Coastal Urban Futures, Cyprus

The Coastal Urban Futures project reimagines how the Cypriot coast might be transformed if ecosystems and communities are placed at the heart of urban transformations. Through six alternative coastal urban future scenarios, the project invites participants to imagine coastal spaces that protect and restore ecosystems, support biodiversity, and strengthen the coast as a human and more-than human habitat and social space.

The project focuses on the coastal zone of Larnaca, Cyprus, that is currently under growing urban development pressure. It addresses the social and environmental challenges that arise from the large-scale urban development plans for the area, including the degradation of coastal ecosystems, the loss of biodiversity, the increased vulnerability to climate change, the displacement of affordable housing, and the diminishing of the coast as a public space. Against this backdrop, the project responds with imagination, proposing alternative urban futures where the coast is re-imagined as a site of care, co-existence and resilience.

The project proposes the creation of six large-scale, mixed-media artworks that present six alternative coastal urban future scenarios for Larnaca. Each piece is based on a collaboratively designed scenario that explores how the coast might be transformed to restore ecosystems, support biodiversity, adapt to climate change, and enrich its role as a habitat and public space. The artworks are processed on fabric and make use of found and reused materials. They are mounted on lightweight, portable frames made of reclaimed wood and steel.

The creative process of the project is rooted in co-creation, collaboration, and storytelling. Over a period of nine months, the project brings together marine scientists, young architects and urbanists, current inhabitants, and local communities through workshops, focus groups, and interviews. Through these activities, participants contribute their stories, knowledge and imaginations, that shape the six coastal urban future scenarios.

The creative process and activities ensure a diversity of perspectives while also cultivating a collective sense of care and responsibility for the future of the coast. The six artworks are shared with the wider public in a site-specific performance-exhibition at the coast of Larnaca. The exhibition activates the artwork through live storytelling, bringing each scenario to life in an immersive, community-oriented setting. The live storytelling connects the artworks to the ecological and social challenges at stake, making complex issues accessible and emotionally resonant. The artwork, stories, and design process of the project are also shared digitally, extending the project’s reach to broader national and international audiences.

Through its creative process and outputs, the project contributes to three directions. Firstly, it raises awareness about the social and environmental challenges that arise from large-scale coastal urban developments. Secondly, it inspires change by exploring alternative, multispecies coastal urban futures that reimagine the coast in ways that prevent pollution, support biodiversity, and restore ecosystems, while also ensuring the role of the coast as a habitat and public space. Lastly, it strengthens the connection between humans and their coastal environments by creating a sense of care and responsibility and by raising awareness about the ecosystem services of the coast and the interconnectedness of humans and their habitats.

GOALS:

The goal of the Coastal Urban Futures project is to challenge the dominant urban development processes unfolding along the Mediterranean coast by imagining alternative urban futures where ecosystems and local communities coexist in symbiotic relationships. The project seeks to raise awareness about the environmental and social challenges arising by large-scale coastal urban developments while also inspiring change through creating and sharing a series of multispecies coastal urban future scenarios. The project also seeks to strengthen the connections between people and their coastal habitats by engaging them in a creative process of storytelling, co-imagining, and co-creating, that cultivates a sense of care and responsibility.