Dusty Future: Harvested City

Adaptation is a term that comes to mind today as we face mounting environmental crisis. In the future- adapting- may just be the only way in which we are able to sustain our cities. Extreme modifications in essence, that aggressively mitigate natural factors beyond our control. Natures emissions, as it were, pose perplexing challenges and thus, my conceptual posit questions the degrees by which we balance preservative measures and evolving needs within the fabric of cities that have taken centuries to construct. Further, can we formulate positive outcomes in light of extinctive possibilities at the hands of unsettled environmental change? In April of 2002, Beijing suffered what would be recognized as one of the worst dust storms in the early 21st century, marking a turning point in the asian dust phenomenon. Expanding deserts of the Gobi Steppe have for centuries been a regular occurrence. Beijing has historically been shielded by the Yanshan Range mountains to the north west. Dust storms, in fact, have always been a part of Beijing’s seasonal cycles. However, increasing turbulent jet stream winds as a result of rising temperatures, are anticipated through the 21st century, lofting more and more fine particle dust into the atmosphere. It is anticipated that future dust storms are nearly daily occurrences, with a constant battle to keep Beijing, operational, and more importantly, preserved for future generations. Intense sand storms bypassing mountains, will predictably settle on a greater region, presenting dire challenges in a struggle to preserve populated cities and life. Evolution avoiding Extinction In the 22nd century Beijing’s inner city boundaries must be redrawn. New urban districts will be established by bounded DUST CIRCLES and long reaching DUST BOOMS, capable of deploying aerial drones for harvesting sands and ultimately preventing the city from complete inundation. In-between infrastructural borders are administrative repositories for sand removal, storage and re-appropriation. Beijing’s longevity evolves, dependent upon these urban shelter-belt sand breaks,echoing longstanding rural methods. This systematic intervention provides continuous clearing of urban surface as man and mechanisms combine to stem flowing deserts. Populations outside of Beijing, even today, are organizing work forces (now a recognized profession) for combating desertification. The desert fighter, once a rural preoccupation, will become a predominant workforce on the streets of Beijing. Desert fighters, of both man and mechanically aided mechanisms will be fitted with permanent respirators. They will become adapted specialists, able to face long hours outdoors in Beijing’s brackish sandy air. In the future our societies, how we live, work and coexist, must adjust by necessity. Lives, bodies and the environment will become unmistakably intertwined within the volatilities of in-situ conditions. And the urban form must support this.