Most visions of NYC's future include people, and while we're sometimes put off by the ghostly rendering scalies of c. 2040 New York, it turns out there's something comforting about them. New York City without people, as imagined by artists Lucie & Simon, is much scarier. The artists included New York in their "Silent World" project, which removes the humans from some of the world's most populated cities. Lucie & Simon take the people out, The Atlantic Cities explains, "by using a neutral density filter that allows for extra-long exposures, which removes moving objects." Nifty fact: the filter is one NASA uses to analyze stars.



And because no post-apocalyptic vision of New York is complete without a Times Square shot:

· Official Site: Silent World [lucieandsimon.com]

· Cities are Surprisingly Menacing When You Remove All the People [The Atlantic Cities]