Connected Ecologies: a Sensorial Experience of the Future of Barcelona
“Connected Ecologies” was a digital installation centered in a web based platform that allowed the visitors of the MODEL Barcelona Architecture Festival 2023 to navigate a sensorial experience of ecological connectivity in Barcelona through their geolocation.
As we build the future of our cities, the challenges we face continue to evolve in their complexity, nature, scale and impact. More people will be living in cities or urbanised areas and how these will be spatially, materially, environmentally, socially, is yet to be determined…
How can we affect these potential futures?
What if we could influence them?
And who would be there to tell us about how things changed from today until then?
Connected Ecologies aims to explore diverse possible futures for Barcelona through a digital installation that connects visitors to a sonar experience narrated through first-person perspectives, projecting them into the future from the present.
By connecting to the future, visitors are invited to reflect on the challenges, risks, and new beauties they might encounter in these futures. The installation aims to create awareness of the possible impacts and effects of climate change within our urban environments, fostering empathy with beings from the future and the facts of the present. Additionally, Connected Ecologies aims to socialize the actions that the city of Barcelona, within the context of the European Union, is taking, as well as opening users to projects and initiatives being actuated across the globe, collected in the Atlas of the Future, all working towards climate change adaptation.
Connected Ecologies is a digital installation that projects us into diverse possible futures for Barcelona. Connecting to a sonar experience, narrated through first person perspectives, we experience the future from the present. As we connect to the future we are invited to reflect on the challenges, risks but also new beauties we might encounter in these futures. The installation aims to bring awareness to some of the possible impacts and effects of climate change within our urban environments, creating radical empathy with beings from the future and facts of the present. Connected Ecologies also aims to socialise the actions the city of Barcelona, within the context of the European Union, is taking, as well as opening users to projects and initiatives being actuated across the globe, collected in the Atlas of the Future, all working towards climate change adaptation.
Join us by connecting through the sonic portal in the Gran Clariana park. Don’t forget your headphones to experience and question what you think the future might hold… What do you see?
Type of Project
To experience Connected Ecologies, visitors are invited to connect through the sonic portal located in Gran Clariana park. Headphones are required to fully immerse in the experience and question what the future might hold. Join us and see what you can discover about the possible futures of Barcelona.
Our Contribution
The installation, winner of the Digital Architecture Model Award, developed by Mathilde Marengo, IAAC Head of Studies & Director of the Urban Sciences Lab, Iacopo Neri, USL Research Collaborator and MUPD Urban Computation Lead, and Daniela Figueroa Claros, IAAC Communications and Advanced Architecture Group.
Who is it for?
The “Connected Ecologies” digital installation was a web based platform that allowed the visitors of the MODEL Festival 2023 to navigate a sensorial experience of ecological connectivity in Barcelona through their geolocation. The platform was available in Catalan and English.
The digital installation “Connected Ecologies” was presented in the framework of the Model Barcelona Architectures Festival 2023. The installation, winner of the Digital Architecture Model Award.
Project
Mathilde Marengo (Ideation, Research, Web, Development)
Iacopo Neri (Ideation, Research, Web, Development)
Daniela Figueroa Claros (Research, Graphic Design, Audio Production)
Kriti Bhavesh Nirmal (Research, Narrative Support)
English Voices
Andrea Tivadar – Gaia
Edward J. Bentley – Kai
Iacopo Neri – Eolos
Mathilde Marengo – Echo
Valeria Gonzalez Gomez – Ember
Catalan Voices
Daniel Llavines – Echo
Dídac Torrent Martínez – Eolos
Guillem Camprodon – Kai
Valeria Gonzalez Gomez – Gaia
Silvia Brandi – Ember
Technical Support
Alice Puleo & Erica Lago (Communication)
Daniel Llavines (Translation)
Alex Mademochoritis (Recording)
Acknowledgements
Areti Markopoulou, Silvia Brandi, Chiara Farinea, Luciana Asinari, Niccolò Battilana, Sarine Bekarian, Sara Bosch Brinques
