Wild Royal Docks, Umbrellium
Image courtesy of Umbrellium, see umbrellium.co.uk for credits.
What if urban landscapes could help us rewild ourselves?
As the first green buds begin to burst forth, as if in song, we are reminded of Re:Wild Royal Docks, a ten year vision for the wilding of East London, that includes a vision of how modern technology can help us connect with natural intelligence in new ways. Initiated by @umbrellium and EdenLAB, in association with @edenprojectcornwall, the comprehensive vision is shaped by the belief that connecting an increasingly urban population to the natural world lies at the heart of humankind’s successful response to the major environmental, social and economic challenges of the 21st century.
Beyond the typical rewilding efforts to add green spaces and biodiversity, Re:Wild Royal Docks envisions an urban infrastructure that accounts for our non-human neighbors in ways that are mutually supportive and generative. A technological network would instrument the natural environment through sensors and monitoring stations that gather data to observe patterns of activity. This would be augmented with interfaces designed to allow the public to ‘listen in’ on what is going on, beyond their usual thresholds of perception.
Image courtesy of Umbrellium, see umbrellium.co.uk for credits.
Stirring Our Senses
Building on this active observation, citizens would be able to contribute to interpreting the data, thus ‘giving voice’ to non-human species. Finally, this sense-making approach would be integrated with AI pattern-recognition and creation l, in order to combine human, non-human and synthetic systems into a collective-intelligence infrastructure that would be manifested in an immersive and interactive physical space designed for discussion, deliberation and decision-making that unites both humans and non-humans. This kind of sense-making asks humans to participate with their own bodies from a deeper curiosity and compassion for the more than human world.
Image courtesy of Umbrellium, see umbrellium.co.uk for credits.
How It Moves Us, Forward
In his recent @onbeing interview with Krista Tippett, James Bridle (whose book, Ways of Being, we featured in December) conjectures that our current fascination with AI will lead us not away from, but back to the real world. “We need to build our own models of intelligence […] in order to see the intelligences that have been around us all along […] So maybe that’s what AI and network theory actually are. They’re just new stories about the world that make that kind of world accessible to us properly again.”
Image courtesy of Umbrellium, see umbrellium.co.uk for credits.
Umbrellium
Umbrellium is a London-based design & build studio dedicated to transforming urban environments and getting communities meaningfully involved.
Established in 2007 by Usman Haque, our multidisciplinary collective of architects, designers, urbanists and creative technologists collaborates with cities and organizations worldwide to deliver projects that integrate co-created urban technology in buildings and public space.
Our mission is to respond tactically to the climate crisis by reinforcing connections between human, natural, and urban systems, through a broad range of initiatives and interventions, including spectacular interactive architecture, participatory platforms, dynamic streetscapes, IoT deployments, digital masterplans and urban technology infrastructure.