DICHOTOMY OF CLIMATE - CITY FICTION The intact reality of 20th century technological achievements has sprung from fiction literature throughout most of history. Writers and story tellers prophetically unfold scenarios of future civilisations and phenomena that are plausible. Futuristic science fiction often predates unworldly technology and megacities. It is more imaginative than the narrow pop-culture definition given to stories about interplanetary exploration, time travel and extra-terrestrial life. Over the last few decades, a growing sub-genre have taken the seeds of environmental degradation and climate change to stories known as the “Climate Fiction” (Cli-fi). In ‘Blame!’ (1997), the creator, Tsutomu Nihei, presented the dystopia setting of post-apocalyptic desolation, and colossal megastructures to cite the context of concentric Dyson spheres crammed with haphazard architecture, largely devoid of life. The plot surrounds the fall of Anthropocene when human access to the Internet was exterminated by the main antagonist, the Safeguard. Without specific instructions from the Internet, the rogue Builders began to build indefinitely, hence escalating inhabitable infrastructures in the unsettling and dense environmental conditions.
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The climate and architectural backdrop in ‘Blame!’ is questioning the nature of developing countries, and materialises as informal slum settlements. One developing city within the equatorial climate region, Kuala Lumpur, has been identified as a case study to establish hypotheses and strategies, and represent a region facing climate change. Kuala Lumpur’s population is now 8.2 million, increasing at a rate of 2.67%, giving the city approximately 27 years to double its population. The urban future of Kuala Lumpur looks grim, as an outcome of the lack of experimentation because of years of complacency, while the speculative visions were cultivated by regimes with stagnant political goals. According to CCPI 2021 (Climate Change Performance Index), Malaysia is now ranked 56th, in the bottom 10 of the global CCPI. The context for cities in developing countries is dramatically different from developed countries. The challenges of adaptation to climate change mirror the deficiencies of current systems in accommodating rapid urbanisation, including corrupt politics, ineffective land use, inappropriate and poorly implemented regulatory systems, the poor disaster resistance of housing stock, ineffective infrastructure planning and funding, and poorly functioning cities.
mysterious origins we later discover. Humans adopted Laputa’s darker identity as a floating weapon of war in a gesture of repentance and atonement for abuse of technology and destructive purposes. In the end scene, the protagonist and the Laputa heiress cut the island off forever from human reach; robots and animals return to a symbiotic, selfregulatory relationship. In this climatological adaption, rather than fantasising a self-regulatory ecosystem, urban renewal is reimagined as inviting ecotopia to come down to earth. A symbiotic relationship between landscape and humanity changes the social politics of circulation and spatial programming, a network of pedestrian elevated ‘sky’ streets, between three to five metres above ground, connects commercial and residential zonings to ease vehicular traffic congestion. Open ventilation and vegetated pockets are provided to act as passive strategies to achieve thermal comfort in the tropical climate, without the intervention of mechanical systems. With minimum maintenance costs and maximum positive impacts, nature reconciling into Kuala Lumpur will be delivered in good faith as a solution for a healthier city with reduced air and noise pollutions.
With increasing population density, limited usable land and challenging topography, cities are looking towards elevated walkways, footbridges and tunnel links to improve pedestrian accessibility and provide better walking environments. These environments invoke memories of cli-fi, Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘Laputa: Castle in the Sky’ (1986). The film criticises a distorted worship of land and natural resources exploitation but imbues it with an ecological message urging a perspective of a self-regulating resilient ecosystem. Laputa is a floating wonderland where technology and nature coexist in an ‘Atlantis-in-the-air’; a lost civilisation whose
Malaysia has successful and diversified its economic growth, thanks to the agriculture sector based primarily on the export of raw materials – rubber and tin. The rapid development of the nation has led to an influx of local citizens and foreign labourers from neighbouring countries, such as Thailand and Indonesia, migrating to Kuala Lumpur, each looking for opportunities for better jobs, education or healthcare. According to the United Nations (UN), Malaysia has joined the list of countries with an unprecedented rate of aging population. This is the chance to reconsider its urban future, as an agriculture infrastructure is widely available in the rural areas. It might be worthwhile for the country to
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consider looking at green sustainability pension plans, where the people are attracted to rural areas. In this scenario, the elderly mentor at farming outposts, children wander carefree and play in plantation fields, and the infrastructure provides jobs for the adults. The plan aims to tackle rapid urban migration and help city planners to develop mutual socioeconomic-environmental network. Whether Kuala Lumpur citizens opt to fight or take flight, CJ Lim’s ‘The Fish’ (2017) described the challenge posed by migration as one of the responses to climate change. ‘Largescale human displacements are expected to intensify – often the amalgamation of complex economic, social and political drivers, which are exacerbated by increasingly unpredictable environmental conditions’, argued CJ Lim. The Fish mimics the castle in Diana Wynne Jones’s ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ (1986) as an infrastructure that advocates the principles to protect, provide and encourage participation in the aftermath of environmental disaster. It depicted a metaphorical adaptable ‘Noah’s Ark’ in the context of a climate holocaust. Alternately, instead of reversing ecological crises, political leaders and architects should take the responsibility to envision flexible community systems and portable built environments that embrace nature’s impact. Fictional mediums grant speculation and critiques from prevalent daily issues to real-world concerns. All too often, the application of cli-fi to reconcile cities with nature may not see an immediate response. However, the theoretical qualities of imagining futures, will provide us radical perceptions of the consequences of our actions. While our progress in urbanisation and nature has forced humanity to reassess ancient zeitgeist, fiction creates a platform to dream about how we shall shape or consume our future. + WANCHEE THIAU (AUTHOR) See the references in the bibliography section at the end of the book.
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