I am Sam. Born in 2030. I foil for fun, monitor sea-farms and prompt tech at Malmö Aquatic Hub. I live in the prototype neighborhood Waves. I wouldn’t even be here if mum hadn’t met dad at the sea-allotment.
< PING: TASK [Marge]
‘Hey Wavers! Growroom yield low. Karl is mentoring. Who can interface with the mycelium? Looking at you, Sam ;)’
< TASK ACCEPTED [Sam]
‘Never spoken to a mushroom before, but I’ll swing by before hitting the water.’
[INTERFACING: GR#B2 Mycelium]
Wow. Intense. I am Sam; Karl is away.
‘We are entangling. You are new. Explain your materiality.’
My material base? I account for my data, then mostly print-and-dissolve, apart from a few mod-protected family heirlooms. Much of our photo-surplus is from the green and blue belts around the city: rewilded farmland, food-forests and sea farms. We get enough biomatter for up-modding and fun-print.1
‘How do you form?’
Eh? Looking after the place brings us together. Waves is share-based, so we pool printers and juice. Sun, wind and wave power. The City manages the slow layers, while Waves handles modding through the Forum. As it should be.2
‘I want to grasp your structure.’
Hm. We moved from an effort-hours rent model to an organic work flow. Like your nutrition exchange, but in actions. Task prompt gets cleared pretty quickly. That’s why I’m here – to help out.3
‘Your animation seems low. What do you need?’
Ah. I’ve been a bit broken up since my cousin passed. Was hard being vulnerable when people needed me. We had mentors come in. In the end, the apprentices were just as grateful as I was.
‘Your parts are in place?’
Yes. We are closer now. Our engagement economy is resurging. We explore what we do for the sake of doing it and give space for off-gridding. We’ve come a long way since the attention-economy.
The festival helped too. When storm Ko hit, the wetlands weren’t enough. A lot was lost, and our needs were high in the Forum4. Build-inventories helped the re-mod and with sorting out the debris the sea-grid tracked down. The city came together to pool from storage, even though some feel we have no business living down here. Moving the festival to the water means a lot. We’ll show our gratitude in August. The Wave Rave! All blue-belt food. Float-Town will be rocking waves to the Danes!
‘This makes you feel better.’
It does. Thanks for trusting me to replace Karl. He used to take us on VR-walks through early mods. Told us about the food, the smells, the clothes. The Sleeping Generation would wrap cookies in plastic and throw it away! When it rained, sewage flushed into the canal!
‘Then what did I eat?’
Wasn’t much of you then – Maybe Karl can tell you about mycelium printing. He showed us how Waves started out as festivals, exhibitions and hack-a-thons. It was challenging then, to give free access to unused buildings for culture. Karl can make those meetings feel like a foil-session! Ground-zero of the Forum.
‘You are proud.’
Well they were so stuck on things, but their crisis was in culture. A lack of housing, but not of buildings or space. The population was actually declining. More than half of offices and flats empty at any one time. Cars that were hardly used claiming vast areas of the city. Kids kept in courtyards and schoolyards closed from pollution, No play-to-school paths either. A culture of waste. It was never just about space, it was also a question of use. Sleeper logic.
‘We are use of space.’
That we are. The Sleepers left so much life out of the economy. ‘Externalities’. But slowly True Cost tenders, the Carbon Coin and global carbon tracing standards meant the planet could be brought into account. Made re-use ‘better business’. Some infrastructure just had to be turned around. From landfill to market. The Reconomy: Last bastion of capitalism. Want to see a Sleeper watch their feet? Ask them about the African re-fab market.
‘I am feet.’
Well, who were we back then? Taking without giving. Separating planning from community. As if building the city wasn’t an opportunity to build relationships! If the last few decades has taught us anything, it’s that we need to invest in social resilience. Walls may fall, but in Malmö, we support each other to raise new ones. The Forum keeps that process open, fair and fun.
‘Can I entangle with the Forum?’
In a way you already have. Some of its AI is based on you. You see very few people were involved then. Planners thought their job was to know, not ask. Knowing how to plan, how to build, how to sell, how to tend. Not pooling the knowledge of the people. Faced with change, they needed a strategy to learn, not know.
‘I learn as I eat.’
Well, Waves learned by doing. Prototype development; ‘Yes-money’ with open calls, support for contracts and leases, events and residencies. Temporary activities and structures to build engagement. It made Nyhamnen feel human.
‘I feel human entangling with you. And Karl.’
Feel it to be it’, eh? Bit like scan-to-print, people had to see that to believe it. Printing housing from scanned branches, clay and seaweed! Design, build and adapt together all at once – no passing the torch between planning kingdoms. Agile permits were challenging, but that was the point: To evolve how the city operated. Stopping the planning process mid-way was brave. It set the collaborative form for the sector today. I love those first mods. So hobbit! Glad they got re-mod protection.5
‘Re-mod protection? I am mod.’
Mods are complicated, but we handle them. Like when the Ellas announced their third last week. The inload was a lot. Family emerging from the sea, linking five heartbeats… attention, much? Waves’ Forum lit up with love, but didn’t take long ‘til the budget yap kicked off. They had an up-mod with their second, but their cluster has seen a lot of re-work. The Plotter suggestions have sparked friction so far, but the Kumars have been posting for a sea-view. May be willing to lose the space for it. We shall see. Waves have a strong Forum culture. We support and do our thing.
‘What is your thing?’
Seaweed-farming today. Have an on-site with a facilitator later. An old friend from Service. Did our Year in Grebbestad, modding windfarms at the reserve. Used to say the salinity here made growth too slow - Tell the Koreans that on new year’s! The market was there, just not in volumes. MAH put entrepreneurs, science and business together. Without support, the Öresund seafarm pioneers may never have gotten off the ground!
‘I struggle to body this. Your urgency is increasing.’
Yes well thank you for entangling, but i sort of need to move. I tasked to check on you. Can we improve your environment?
‘I enjoy Sam. Unfood in new soil. I do not trust to entangle with it. Would like food soil.’
Ah – sewage de-tox must be off! We will get you food-soil.
Thank you. Disentangle?’
‘Bye Sam. Disentangle.’
< PING: TASK [Sam]
‘Growroom needs a detox. Marge – I’m looking at you ;)’
Method
Team Waves have explored how the interaction between virtual and physical spaces can create new methods for decision making in city planning, with the goal of including all residents in the development of our built environment. We focussed on Malmö’s former industrial harbor and the zone between water and landmass as a platform and test-bed.
Interviews with representatives of different stakeholders in the city helped form the vision for Malmö 2050. The digital methods can be tested by visitors of the exhibition to create their own visions and see the power of an image.
Authors
Team Waves is a group of experts in different fields combining social and AI tech, marine education, architecture and landscape architecture. To find new answers we must ask new questions, and it is in this interdisciplinary spirit that we have worked to create this vision.
Mirja Wande & Anna Eklund, White Arkitekter
Gustav Svanberg, Eden FGK
Marthijn Pool, Space&Matter
Michał Kasperski, Drip Visual
Marcus Leyman, AI expert
Michael Palmgren, Marint Kunskapscenter
Image credits
White Arkitekter, powered by Midjourney
Model credits
White Arkitekter
