Description
In 2019, the Biopolis project invited a selection of prominent writers living in Scotland to engage in conversations with cutting-edge researchers based at the University of Edinburgh in order to create speculative stories about the impact of biotechnology on urban life.Philosophers, urbanists, architects, engineers and environmentalists have questioned the positive qualities of city-living, as concerns mount over the impact of human-action on natural systems. This project aimed to expand imaginaries around urban futures by looking at new discoveries of biotechnology, new expressions of biodesign, and new understandings of natural systems, expressed through fiction and artistic means.
In this presentation, project organiser Jane McKie will discuss the outcomes of the Biopolis project and how the resulting stories of brain simulation, mobile and malleable buildings, bio-recycling, biodesigned species, altered bodies and microbial communication – published in Biopolis: Tales of Urban Biology (Shorelines of Infinity, 2019) – explore new visions of city living through the lenses of biological research, and articulate our perennial aspiration to find better ways of living. The presentation will also spotlight one of the collaborations from both the writer’s and the scientist’s perspectives: Jane Alexander, creative writing lecturer and writer of speculative fiction, worked with Nadanai Laohakunakorn, Chancellor’s Fellow in Biotechnology, to imagine how cell-free synthetic biology might affect our built environment.
| Period | 4 Nov 2021 |
|---|---|
| Event title | The Future of Living Technologies: Renewable Futures Network |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Oslo, NorwayShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |
Keywords
- urban, city, biology, creative writing, fiction, short story, imaginary