The Richly Imagined Future

THE RICHLY IMAGINED FUTURE

e r e h p s s s m o c i i e h p t B a s r g y o s m o e c D e t a E l t S a d b n a o l y r t G n u Co n o i g i l Re e b i Tr

Empathy

E-N erv ou sS Bioys Co te mm m nic ati on Int Teleco ern mm uni et cati on s Wr itin g Or al

Technology

Living Cities Settlements

Tools

Objective Tools Application

Mind Over Matter Extrapolation

Networks

Shells

Tools

TelEmpathic Network

Objective Tools Application

Networks

Objective Tools Application

Settlements

Shells Objective Tools Application

GL

EM

EN

T

HYPE

R LO

OP

GLOBAL CONNECTED CONSCIOUSNESS

QU AN

MM UN IC

TA N

NG TI

PU

NET WO RK S CO

M CO

EN

GE ORA A ST

A DN DAT

M TU

MOSQ UE SYNAG OG UE CHURC H

EN

CO

RN

CO

T MEN LESS LAND ERS MOVE K WOR

URAL

E

SIXTH SENSE

SKIN PAT CHES

A

RD A H

OR EL

G FA FLYIN

RMS

US TIC EJ STO RA TIV

RE

EX ND

SI

ES PIN

AP LH NA

NA TIO

SH E L L S

I

AL -B

L IA

L

O

IN

T

O

T

H

N

O

TI LA

LES

SC

BIO

AN T S

SO C

S

NS

RERS

MP

EN

IVE

EXPLO

TE

RE

NG LDI I W RE

RY PO

S

M ING

BU

SM

CULT

S RE

N RA

AN

V

N

IC

G ER

G

BIO

M

O BO

CE

OOFING GREENR

IC MIM

RE

HOUS EO FO BERLIN NE

TS EMS EN YST EM

ICATIO MUN M -CO BIO

TEMP LES

S Y CO RAR /E MPO TE

N O I T A

SE TT NA L TU

TO O L

2

Green Roof Technology Green roofs technology is one of the most important developments on sustainable architecture.

It consists on vegetating, predominantly with native plants, the surface area of rooftops. This allows microorganisms, insects and birds to grow. A biodiversity study in Switzerland looking at spiders found 18% of the species in green roofs to be listed as endangered or rare. The growing systems help reduce the “Heat Island Effect”, a municipal phenomenon that sees higher temperatures in highly paved areas and reduces the need for heating and cooling of buildings by providing a living insulation.

Second Nature Green Roof Technology seeks to re-establish the natural habitat of the area pre-construction. It is a tool in architecture that works towards a balance between the built environment and nature.

1.

Vernacular Architecture Vernacular architecture refers to architectural practices based on local needs, materials, skills and traditions. Traditionally vernacular architecture referred to yurts, bamboo structures, long houses and igloos, for example, and excluded western-trained architects; however the practice is picking up steam globally. Ibuku Architecture for example are using traditional bamboo building techniques from Bali to create modern buildings.

Second Nature Most vernacular architecture imitates nature and uses organic materials that have a lower impact on their environment.

Bamboo, grass and mud are often used in this practice.

Restorative Justice 3.

Restorative justice is an approach to justice that focuses on addressing the needs of the survivor and the offender and engaging the community. The survivor often takes an active role in the process and through dialogue and community engagement come to terms with the offender on how to rectify the crime that has been done. The offender often apologizes, returns what has been stolen or commits to taking action on their behaviour. Restoritive justice in contrast to punitive justice aims to ensure the act doesn’t happen again. The approach comes from a belief that crimes are not committed against the state but rather individuals. Many racialized and marginalized communities engage in restorative justice processes recognizing how damaging the prison system is on their communities and how ineffective it is at rectifying wrong doings.

Second Nature The article “wild Justice and moral intelligence in animals” on Psychology Today outlines justice systems implemented by animals that more closely resemble restorative justice than punitive justice. Human beings are the only animal to restrict movement on their peers (jail).

5.

Wearable Skin Patches As the years go by Wearable Technology is becoming more and more popular. Designer’s, Engineers and Scientists are using this concept to either create cool, fun installations or to create a change, such as cure diseases or any other health issues.

Normally, to bring a concept to life you would need to use arduinos, lilypads, xbees, which are pretty big in size. Recently the wearable technology market has introduced a new concept: Wearable Skin Patches. They are starting to take over the market. They are ideal because they stick to your skin so you can hide them under your clothes, and they stay on for a long period of time. These skin patches may contain a mix of sensors, smart pills and Iontophoresis technology.

Second Nature The inconspicuous nature of skin patches allows them to go unnoticed on the human body. In a sense they emulate natural tissues. As opposed to being a technology that is used by a person, they almost become an extension of the user.

6.

Quantum Computing Though in its infancy, quantum computing is a process that involves using anything that can hold a superposition to compute an operation. A superposition is a state of being that is simultaneously in two different spaces, two energy states or two energy levels at a time. These positions are called qubits. Electrons and photons are the most commonly used. Usually the polarity or spin of the electron or photon is measured although energy levels can be measured as well. Since a superposition means it can be two things at once it can be a one and a zero or either, or both at any given time. If successful this type of computing could run infinite simultaneous algorithms at unprecedented speeds and solve problems that would take computers an eternity.

Second Nature This theoretical form of computing would use a natural occurring phenomenon that exists in nature at a micr-oatomic level. It would behave the way the universe behaves.

Gross National Happiness 4.

The National Happiness Index is an initiative by the Bhutanese government to measure their success according to Buddhist spiritual principles and values instead of capitalist ones like Gross Domestic Product. Since its inception in the 1970’s the concept has grown into a global political movement and has been reshaped into the Gross National Well-Being Index.

Second Nature Using the Gross Domestic Product of a country as an indicator for the nation’s success leaves out the actual well-being of its citizens. China’s GDP for example has increased over 5 trillion in the past 5 years meanwhile working conditions and urbanization are contributing to more disenfranchised communities. When measuring the success of a species for example, biologist use similar indicators as used when measuring Gross National Happiness like health, access to food and water and shelter/environment.

Green School 7.

The Green School is a learning complex in the island of Bali, Indonesia. It was founded in 2006 by John and Cynthia Hardy, a couple who were working in the jewellery industry of the area.

The school was founded with the vision to create the greenest school on earth. Their vision is a natural, holistic, student-centered learning environment that empowers and inspires the students to be creative, innovative, green leaders.

They want children to develop awareness and emotional intuition, and to encourage them to be in awe of life's possibilities.Their mission is to educate young leaders in global citizenship, preparing them for a fast-changing future. They follow three simple rules: be local; let your environment be your guide; and envision how your grandchildren will be affected by your actions. They also have a list of values called “I Respect Values” which are: Integrity, Responsibility, Empathy, Sustainability, Peace, Equality, Community and Trust.

Second Nature The pedagogy of the Green School looks at nature as a source of inspiration asking its community to think about the effects they have on its environment and on future generations. It is also inspired by nature adopting natural behaviours and principles in the relationships that they foster.

9.

Temples

8.

Temples, churches, mosques, synagogues and places of prayer since the beginning of time have been places of reflexion and gathering. They have often been considered “energetic spots” where people meet to gain strength and to learn from the higher spheres of consciousness and imagination. Rituals have been social strategies to develop a sense of belonging and community, and through which groups have overcome their failures and have learnt to live more wholistically.

Second Nature Evolutionary biologists are seeing prayer like behaviour in various mammals and birds. From places where elephants mourn their lost ones year after year to temple like spaces where birds conduct ritualistic dances and calls unrelated to hunting or mating or general socialization.

The Hyperloop The Hyperloop is a conceptual high-speed transportation system conceptualized by SpaceX and Tesla motors founder Elon Musk. While the concept is still in its speculative stages, the project remains open sourced to encourage interdisciplinary and student-led teams to help develop the technology further. This collaboration towards the future of transportation aims to create a new infrastructure that will allow us to travel at hypersonic speeds. The concept is based on moving pods of people at sonic speeds of 110m/s (396 km/h) by employing magnetically levitating pressurized capsules in evacuated (airless) tubes. This new mode of transportation would manage the friction and air resistance that is prohibitive in hypersonic travel, and would be cheaper, safer and more environmentally friendly.

Second Nature As a new mode of transportation, the Hyperloop provides the Richly Imagined Future with a zero-impact system that has the potential to re-imagine the world as we know it. This innovative new mode of transportation will radically alter our relationship to energy, and eliminate our dependency on fossil fuels while optimizing a truly global experience. The Hyperloop will eliminate unnecessary accidents, injury and death that has become synonymous with more archaic and inhumane modes of transportation, and will radically decentralize the places we live and work, by allowing for instantaneous migration and rapid leisure.

12.

Bio-responsive Materials Bio-responsive materials encompass a wide range of natural, synthetic, and nano-scale materials such as bio-active glass, composites, coatings, bio-polymers, bio-luminescence, and other bio-active materials integrated with living tissue. The Laboratory of Bioresponsive Materials “Utilizes and expands current knowledge in nanotechnology, polymer science, and chemistry to address new and interesting problems at the frontiers of biology and medicine.” This includes “materials with sophisticated response mechanisms, topology and chemical compositions to enable unique insights into complex, interdisciplinary biomedical challenges.”

Second Nature Design as second nature looks at ways of adopting bio-responsive, bio-active and bio-mimetic materials, and re-imagines from the nano-scale - to large-scale architectural-scale applications. Our Richly Imagined Future blurs the lines between bio-active organic and inorganic materials, creating new implications for the future. By applying bioresponsive technology to new objects, spaces and situations, this class of bio-design will be adaptive, context aware, and ecologically efficient as new materials fluctuate in response to our changing needs and circumstances.

11.

Li-Fi 10.

Light Fidelity can be described as a bi-directional, high-speed, fully networked wireless communication technology similar to Wi-Fi. Light Fidelity works by encoding and transmitting wireless data in the form of high-speed Visible Light Communication (VLC) technology, by co-opting the light from LEDs as a semi-conductor to encode parallel data streams that are invisible to the naked eye. Like an advanced form of Morse code, Li-Fi has the potential to change everything about the way we use the internet. Currently, Li-Fi is able to transmit data at 1GB/second using the flickering light from a single LED. Second Nature The implications of Li-Fi for design as second nature provide us with the ability to harness light in a new way, by combining information and data transmission with light. Through Li-Fi, we are able to embed information into every illumination device, while re-conceptualizing the infrastructure that will further enable us.

Pleistocene Park Pleistocene Park is a major initiative of the North-Eastern Scientific Station – one of the world’s largest Arctic Research Stations. Situated in North-Eastern Siberia, the Pleistocene Park is a nature reserve that attempts to restore the northern sub-Arctic grassland ecosystem that thrived in the area during the late Pleistocene period. The initiative can be seen as an example of efforts to rewild the barren northern ecosystem and test the effects on ecological intervention by re-introducing productive pastures, and keystone species to the region. By turning the tundra into a grassland scientists aim to test the hypothesis that this will “Result in a raised ratio of energy emission to energy absorption of the area, leading to less thawing of permafrost and thereby less emission of greenhouse gases. To study this, large herbivores have been released, and their effect on the local fauna is being monitored. Preliminary results point at the ecologically low-grade tundra biome being converted into a productive grassland biome, and at the energy emission of the area being raised.”

Second Nature What if we looked to the past to determine the ecological prime of regional ecosystems and biomes?

Woudrewilding an area based on its historic ecological prime be in the best interest of the land? Would this be an ethical thing to do?

14.

The Microbiome There are trillions of microbes in our bodies that make up the human microbiome. Although microscopic in scale, the microbiome has a far-reaching global and cultural impact. Looking at traditional cultures – the historic practices employed in fermenting and preserving foods across cultures have always supported the human microbiome, by incubating healthy gut flora and microbes. Over the course of the next decade, we will see a return to the microbiome as our ability to track, and intervene in these microbiological interactions will dictate massive changes for the health, food and knowledge economies.

Second Nature The implications of the microbiome in design as second nature reinforce just how important our symbiotic relationship is to these micro-ecosystems.

Through the terroir we cultivate, to the food we consume, to the spaces we rewild – our Richly Imagined Future acknowledges that the diversification of the microbiome allows healthy ecosystems to continue to thrive at the most fundamental level.

15.

13.

Rewilding Is a movement in landscape architecture and large-scale conservation that is aimed at restoring and protecting natural ecosystems at various stages of ecological disruption. This includes protecting and/or re-introducing apex predators and keystone species to aid in returning the wilderness site back to its original state.

Second Nature Rewilding is a fundamental value and activity that defines our Richly Imagined Society. The act of rewilding an ecosystem challenges us to not impose our designs on the land, but rather forces us to confront important questions, such as – how can we work together restore and re-naturalize the land to a wild-scape rather than a landscape? What habitats, ecologies and species will exist here? And what new meanings does this space take on as a site of intervention?

The Global Collective Unconscious A global network is defined as any communication network that spans the entire globe. Communication technologies have radically evolved over the course of human history beginning with language, hieroglyphs, cave paintings and manuscripts to include the development of subsequent technologies including the advent of the printing press, morse code, radio, television, computers, and finally the internet and social media. With the introduction of each new medium, we have evolved in tandem with these tools, each time reformulating our concept of what global means. From local and regional contexts of historic tribes and communities to national, international and now truly global communities. Today’s technology facilitates communication and interaction in ways that were once unfathomable to the human mind. Global communication networks provide the means to access relevant information that is of-the-moment, and allows us experience world events as they unfold in real time. As a result of the internet and social media, we now are able to use algorithms to track widespread discussions and emotional response, charting out the ebb and flow of collective thought.

Second Nature Throughout human history, philosophers, psychologists and even science fiction writers have theorized and speculated about the collective unconscious - but what if the concept of a global collective unconscious wasn’t so far fetched? Our Richly Imagined Future explores the global collective unconscious as the next stage of evolution in the social mind.

C8H11NO2 C5H9NO4

C13H16N2O2 C8H11NO2 C5H9NO4 C10H12N2O

C13H16N2O2 C8H11NO2 C5H9NO4

OBJECTIVE Empathetic Nervous System Since the 1800’s humanity has undergone a mass exodus from rural areas into urban centres and in the process we have lost a connection to our environment, to natural laws, and ecology; intuitive senses that developed through connection to the land. Our richly imagined future (ORIF) sees technology as an extension of the human mind and capitalizes on its ability to reconnect us, as a global society, into our natural surroundings and into each other. A neo-renaissance in which we regain a relationship with the natural world via electronic feedback. A network that connects the world, from microorganisms to continents, into a common nervous system that allows us to feel and be felt by the planet. Through the creation of this nervous system we are able to allocate resources to pain and deviate from actions that have damaging consequences. This smart network becomes the base for a global connected consciousness of which we are all a part of. Like any other living organism, our connected consciousness will reveal the parts within that are at odds with each other, like any other living organism it nevertheless will always be working towards an equilibrium - global-stasis-.

Tel-Empathic Network

Entangled Empathy: A global interaction model.

When we observe the universe at a molecular level the rules of relativity no longer apply. Particles can be at two places at the same time, alter the the past and even communicate instantaneously which physicists call quantum entanglement. Whats even more surprising is that this instantaneous communication can happen whether the particles are next to each other or light years away. Einstein referred to it as “spooky action at a distance”. When successful, scientists will be able to use quantum entanglement and create simultaneous communication systems.

As pointed out by social theorist Jerimy Ritkin, mirror neurons are an evolutionary trait for social cohesion that allows us to feel empathy to those we can see or communicate with. We are “Homo-empathicus” beings hard-wired through our nervous system to feel for one another. The extension of an instantaneous global communication network would allow us to become global sensitive beings by bringing direct communication and information that targets our medial temporal cortex urging us to feel what the world feels.

TOOLS Cultural diversity behaves as diverse immunological system As a nervous system connects the billions of earth inhabitants it also creates vasts avenues for communication. We know that when “opposing ideological systems” are able to communicate often find vast common grounds as is the case for muslim, jewish and christian leaders in Berlin who together build The House of One a first of its kind temple where all can worship. Our richly imagined future capitalizes in this communication and upholds the preservation of culture, language and tradition as wells-of-knowledge necessary for the development of the global community. In the same way that Robert Oppenheimer relied on hinduism as a moral compass during the creation of the atomic bomb famously saying “I have become Shiva, the destroyer of worlds”, the innovators of ORIF will look towards ancestral knowledge for understanding their discoveries. The more diverse our cultural immunological system, the better equipped it will be to resolve moral and ethical questions driving us to innovate in healthy and conscious ways.

Global Citizens as antibodies A network that allows us to communicate and thus empathise with the earth at a micro and macro level also has the potential to turn global citizens as antibodies and white blood cells of sorts. Since we are directly connected to the network those closest to a place of pain, drought, and war for example, are emotionally invested in becoming agents of change to remediate and restore their ecosystem back to global-stasis.

Status Update Through nanotechnology and natural grown computers our richly imagined future possesses billions of receptors, or nerve endings, feeding information into our nervous system network.

APPLICATIONS Conscious Consumption In Mali, elders of various tribes prohibit the fishing of any kind in the Antogo lake except for one day out of the year called The Antogo Fishing Frenzy taking place at the peak of the dry season. At this point fishers empty the lake of all of its inhabitants. This ancient ritual, though counterintuitive, preserves valuable food resources for when they are most needed and allows the lake to replenish itself over the course of the year in one of the driest places on earth. This is the type socio/natural sensitivity developed over years by people in touch with the land and it’s what our e-nervous system provides at a global scale.

Water Conservation

Water Reservoir levels fluctuate according to rainfall. ORIF citizens would know when to shower, store water or allow the reservoir to refill.

EXAMPLES Produce selection

Depending on the crop, time of year and where it comes from, produce can have different levels of impact on the environment. Through our e-nervous system the network can communicate to consumers the wether it is a good time to buy a certain product or leave it all together.

Corporate Transparency

It is not enough to say you are you abide by Corporate Social Responsibility standards, a network that receives negative status updates from within their network branches will be reflected to consumer allowing them to choose

SHELLS OBJECTIVE The meaningful reclamation of space Looking at the ghost shells and crumbling architectures left over from urban sprawl, abandoned factories, warehouses and big box retail spaces littering the land from generations past; these spaces act as a reminder of our once destructive and industrialized past. How can we reframe these public spaces, and re-conceptualize their existing architecture and infrastructures in meaningful new ways? ORIF aims to create, reclaim, restore and amplify these spaces as new places of learning and spiritual growth.

TEMPLES OF RESTORATION

TOOLS

The role of the temple can be seen as a physical manifestation of spiritual ideology rooted in place. Dedicated to the practice of spiritual activities including prayer, meditation, sacrifice and worship, temples act as a space for reflection and gathering as an architectural monument to spiritual growth. In ancient times temples were built, positioned at key energetic points or ‘Ley Lines’ along the earth. These Ley Lines acted as an ancient grid to indicate the places where spiritual and mystical alignments formed across the land.

Through modern-western industrialization and the ecologically destructive practices of capitalism in the Twenty-first Century, mass-production and consumption depleted the land of its resources. This mass disruption threw the ecosphere out of balance, subsequently displacing the natural energy points, or ‘ley lines’ of the earth. Looking at former mining sites as pain points in the landscape where energy was once extracted, ORIF re-imagines these former lifeless pits as renewed sources of spiritual energy. By taking over former mining sites, and Rewilding these barren spaces, we are able to create Temples of Restoration, and thus establish these temples as the new key energetic points of the earth. The role of the Temple in ORIF will act as a sanctuary dedicated to spiritual activity, pilgrimage, festivals and empathetic meditation, allowing people to connect and learn from one another while engaging in higher spheres of consciousness.

EDU-RECLAMATION Taking inspiration from the Green School in Bali, which was founded on the vision of creating the greenest school on earth, ORIF adopts abandoned community spaces, industrial wastelands and ghost architectures as new spaces of education and learning. By adopting abandoned architectures and using them as a space to model rewilding education on, these spaces act as a framework for learning by teaching young students about the regenerative practices of rewilding. By looking to local ecologies and biomes a guidance model for space reclamation, this approach prepares students by teaching them the applied methodologies involved in large-scale rewilding initiatives, while promoting a holistic approach to living locally with our environment as the guide.

HYPERLOOP As a new mode of transportation, the Hyperloop provides ORIF with a zero-impact system that has the potential to re-imagine the world as we know it. This innovative new mode of transportation will radically alter our relationship to energy, and eliminate our dependency on fossil fuels while optimizing a truly global experience. The Hyperloop will eliminate unnecessary accidents, injury and death that has become synonymous with more archaic and inhumane modes of transportation, and will radically decentralize the places we live and work, by allowing for instantaneous migration and rapid leisure.

APPLICATIONS

Research Centers Research centers in ORIF work to further our knowledge and stewardship of the land. By exploring sustainable food futures, material science innovations, bio-responsive materials, architecture and technologies research centers work to enhance the quality of life for all living beings, while improving the environment for future generations.

Bio-reserves The Pleistocene Park is an example of how ecological intervention can be used to restore a landscape back to its historic ecological prime. By introducing apex predators and keystone species that aid in returning the wilderness back to it’s desired state, Bio-reserves look at ways of reversing the effects of climate change by re-imagining past ecologies, as a way to enrich future bio-systems.

APPLICATIONS

Research Centers Research centers in ORIF work to further our knowledge and stewardship of the land. By exploring sustainable food futures, material science innovations, bio-responsive materials, architecture and technologies research centers work to enhance the quality of life for all living beings, while improving the environment for future generations.

Bio-reserves The Pleistocene Park is an example of how ecological intervention can be used to restore a landscape back to its historic ecological prime. By introducing apex predators and keystone species that aid in returning the wilderness back to it’s desired state, Bio-reserves look at ways of reversing the effects of climate change by re-imagining past ecologies, as a way to enrich future bio-systems.

MIND OVER MATTER OBJECTIVE The exploration of the mind as the new frontier In recent years various practices surrounding mind exploration have developed. Podcasts that help meditate, sensory deprivation tanks and floating systems are on a steep rise. In ORIF these practices developed to disciplines employed by homeopathic citizens who understand the mind as the ultimate frontier Since the beginning of human history, our worldview has been shaped by our culture, and the context of the time and place we inhabit. Traditional indigenous cultures were rooted in spiritual practice through an intimate connection and relationship with the land; capturing spiritual concepts that shaped their reality through the use of mythology, stories and symbols. Using tools such as ceremony, ritual and meditation, these tools allowed people to create altered states of consciousness and access deeper spheres of the mind. The material world as we once knew it was manifested in a deeper order of thought based on spiritual practices that permeated across human cultures. Through industrialization and scientific materialism that prioritized the scientific method over spiritual knowledge, we have lost the once rich connection we had to our spirituality, nature and ourselves.

ORIF is a post-materialist society that places the exploration of the human mind back at the forefront of humanity’s worldview. Looking at consciousness as the manifestation of matter, our spiritual enlightenment is tied to the restoration of the land, and the spaces we inhabit. By using tools such as empathetic meditation, biofeedback, restorative pilgrimages and mind vacations, these tools allow us to explore the depths of the human psyche, while placing consciousness at the core of how we connect with the world we live in. Psychologist Dr. Elliot Cohen once said “To study consciousness is to transform it.” ORIF charts out new frontiers in the evolution of the human mind and positions empathy as the core philosophy of everything we do.

TOOLS Empathetic Meditation The practice of meditation dates back to its prehistoric origins with roots in Hinduism, Taoism and Buddhist traditions. In the middle ages, meditation was adopted and spread amongst cultures – as new variations emerged including the Kabbalistic practices of Jewish meditation, Islamic mysticism or Sufism, and Western Christian meditation. Early records on meditation in Buddhism emphasized “Salvation via the observance of the rules of morality, contemplative concentration, knowledge and liberation.” Meditation was thought of as a “step along the path of salvation.” Through the westernization of traditional meditation in the Twenty-first Century, this historic cultural practice has largely moved away from the idea of spiritual growth based on morality, knowledge and self-discipline; to a stripped down, secularized version based on stress reduction, relaxation and self-improvement.

Empathetic Meditation in ORIF draws on the rich history of meditative practices, and expands on these traditional pedagogies in order to help us hone our capacity to empathetically connect with one-another through the global collective unconscious. The practices encompassed in Empathetic Meditation are based on sensitivity cultivation through Claricognizance (clear knowing) and Clairsentience (clear feeling). Claricognizance can be described as the metaphysical sense of ‘knowing’ something is correct – similar to the indescribable feeling of absolute certainty; it is the ability to receive sudden insight and understanding. Alternately, clairsentience can be described as a “metaphysical sense that relates to recurring physical and emotional feelings.” Like an expanded form of synesthesia, catalyzed by our sense of touch – clairsentience stimulates the neural networks in our brains that allow us to physically feel what others feel. By meditating on the sensorial language of empathetic knowing and feeling, we are able to tap into empathy as a manifestation of our shared energy, and better resonate with others.

Mind Vacation Separate from the notion of Empathetic Meditation; Mind Vacations can be seen as a retreat into the mind that allows us to disconnect from the world using sensory deprivation methods. Mind vacations act as a clearing technique in order to help alleviate overactive empathy. By entering into, or going on a mind vacation, individuals are able to shed the physical and mental exhaustion and accumulated negative energies that come with an over-empathetic mind. Sensory deprivation techniques are used as a tool to cut the invisible cord, so to speak, allowing us to disconnect in order to reconnect with a renewed sense of calm. By clearing the mind through mind vacations, this spiritual healing practice allows us to re-energize and restore equilibrium within ourselves, and ultimately one another.

Bio-Feedback Similar to how Bhutan’s Gross National Wellbeing Index was used to measures the success of their country based on Buddhist spiritual principles – the Global Collective Unconscious taps into Bio-Feedback as a way to track the biology of happiness, mindfulness, and higher states of consciousness. Bio-Feedback in ORIF is a tool made up of the programming language of living cells, that uses bio-algorithms to track, assess and maintain our happiness and wellbeing across the system. Using DNA encoded circuits embedded in the body, new functions are given to living cells which allow us to detect and respond to an array of internal and external conditions. Bio-feedback helps us conduct network assessments of pain points in the system, and allows us to identify and meet our individual and collective needs.

Restorative Pilgrimage A pilgrimage can be defined as a physical journey from afar, in order to seek out a place of spiritual significance, or a holy land. Traditionally, the concept of the pilgrimage was most often tied to specific religious belief systems; and later expanded to include cultural tourism, as people migrated across the globe to visit sites of historic and cultural significance. The purpose of a pilgrimage was meant to act as a journey for personal spiritual benefit; to seek out answers to important questions; to connect with the divine; and to be healed or witness the healing process through divine intervention.

The Restorative Pilgrimage of ORIF expands upon the notion of a traditional pilgrimage, and shifts from being a journey made for personal spiritual salvation, to a journey made for restorative salvation. Citizens of ORIF travel on a pilgrimage to sites of ecological disruption in order to heal and in doing so to be healed. By enacting restorative rewilding efforts, the Restorative Neo-Pilgrimage effectively becomes the answer to the question of the site and its needs, rather than the site being the answer to ours. Through Neo-Restorative Pilgrimages, the act of rewilding nature becomes the religious experience we seek, and brings us closer to empathy as the new form of spiritual awakening. The idea of the Restorative Pilgrimage expands to include metaphysical pilgrimages, through a journey into the mind. This spiritualized travel allows us to tap into the global collective unconscious, in order to share our collective energy with others, as they enact restorative rewilding efforts across the globe.

Flying Farms Flying farms take over as the new high-rise infrastructure of the urban landscape. This approach to farming adopts the existing architecture of vertically stacked spaces, making efficient use of every surface in order to re-vegetate the cityscape and grow food. Bio-diverse architecture and flying farms support new life in urban centers by creating the food and oxygen needed to allow, people, plants, birds and animals to thrive and grow.

APPLICATIONS

Festivals /Technological development Whether gathering for the purpose of cultural or religious happenings and events, festivals have a long-standing tradition that centers on bringing together community for a common purpose to create a sense of cultural belonging and social cohesion. The role of festivals in ORIF can be seen as an extension of the Restorative Pilgrimage, as global communities of people materialize and congregate in order to share traditional, cross-cultural knowledge and skills. Festivals can be seen as a physical manifestation of the Global Collective Unconscious, as the united ethos that connects people together in the shared pursuit of a more ecologically and ethnologically diverse and healthy biosphere.

Dream Decoding The cultivation of lucid dreaming through ‘dream yoga’ was once a central practice among early Tibetan Buddhists. Similar to lucid dreaming, Dream Decoding in ORIF can be seen as an applied methodology of Empathetic Meditation, cultivated during regular periods of sleep and rest. Through lucid dreaming, we are able to tap into new perceptual experiences embedded in the unconscious mind, allowing us to decode the abstract nature of our very own thoughts. Through the seven stages of decoding awareness, including an awareness of our dream state, our capacity to make decisions, our memory functions, our sense of self, the dream environment, the meaning of the dream and our sense of concentration and focus – we are able access our unconscious mind and glean new insights about the present, while also exploring new possibilities for the future.

LIVING CITIES OBJECTIVE The Neo-Vernacular City Vernacular architecture had thousands of years to develop. Through trial and error materials, techniques and skills were crafted to create the cities currently listed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List all of which blend into their environment seamlessly. Rapid global urbanization post industrialism disregarded these ways of buildings leading to the concrete-scapes we see today, but as cities and the way we make them matures, more and more designs include local materials as its the case with the rising use of wood in high rises in Scandinavia and Vancouver.

ORIF imagines itself as a self sustaining living nucleus. A neo-vernacular high density, low-rise constantly rewilding living city connected via an e-nervous system to the grid, to its citizens and to the globe.

Rewilding

TOOLS

Indigenous communities across North America wore fringe in their shoes so as to restore the earth after every footstep. ORIF citizens are to take on this level of responsibility, repairing our cities as we go while acknowledging their positioning within greater ecosystems. Through rewilding techniques living cities continuously grow and repair.

The Sensitive Grid Nanotechnology and microsensors tied to the grid allow for constant communication between city sectors.

Bio Restorative Justice ORIF looks at ecology models for mediation of injustice within the bounds of the city. The victim of a crime, for example, is not the property or the state but the citizen and the community as whole as an organism. Our Living Cities justice system takes into account environmental and social factors when sentencing. Defendants found guilty move on to a process engaging past survivors of similar cases, the victim and community leaders to find a common ground in which life can be affirmed and growth or restoration can happen. Instead of social exclusion, the bio-restorative-justice process aims for socio-stasis.

Bio-local Wellness index The measurement of success for the Living City takes into account several factors including population’s well-being, health, access to the natural landscapes, education, community cohesion, rest and dignity. It is a holistic index reliant upon continuous flows of information of a population and city connected to through biocommunication to the grid.

APPLICATIONS

The “fittest� in survival of the fittest has often been misunderstood as fitness while it actually stands for the most fit or suitable. Mimicking organic systems the living city can grow under the same principles of evolution. City sectors behave like cells, if one is not thriving resources from its surroundings send antibodies encouraging it to recuperate. At a macro level, fit city sectors that are thriving are able to remain and grow and those no longer fit are absorbed by its surroundings.

Energy Allocation Sectors of the city that are demanding more energy can be accommodated by a smart grid pulling energy in sectors that are underutilized.

Water Conservation City regions that are less prone to water loss and runoff can redistribute resources to regions that are more prone to drought.

Cross-pollination Through a smart grid, city sectors that are rich in cultural, organizational or natural qualities can provide resources to neighbourhoods that are lacking strengthening the city as a whole.

A RICHLY IMAGINED FUTURE