More-Than-Human Future Cities: From the design of nature to designing for and through nature.
Serena Pollastri, Rupert Griffiths, Nick Dunn, Paul Cureton, Christopher Boyko, Adam Blaney, Élisabeth de Bézenac · 2021
This paper examines ways in which media architecture and information design can contribute to multispecies wellbeing and coexistence in urban and peri-urban environments. It argues that a radical shift is needed, from looking at design as a tool to plan tamed nature into urban fabric towards design actions for understanding and working with the unruliness of the natural world in its manifold forms. We present a review of existing literature and an analysis of a selection of projects-in-progress from the CUBIC research group at Lancaster University, UK. In doing so, we aim to propose a new approach for how we think of, and design for, more-than-human future cities. Media architecture is core to this endeavour because we need to find new ways to communicate these new knowledges and contribute toward a better understanding of the complex issues of multispecies coexistence and flourishing. Far from providing an established framework or guidelines, we share this provocation from the outset as a catalyst for emerging collaboration and through which further open-ended questions can be explored.