Gammel Strand, the streets around the canal in the oldest part of Copenhagen, 2112. By Dominic Balmforth, architect, Susturb / House of Futures.
Visualizing Power of Nature 2112. The city is flooded 4m above the original ground level. Water has occupied the ground floor of the entire city. Over time, this has generated a rich, diverse, aquatic life, fish, plants and nutrients. Nature feeds off nature and in addition, reclaims stones, metal ore and oil deposits from a submerged, man-made world. It turns these back into nutrients. With its power, nature breaks down old man-made structures, making them inhospitable to mankind (in part), not as an act of destruction but simply to claim back nutrients to power the flow; this is nature’s only agenda; Nature is ever contributory. Above the water surface, trees, plants and other species build a new air-borne ecosystem in layers.The higher up you go, the cleaner you are. Newborns start at the top and decompose with death at the bottom.
Nature and man strike a new working relationship. Nature is not tamed but accepted. It is allowed to grow and in doing so, provides humans with food, clean water and shelter. Trees are ‘implanted’ with all mankind’s intellect; the tools of technology and biological engineering. Mankind’s assumed wisdom, its power and governance is not allowed in. Bio-genetic fusion enables natural and manmade structures to morph; upper branches stretch out, wind around and form themselves into love nests. These are temporal human habitats allowing work; love and support for nature and human homes; love for and between other humans.