Climate Stories: A Mobile Community Planning Hub for Climate Action
Climate Storiesis the next step of Sea Level Stories — an interactive speculative future installation that cultivates community-based climate action. A multi-sensory exploration of what the world could be like in 56 years, the project serves as a collective space for processing concerns about our changing climate & creating more grassroots engagement in how we plan & prepare for our future.
The format is a living room from the year 2075 -- the Co-World apartment space. Co-World, a former coworking firm, has become the go-to operator, owner and manufacturer of mass housing. You are temporarily renting this apartment from them -- you re-up your rental agreement on a day-to-day basis. This daily model is the norm, as the flexible nature of work and the proliferation of products that make housing responsive to a new inhabitant’s needs and choices enable people to be more mobile in their living styles.
By walking inside the space, visitors land in San Francisco 56 years in the future, when sea levels have risen roughly 3 ft, urban air pollutionhas exploded and the world is a much warmerplace. The apartment comes with objects useful for navigating the future, including inhalers, dry shampoo & air filtration masks. All objects come with associated augmented reality experiences that provide additional information about utility, materials and the climate shifts that have resultedin their necessity for daily life in 2075.
Before leaving, visitors are invited to share reflectionson the space, associated climate impacts &listen to those left by others. People can record responses via audio, writing or drawings. Answers feed into ongoing research on public perceptionsof climate change across communities, political systems and geographic regions.
All are invited to take immediate climate actions, like donating to mitigation movements, shifting savings to more responsible banking systems & connecting to local planning organizations. Everyone is connected to the Climate Storiesnetwork to receive updates on climate adaptation news & opportunities.
*Climate Stories won the 2018 Grand Prize of the MIT-sponsored Climate Colab Competition. We’re now in the process of building the physical trailer space. If you’d like to collaborate or connect about the project, send us a line!