Swell : a proposition for coastal metropolises in the age of rising seas and distributed centralization

Abstract

Premised upon the certain realities of the rise of urban sprawl, globalized dynamic networks, and sea levels, this thesis seeks to question these forces and mobilize the inherent potentials that lie within their intersections. Is contemporary urban form appropriate to contemporary urban culture? Do developing trends within network dynamics offer new potentials for spatial form? Does the forecasted flooding of coastal metropolises offer new grounds for such speculations? How might design begin to actively operate within such a scenario? Aligned within a tradition of visionary conceptions rooted in such considerations, this thesis project is a synthetic proposition of a new urban paradigm for dynamic water-based expansion -- one driven by and resulting from the particularities of its contemporary cultural position.