PORT CITY: The Future is Wet. Expand the Land.

PORT CITY LONDON

In coming decades, climate driven potable water scarcity and rising seas will affect agriculture, business, world trade, geopolitics, and society. The consequences of a significant rise in global sea levels are massive. Food production will be disrupted, especially in delta regions, water supplies will become increasingly salinized, and floodwaters will reach further and further inland.  According to the United Nations University, by 2050 more than 200 million people will become climate migrants due to climate change.

Port City involves dozens of local vessels coming together to make a changing island on the Thames outside of London City Hall. This gesture is a participatory piece, an Earth Work (or a new form of Land Art, as it creates an island).  Port City illuminates a future where cities and inhabitants respond to rising sea levels by forming an island composed entirely of vessels.

Port City redefines traditional habitats, rendering them less permanent, more dynamic, expandable, and amphibious.  Echoing the movements of climate migrants, Port City creates a transitory, labyrinthine, social space that illustrates a future of local, rather than worldwide dependency, rising sea levels, and autonomous, mobile living. Port City is endlessly and spontaneously modifiable.

Water, including lack of potable water and rising seas will be on the front lines of the battle against changing climate during the next century.

(Port City will be created by inviting:
A.  A diverse group of operating vessels from the London area to moor in or near the Upper Pool Moorings (close to London’s City Hall) against each other in an island-like formation. Or:
B.  Boat owners to moor several group of unused vessels together in or near the Upper Pool Moorings, to form an island.)