Skydominerte

Skydominerte is a term used in speculative world-building and science fiction to describe a societal or ecological order in which the sky plays a central role in governance, infrastructure, and daily life. In skydominerte worlds, aerial habitats, cloud cities, or atmospheric platforms form major centers of population and power, while surface territories may be secondary or peripheral. Infrastructure often emphasizes vertical expansion, energy capture from wind and sunlight at high altitudes, and climate management across atmospheric layers.

Etymology: The word is a Norwegian-influenced compound, combining sky with dominerte (dominated or dominating). It is used to convey a sky-centered dominion.

Characteristics: Key features include aerial or elevated habitats, governance that extends to orbital or upper-atmosphere domains, and economic systems tied to airborne resources, weather manipulation, or sky-based logistics. Social organization may reflect tiered access to airspace, with privileges and protections tied to altitude or aerospatial status.

Usage: Skydominerte appears in world-building discussions, speculative fiction proposals, and theoretical explorations of future urbanism or planetary engineering. It is often contrasted with ground-focused or void-based settlement models.

See also: Sky city, cloud city, orbital habitat, atmospheric engineering, aeroarchipelago.