What conflicts appear between economic growth models and ecological health?

portals to estuary futures

Challenge #6 - Envisioning Coastal Resilience Through Immersive Art

S+T+ARTS AQUA MOTION Expectations and Approach

• motivation → The fact that oceans have been an unknown medium for me for many years, but recently I started swimming open waters, and I have a personal connection with the sea, and I want to learn more so we can care more.
• lenscapes → The project aims to explore possible futures of the estuaries in Lisbon, I propose an immersive prototype made with a hacked display and binoculars that will allow visitors to see how different decisions can shape the future of that place.
• contribution → I hope to juggle between science, economics and activism to shape the desired presents and future of the estuaries, and do it with a medium that can engages through personal experience. And I hope to be able to replicate the prototype in other affected areas, so we can have more of those binocular lenscapes, portals to possible futures

About

• Background → Nicetrails is SME of artists and developers that work with emerging technologies We are Barcelona based, and we collaborate with a network of specialists for every project In our work we like to use and abuse new tech to explore data and visualize narratives, often from a social perspective that confronts predominant capital centric approaches.
• Drivers & Inspiration → We choose to work with emerging technologies because those pose many questions that need to be explored and we can’t leave it to the hands of the companies developing them, we believe that academia, science, art and society need to be participants of the shaping of the technologies that will be embedded into our daily life.

Assumptions

Economic development (ports, tourism) → drives ecological pressure (pollution, habitat loss).

Ecological decline → undermines traditional livelihoods (fishing, salt farming).

Social inequality and urban growth → amplify environmental stress and reduce public support for conservation.

Possible futures

“The Drowned Metropolis” — Climate Collapse Scenario

“The Industrial Bay” — Economic Growth at All Costs