In their article for the McKinsey Quarterly, “Thriving amid turbulence: Imagining the cities of the future,” Joe Frem, Vineet Rajadhyaksha, and Jonathan Woetzel suggest that the best cities of the future will likely have the following characteristics:

1. A work environment that attracts the best global talent. With flexible work spaces and working hours, and convenience enabled through technology, the ideal city will have a multi-skilled economy fueled by people with the training and education needed to adapt to ever-changing work requirements.
2. Flexible and environmentally sustainable. With environments that leverage prefabricated, modular building materials and efficient construction techniques, cities will be net generators of energy and food.
3. Zero to limited congestion. A shift in traffic patterns will result from more active mobility, new approaches to work and working hours, sustainable mobility solutions like autonomous electric vehicles, an increase in the utilized capacity of vehicles (for example, through ride sharing), and the conscious design of material and goods flows.
4. Pollution-free air, optimum ambient temperatures, and adequate exposure to sunlight. It will be critical for urban design to feature a network of interconnected parks, gardens and green facades, architecture that makes the best use of wind and shade, and the increasing use of renewable energy.
5. A clean and zero-wastage water supply chain. Green power will fuel desalination and purification, and cutting-edge water management systems will operate at city and user levels.
6. Convenient access to affordable, healthy, and fresh food. High-yield urban and vertical farming made possible with the latest technologies, in concert with an optimized supply chain, will ensure people get top-quality food.
7. Support for active lifestyles. Designed like a gymnasium, the city will have car-free or car-lite neighborhoods connected with walkable and bikeable streets and public spaces.
8. Inspiring landscapes and public spaces. Designed purposefully and built at least partially by the residents themselves, these places will create a strong sense of community and emotional attachment.
9. Layered and instantly available community protocols will enable service provision and community interaction on a 24/7 basis.
10. No physical or virtual crime. Artificial intelligence-enabled surveillance of physical and virtual networks and a comprehensive and transparent public record system will make it possible to predict and preempt illegal activity while respecting privacy concerns.
11. Protection against man-made and natural hazards. An integrated system spanning climate sensors, core city infrastructure systems, and city agents will help safeguard cities from natural disasters and infrastructure failures.
12. Cutting-edge preventive care. Innovations like smart wearables, hygiene tools, smart homes, and state-of-the-art emergency response systems will make it possible to provide truly effective preventive care.
13. Accountable and efficient government services. Aided by distributed and technology-enabled delivery and a high degree of citizen participation, service performance will be benchmarked against service level agreements.
14. Convenient access to a large variety of non-work pursuits. Citizens will be able to easily partake in entertainment, sports, arts, culture, and spiritual events.

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Here is a direct link to the complete article.