

[@sppl623]

i think i just found one of my new favorite youtubers! Thanks dami and team this video is so insanely good!

[@legionaireb]

As a person who's been playing Necromunda since the 90s, I'm glad to see someone exploring the Hive City concept with a serious eye. It was very interesting to learn about the real-life parallels and inspirations for the ideas.

[@mr.mediocregamer9653]

You're really cool. And a great role model for young girls who want a job in a STEM field. These videos are very interesting.

[@valsalrveig]

thanks for the video

[@cobytang]

0:35 "The people feed off of each other" In the case of 40k, it's literal. AKA corpse starch

[@YanBaoQin]

I like how you managed to have a discussion of the architecture of Warhammer 40k and manage to keep the grimdark feel of it in your discussion. Damn good work!

[@alexandermoody1946]

The tragedy of the commons was that the gentry class stole the land. “ The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose off the common
But leaves the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from the goose. The law demands that we atone
When we take things we do not own
But leaves the lords and ladies fine
Who takes things that are yours and mine. The poor and wretched don’t escape
If they conspire the law to break;
This must be so but they endure
Those who conspire to make the law. The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
And geese will still a common lack
Till they go and steal it back.” This is a very old poem.

[@HipHopMovieNews]

This was brilliant! Thank you.

[@insanemang9983]

Im surprised you didn't mention the Kowloon walled city from china. It's an almost perfect representation of what a hive city would have been like.

[@randirgamechannel]

Perfect representation? What are you smoking lil bro i want some

[@Red1Green2Blue3]

Nonsense hyperbole. It was a slum, very similar to slums found throughout the world. It is utterly incomparable to any setting in 40K

[@SumitRana-life314]

She did have made a video about it on her channel some while ago.

[@indigodarkwolf]

Maybe not a "hive city", but the Kowloon walled city seems analogous to parasitic architecture. What about favelas? There seems to be some parallels between them and parasitic architectural practices as well.

[@RafitoOoO]

@@Red1Green2Blue3 it's not similar to regular slums at all. It looked like a box of people. Pretty bizarre.

[@toastybread0413]

"human rights become a luxury" oh architect Lee if only you knew how bad it is in 40k 🤣 I find myself giggling multiple times when she picks out how problematic the hive city can be as a 40k fan but jokes aside it's cool to see real life analogies and how hive cities could potentially be real places

[@immortalwarrior2695]

That's why Tau Empire is great. Yes they have issues but they are a million times better than other factions. Plus they have gundams and isikai Magic units

[@nekrataali]

"It's not a violation of the Geneva Conventions if they can't find Geneva on a map!" --someone somewhere in the Imperium of Man.

[@anettep6678]

So glad you mentioned The Line! It feels like a dystopian project from the get-go

[@Okoranasan]

I'd love to see an analysis of the city structure in Gravity Rush 1 and 2, since they both function so differently from each other, and it would be pretty cool to see what she makes of it.

[@charlesphilips2045]

I had a lot of wonderful experiences watching your channel this year. You have come a very long way, for your early days. Here is to an even better 2024.

[@oliverholm3973]

I'm glad I somehow stumbled my way into your channel recently, cause when I actively tried to find this kind of content for architecture, I just couldn't find any that appealed to me. This is really good content, thank you.

[@shootstackreload2823]

I don’t know much about war hammer outside of a few hours of dark tide but the way you explained this > instant sub

[@pqfire0950]

Dang i watched this whole thing. Good job making this so interesting.

[@dorcaswinter8296]

I LOVE channels that take topics that would normally go way over my head, and make them not only accessible but MEGA interesting!

[@Comicsluvr]

It's nice to hear about fictional concepts as they relate to real life. As a writer, I try not to go too far off the deep end of 'science as magic' and seeing a video like this provides great information as well as entertainment.

[@snowflower64]

Hey! Thank you for educating me about architecture by relating it to one of my interests :)

[@AuntieHauntieGames]

This was great. Arcology always reminds me of a favorite game of mine. The old Shadowrun tabletop roleplaying game leverages arcology design a lot in its worldbuilding, except the arcologies are typically created by megacorporations to house their employees and executives and sequester them away from the more dystopic and broken cities (like Seattle) that they are built inside.

[@MrCOLBSTAH]

I love how she was referring to it as Hive City as if there's just one... Considering in the 40k universe there's like planets covered in these things that build like starships and stuff

[@craigcook9715]

That sounds like Trantor (from the Foundation series by Asimov).

[@marcusperry9481]

This is an excellent video. I can’t help but think of the PC game Sim City 2000 with the Arcology-talk.

[@StrengthScholar0]

This is peak youtube. I am so happy I encountered this thought provoking and brilliantly executed video.

[@alvinjosephvaldez4837]

At first, I thought Hive Cities are cities that can cool it self like a termite inspired buildings. I hope you can also make a video about self cooling buildings or the modern approach for wind catchers. Love your content!

[@DamiLeeArch]

We made a video on Dune, where we found surprisingly interesting references, including termite mounds and wind catchers: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4bIpYOHmb59mJIsi=qWcJJpAEcPQoEetn

[@nekrataali]

In a lot of 40k stories, hive cities are described as "ant hills."

[@IamZeus1100]

As a huge fan of your videos and 40K ; this video is a dream come true ! Thank you for all the hard work you and your team put in to such quality research and content !

[@jordanbrancato7026]

thank you to the researcher(s) that do this work for us.

[@maxdelaserna9540]

Thanks for sharing the Arcolgy movement. Very enriching.

[@claykline2830]

I highly advise you to check out the book "High Rise " by JG Ballard which has to do with a sort of class war and chaos in a sort of mega building structure. It was very ahead of its time and has a lot to do with how architecture shapes the psyche and how these places nudge different instincts when decaying- the breakdown of social life in these settings is very eerie. Under-looked classic. Movie of it was not good however.

[@-briarn]

Every time that you post a video, I get so excited 😊 You have really brought me to architecture and I really enjoy it 😁

[@ArchieBC]

Bravo! I am so hooked on your videos now!

[@ahmedakmal9244]

I just want to say, this was really an amazing video, it's bee a while since I have seen a video this well put together and while taking a fantasy idea, into actual real life design and how it formed it my favorite part of world building. It's where I spend most of my time while preparing games as dungeon master in D&D, thinking about the radical ideas of hive cities, flying utopias and the most fun of them for me in the extreme circumstances like, the Dune universe by frank herbert, it's what got me thinking in this way in storytelling to being with. The human mutation to adapt to extreme environmental curcimcetances is an awesome concept to research and think about!

[@blackguardunlimeted]

LOVE IT! the content itself and the production is just perfect. a grim dark future ahead? Keep it up !

[@vaillencourt]

I absolutely did not expect to see a 40k video on your channel, but I love it! Speaking of the 40k setting, I'd really enjoy seeing an exploration of the idea of "gothic futurist" architecture, where you see these very traditional, ornate architectural styles applied to modern industrial structures. A bit like some of the early 20th century powerplants that I've seen on some of the urbex channels where there's extensive classical ornamentation, arches, etc. applied in a setting that we today would build as a purely utilitarian structure.

[@ericgrimes341]

Great content. Informative, i learned quite a lot.

[@renanalmeidadesouza6386]

THE CINEMATIC ASPECT OF THIS VIDEO, IMMACULATE

[@heathercurry898]

My favorite thing about modern cities is when they aren't one big central spot, but several unique spots that are connected by fast transit (like trains, so easy to get to), usually with lovely green space or parks in between. So they breathe but are exciting, and yet still connected and convenient.