Speculative Landscape

A timeline of the development of  backpacks into the future. Climate change causes the weather to become unpredictable and change at an unnatural rate. This causes backpacks to be redesigned to protect people against any kind of weather. They are also eventually developed to feed people, protect people from air pollution, charge people’s phones and make people fly. As we eventually are no longer able to use fossil fuels to power electronic products, they are powered by energy created from people walking, and also solar panels. By the year 2119, backpacks need to be worn outside at all times.

A vision of a future earth just recovering from the effects of pollution presented as a game, no humans are in the concept yet everything happening was created or caused by humanity, and as a player you would be controlling this robot, thus making it another secret human presence, whose goal is to restore things to before.

Summary:

In the far future a robot wakes and finds Edinburgh abandoned, and void of most life, plants just starting to grow back between the cracks. It wonders what’s happened to the humans it used to care for and the city which is it’s home. It’s up to you to guide Espy to discover what happened in the past and make the right choices to decide what the future will become.

A cover design for up-coming comic about a SF story

One 5-year-old boy and one 7-year-old girl,

They met in the VR Museum of Childhood and the girl suggested to take out VR sets and see the real world. They met in the ruins of the museum and the story begins…

 As human beings are fond of formulating new inventions to tackle all the problems that arise due

to their negligence, what if they create robots that mimic the birds that exist today, not only as a

replacement within the ecosystem but also designed to save and maintain the flower bed at

Joppa Quarry Park?

With the help of high-tech, gardens are downsized to gave out more spaces to solve the problem of overpopulation. They are kept in special glass boxes to be displayed. The visitors can still see what the gardens used to be with a pair of special contact lenses.

Zoe Zhou

The effects of climate change cause ocean levels to rise at a drastic rate. We are forced to adapt and move upwards into high-rise buildings to stay above the highly polluted surface of the planet. We begin to rebuild our agricultural industry by growing foods in underwater pods below the murky depths.

The Humans are destroying the planet, so let’s turn off gravity and get outa here, and let mother nature turn back time on climate change.

Social media in general is taking over all of our lives and is having a huge negative impact on everyone. From cyberbullying, to poorer quality sleep to causing a lot of mental health issues such as anxiety as well as eating disorders.

For future fictions I have created a sequence which illustrates the future of social media and technology on our world and how its becoming so advanced and toxic to the point where humans will no longer understand it. Technology is advancing all the time and is becoming more minimalist and simple. These three illustrations portray this story.

In this first image I have used a broken photograph of Dalry Road showing the early movements of technology but highlighting the fact you can still depict the image and understand everything going on.

In this second image I have started to abstract the image starting with the middle as the focal point of Dalry Road then breaking it apart towards the edge. I have also added certain logos of social media but tried to make them unrecognisable to try and reinforce this idea of social media and technology taking over our world.

In the final image of the sequence I have created a completely abstracted image symbolising a world where humans are lost in this new life and how technology and social media have become so destructive and no longer recognisable.

It’s year 2120 in Edinburgh – the Royal Botanic Garden has reopened its doors to the public after reconstruction work. The quality of air has gotten worse during the course of the century, but the garden is still flourishing, thanks to new air cleansing systems and glasshouses.

The plants have responded to the change of the weather in various unexpected ways: some plants have grown gigantic whereas others have shrinked in size. The diversity of plant life has been partly ensured by seeds that have been found inside Victorian time capsules. Seed dispersal systems have sped up the plant growth.

Because of all the technology, distraction and noise around, nature is now respected more than ever before – the mission is to preserve its beauty as long as it’s possible.

A lonely man, with a very long ladder, turns the world’s Wifi off.

Rebecca Sheerin –  @illusheerin

Geraldine Sawyer

The meadows is no longer a field of freshly mowed grass and people walking from place to place. In the future, the land has been consumed by water, mutated plant life and animals. Bruntsfield Links is on stilts, people travel by boat, tight rope and even zip wire but the same conversations are still being discussed. People’s way of life has indeed changed but they are still able to function around it.

At the beginning of the 21st century, more and more people see the pet as an essential part of their family, just like their children.

Pets have a much shorter life than humans, and most dogs do not live for more than 20 years. There were people who even tried to clone the dead pets.

With the fast development of digital and biological research, in the 25th century, humans successfully digitized the whole brain of a pet dog, and ‘placed’ those data into a mechanical body. This project was named as ‘REBOOT’, which means ‘restarting’ the life in a mechanical body.

Different from the early research on AI, those real brain ‘information’ can let a new life ‘born’ in the body of the machine. The dog is completely the same as the real species, except having a mechanical body inside.

For the first time, human beings have truly realized the ‘eternal life.’ However, because the human brain is much more complicated than other animals, the ultimate realization of digitizing human is still impossible.

Kat Cassidy

The changes in our atmospheric gases have had devastating effects on the city of Edinburgh. Thick black smog hangs over the city like a deathly veil. The population of Scotland’s capital has increased threefold, meaning new futuristic builds overshadow the historical towns of Old and New, but people have no idea of the extent of the danger they are in…as they say, ignorance is bliss, and as long as the swans remain in the little loch, the only patch of wilderness remaining in the city, things must be okay…surely? The swans have always been a reminder of beauty, routine, and control. As long as these majestic creatures still breathe, things must be okay. However, beneath the surface, even in the places we least expect, things are not what they seem…

A playful (yet in my opinion very accurate) prediction of what the future could hold for Leith.

-Hannah Riordan

In the year 2057, the United Kingdom was destroyed by a series of unprecedented volcanic eruptions. The city of Edinburgh was entirely destroyed. Almost all the buildings collapsed and crumbled into the molten pits. The few who survived the collapse were forced to flee, they fled to the forth estuary to escape the toxic smog that enveloped the fallen city. Surrounded by the charred lands of Edinburgh and Fife, the survivors settled on Cramond island, a small coastal island unaffected by the natural disaster. Here they built a new society, building precariously upwards towards the sky as their population once again flourished.

Hollie Joiner

THE NEW BOTANIC WORLD ON PRINCES STREET WELCOMES YOU!

Our VR technology stimulates your senses and imagination as it takes you back in time

to the age of plants and lets you experience the wonders of botany like never before (or

should we say, never again)! Bring your friends – and your money – to Botanic World today!

Middle Meadow Walk in the future is still a popular commute. The popular fashion is silver trousers and golden jumpers. The air is quite polluted, so people wear blue backpacks where they keep their portable oxygen tanks that pumps through to their fish-bowl-like helmets. However, no one has thought about how the trees will respire. They are left injured by the storms of climate change and feeling unsettled by the blissfully ignorant people. (Although someone gave the trees a plaster, so there’s still hope for humanity)

Melanie Grandidge

A sci-fi illustration of a futuristic world where the earth is no longer inhabitable due to global warming and pollution. Humans live in cruise ships flown through space.

A scroll depicting some future humans on an epic journey into the earth in an attempt to escape a world beyond their comprehension.

-Emily Lowes

Welcome to Cramond 

Cramond is the best spot for walking your dog no matter what year or condition of the world.
HAZARDS: Air is toxic be sure that all organics wear their bubble suit at all times.

Paula Convery

An observation by trees on the lost of tactility and verbal communication between humans as they slowly become more absorbed into the digital realm.

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A particular target for the pathogens, livestock have now been completely wiped out of existence, but mankind will not be deterred. They have developed a growing market for cell-cultured meat, grown from factory labs capable of producing more than enough for the unstoppable growing urban population.

As such, mankind, in all his ingenuity, has constructed vast mega cities of capsule homes, all interconnected to a centralised air purification system. It has been an overwhelming success, and Phase 2861 is already under construction.

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For property inquiries key in §#^∆∑ into your P.A.BOT (please note that v9.3.1 or later is required)

[1/3]
It is the near future.
Decades of unbridled waste generation and pollution have lead to the creation of new strains of airborne pathogens capable of an incredibly efficient livestock mortality rate, but with only the minor inconvenience of internal haemorrhage in homo sapiens. It is truly a remarkable creation of man.

Imagine a device that can alter, enhance and make sense of all aspects of your daily life. With advanced artificial intelligence that draws from your mood, experiences and memories, you can use the device to develop an individual landscape in order to banish the mundane from your day. See the world you want to see, and use your creativity and individuality to enter a world that is entirely your own.

Disclaimer – To avoid feelings of discomfort, disappointment, sadness and unease we recommend keeping the device on at all times. We cannot be held responsible for any accidents or harm befallen to individuals as a result of such feelings upon the removal of the device.

For this story I looked at problems in the world that bother me now. As a result I think that although the story is set in the Future, the problems the main character has are relevant now. (I see a lot of myself in her).

This is the book version

Save

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Touch is no longer accessible or approved of. In fact it is very much taboo. Thus became the need for an underground business of touch therapists. Very much like the current days attitude towards prostitution, in this future, it is dirty to want simple affection, especially in the younger generation, as they have not known physical contact their whole lives. It can be very overwhelming to experience simple affection for the first time in your life.

In 2050 there will be more rubbish than fish in the ocean, rubbish will take over. I have created dogbots that will clean up the beaches and streets by eating certain rubbish.

Sound and air pollution has climaxed. Spaceships produce high pitched buzzing sounds when in a swarm that can rupture the eardrums of any living thing. Most swarms happen at night due to the increased trade, population and transport needs of this era and area considering Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland. People live within cities of soundproof glass for protection and when they venture out they wear mechanisms that dull the sounds. The first image shows the Edinburgh Control Tower which has been built upon making it larger at this point of time with small lights in the background hinting that a swarm is approaching. The area is covered in smog and the sky is now red due to chemical reactions. What happens when the soundproof glass has been tampered with or involved in an accident. The eardrums will burst, and the nose and eyes will start to bleed due to high decibel frequency of the spaceships.

Characters using hand signals to try and communicate when they are wearing sound cancelling mechanisms in built up areas.

-Eden

A small book set in future Edinburgh describing a man’s need to escape away from a grey, overcrowded fuzz of reality.

The other side of the book opens to reveal a poem:

Climate change/pollution is often ignored or not taken very seriously within our culture. This has effected Edinburgh, causing fish to rain nonstop in the future. Because this has become the norm most people ignore or are used to this unusual occurrence, rather than trying to find a solution to this problem. The fish featured are the endangered blue tuna which will eventually die out if changes are not made.

Dr Neil’s Garden far, far into the future when man ruined the world….

This was once a picturesque location with lush green trees protecting the sanctuary. The flowers carefully placed all around the stone benches and ornate pots decorated the pathway, now it has become a shadow of its former glory. The land has become dry and infertile the world has descended into chaos after we arrogantly cut down the last trees, we can no longer grow our favourite plants because we need to conserve the natural environment for food purposes only. Almost all former green locations such as parks and gardens around the country have been abandoned, the skeletal plants remind us of how much we have lost and will not get back anytime soon.

Scotland’s rain will become lethal to our existence!

The Duddingston village depicts the future of climate change and the dangers of acid rainfall. Humans have exploited the world for too long and now we are having to pay the price, we can no longer venture outside when it rains because it will surely burn our skin. We don’t know how long the buildings will withstand its toxic power as it’s the only shelter we have from its rage. The very sad fact is Duddingston village has survived through hundreds of years and has an extremely rich history but now it has been defeated by this awful fate which only man can answer for.

The Sunken Kirk

This is the famous Kirk of Duddingston it was once a place of ancient history with one of the oldest graveyards in Scotland but now it has become truly mythical as it lies in the bottom of an ocean. When the ice caps melted many parts of the world was no longer habitable they had become part of the sea and we had to go to higher ground to make new homes. This is another act of global warming the sea levels have changed the map of the world and we no longer recognise which land belongs to which continent. Humans are now coming to terms with what they had created, the loss of homes, countries and countless people from the disasters is slowly bringing the human race back together. However we will never forget what we have lost as this will teach us never to play with nature again.

In present day we have so much technology, even walking through Edinburgh you can see wires draping down buildings. So looking 100 years into the future imagine that there are so many more wires that they have taken over the city. The wires and technology have taken over the city and has upset the natural balance of gravity which pushed the city to float above land and the only thing connecting it to the land is the wires.

Ella Bruty

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