History Main / LayeredMetropolis

%%* ''ComicBook/Marvel2099'': Nuevea York. Street level is a WretchedHive known as Downtown.

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}},'' the team and [[AndroidAmongUs Erek]] are brought to the City of Beauty on the [[ProudMerchantRaceGuy Iskoort]] home world. It's a bizarrely colorful series of layers which each serves a different function, though there doesn't seem to be much reasoning in their arrangement or even how far apart each story is from the ones above and below. The team spend a lot of time walking up and down stairs, and are annoyed when, near the end of the book, [[HisNameReallyIsBarkeep their guide, Guide]], reveals that they also have elevators. (He figured they'd prefer the scenic route.)

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs Warhammer 40K]]'': The Core World of Axum is an [[CityPlanet ecumenopolis]] similar to Coruscant with several layers stacked on top of one another. Each layer is built around a series of massive columns/towers referred to as the Axumite Spires.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': {{Hive Cit|y}}ies, which have been varyingly described as mountains hollowed out to make room for entire cities, or in cases such as TabletopGame/{{Necromunda}}, overpopulated and horrifically violent kilometer-high skyscraper [[Main/{{Arcology}} arcologies]] the size of cities, or just as cities so mind-bogglingly ancient that millennia of growth and construction of new buildings has progressively buried the old parts of the cities under layers and layers of urban growth. The upper parts of these cities, clean and crime-free and above the smog layers, are home to the Hive Cities' ruling classes. As one goes down, the lack of light, lack of utilities, and increasing amounts of sewage and refuse leaking down from above make things progressively more squalid, through the filthy, crime-ridden Underhive, and at the bottom of it all the Sump, a multicolored lake of accumulated waste and toxic runoff, left to mix and fester for thousands of years.

* ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'': The Synchro Dimension's City (called New Domino City [[DubNameChange in the dub]]) features two main layers in its infrastructure, reflecting its FantasticCasteSystem. The upper layer is basically a series of massive platforms with skyscrapers on them, all with different heights and connected via highway bridges, known as the Top's residential area. The ground level is the Common's slums, which while they do have plenty of access to sunlight, they can't turn their heads up without looking at the glamor of the Tops. It's also [[UrbanSegrgation prohibited to the Commons to enter any area designated for the Tops]], which almost gets Yuzu and Yugo arrested when they teleport to the Synchro Dimension.

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs Warhammer 40K]]'': The Core World Axum is an [[CityPlanet ecumenopolis]] similar to Coruscant with several layers stacked on top of one another. Each layer is built around a series of massive columns/towers referred to as the Axumite Spires.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': {{Hive Cit|y}}ies, which have been varyingly described as mountains hollowed out to make room for entire cities, or in cases such as TabletopGame/{{Necromunda}}, overpopulated and horrifically violent kilometer-high skyscraper [[Main/{{Arcology}} arcologies]] the size of cities, or just as cities so mind-bogglingly ancient that millennia of growth and construction of new buildings has progressively buried the old parts of the cities under layers and layers of urban growth. The upper parts of these cities, clean and crime-free and above the smog layers, are home to the Hive Cities' ruling classes. As one goes down, the lack of light, lack of utilities, and increasing amounts of sewage and refuse leaking down from above make things progressively more squalid, until one gets to the filthy, crime-ridden Underhive at the bottom of it all, full of criminals, Chaos cultists and horribly mutated people and animals.

** Coruscant is covered in skyscrapers, which are also covered in skyscrapers, which are covered in more skyscrapers, which goes on for long enough that the skyscrapers dwarf the natural features of the planet. And some of the skyscrapers that were built on are actually construction droids for building more skyscrapers. The shiny tops of the skyscrapers are home to senators, rich people, and the rest of the upper class. Below them, there are the middle-class districts, where light starts getting a bit occluded and resources more rationed. Below those are progressively darker and less-policed lower layers, which become more and more disreputable, unlawful, and infested with crime, gigantic mutant rats, escaped monsters from the interstellar pet trade, and eyeless mutants until you reach the planet's surface, which is so polluted as to be flat-out unlivable.

Maybe they realized how inconvenient it might be to take an elevator down a hundred stories or so, cross the street, then go back up the other building's elevator. Or they might have been worried about wiring, plumbing, or public transportation. Exactly how people take the car to these levels or get plumbing that high up will almost never be addressed, and similar questions as those raised by the SkyscraperCity are also rarely addressed-such as the population needed, the construction methods, or how any of this is structurally sound.