Griffiths, Rupert (2025) Geotemporal Design : Creating new imaginaries of urban nature through environmental light and sound. In: 6th Medium Materiality Forum: Digital Intelligence, Cosmo-technology, and Planetary Future, 2025-03-29 - 2025-03-30, Tsinghua University.
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Abstract
This paper introduces Geotemporal Design, a critical and speculative framework that foregrounds the interplay between environmental light, sound, and urban nature. While urban environments are often thought of as anthropogenic environments, this research contextualises urban life within broader ecological and planetary rhythms. Through an interdisciplinary approach combining cultural geography, environmental humanities, and speculative design, the research captures temporal patterns of human, biological, geographical, and technological activities using environmental sensors and creative visualizations. Drawing on projects such as Sonorous Landscapes (Griffiths, 2024), the paper explores how capturing diurnal, circalunar, and seasonal variations in urban light and sound can create new imaginaries of urban nature. Speculative artifacts are used to move from human-centered urban narratives to more-than-human ecological narratives, fostering increased environmental awareness and stewardship among communities and urban designers. Findings from participatory workshops demonstrate the effectiveness of these methods in making ecological rhythms legible and facilitating an atunement to biodiversity and urban ecologies. Geotemporal Design proposes an innovative pathway toward more socially and ecologically integrated urban futures, suggesting new methodological directions for environmental engagement, urban design, and policy making.