Energy Renaissance
Energy Renaissance allows users to co-create and then immerse themselves in a future decarbonized urban setting. Released in 2016, the immersive experience is an artistic crossover with emissions projection modelling. Situated on a virtual replica of The Strand (an iconic thoroughfare in London, UK), the app allows users to explore the actual, physical Strand while transforming it into a greener space. Users can access the simulation from home with Google Cardboard, a DIY cardboard viewer for mobile phones and tablets. Once users have sufficiently altered their fossil fuel-heavy behaviour and the Strand is no longer a threat to neither humans nor the climate, the simulation ends. While the simulation is modelled off of the Strand, it is conveyed in an animated medium, and therefore users aren’t actually seeing what the area could look like but rather an artistic rendition of it. The project’s creators (a British non-profit, arts based collective) designed Energy Renaissance in the hopes of stimulating public dialogue on transitioning to a post-carbon economy. By visualizing and inhabiting a decarbonized space, the creators hope to leave users with an optimistic outlook in the face of seemingly inevitable climate disaster, and offer hope about a feasible carbon-neutral urban future.
Categories
Aesthetic/Leisure, Climate Change, Immersive Technology, Industry/Natural Commodities, Internet of Things, Lifestyle, Psychology
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