Mathias Rollot, PhD in Architecture, presents the “bioregion” concept, which was developed in the United States during the 1970s as a tool to describe the possibility of inventing new ways of living. By pushing beyond administrative boundaries, it allows us to deploy an imaginary (rather than a final map) of a territory that must be inhabited better, i.e., reinhabited.
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Virginie Maris is an environmental philosopher. In Nature à vendre – les limites des services écosystémiques (Nature for Sale – The Limits of Ecosystem Services), she questions the relevance of monetary valuation of services rendered by nature. You would never calculate how much your relationship brings you, so why do it with nature? Extract from the article Considering Separation Beyond Dualism, published in Stream 05: New Intelligences
Thijs Biersteker’s work hinges on collaborations with scientists in order to transform facts into emotions, while avoiding provocation or fear, in order to ensure the audience finds an emotional connection with the issues, to make the situation personal, and to encourage us to act. To do so, he resorts to technology, in particular AI, not for its own sake, but as a medium offering an experiential dimension. By using the same sensors and tools as researchers, his immersive installations highlight such things as intelligence, communication systems, and the systemic inclusion of plants, which act as a metaphor of our relationship with the world.
The popularity of projects that seek to reintegrate plant-life into the city raises questions around our definitions of the natural and the artificial. Combining research in the field of environmental philosophy with her urban planning practice, Marion Waller has developed the concept of the “natural artifact.” It is a matter of providing an ethical and political framework for man-made objects that “resemble” nature and that possess autonomy. Waller’s analysis flies in the face of the common vision whereby every human intervention on the environment is ontologically negative, emphasizing the importance of reinforcing the links between man and nature by multiplying the number of hybrids. In this way, natural artifacts become a model in urban planning practice, reducing the opposition between city and nature. Rather than trying to “restore” and sanctuarize nature, it invites us to accept the modification of the living, reintegrating it into the city according to a model of “rehabilitation,” by increasing the opportunities for interactions between ecosystems and by interweaving diverse environments within the urban space.