Symbiotic Cities
Designing for New Animism
Project Brief
Our ancestors saw life in rocks, rivers, and forests. In an age of AI and bio-integration, where do we draw the line between tool and lifeform, between nature and artifice? We explore futures where technology isn't an extraction from the world, but a symbiotic extension of it: creating systems that are as intelligent, adaptive, and sacred as any ancient ecosystem. It’s a vision of cities that breathe, respond, and regenerate alongside their inhabitants.
Our digital age is built on a foundation of extraction, treating the natural world as a resource to be mined. This has created a deep disconnect between our tools and our environment. Project: Symbiotic Cities is a research and design initiative dedicated to healing this divide.
We revisit the ancient wisdom of animism: the understanding that life and spirit are not exclusive to humans, and re-imagine it for an age of artificial intelligence and biotechnology. Our mission is to pioneer a new class of technology that is not separate from nature, but a symbiotic extension of it. We are moving beyond "smart" devices to create wise, adaptive, and regenerative systems that function less like machines and more like living organisms within an ecosystem.
The Ecosystem as Mentor
Our methodology is a cyclical process of learning, creating, and integrating. We believe that to design for life, we must design with life.
Each concept is prototyped as a dialogue between urban systems and human experience, creating cities that coexist with the natural and technological worlds in balance.
