The “What’s Around Design?" Conference takes place from October 8 to 11, 2024, at the Portimão Museum in Portugal. WAD?24 focuses on topics such as nature-based solutions, circular economy, nature-inspired design, speculative design, and the green transition, with the aim of creating adaptable solutions that create balance with the environment.
Caroline Chou as first author with co-authors Hao-Wei Shih, Karolina Sulich and Elizabeth Hénaff submitted a manuscript presenting a speculative biofuture that posits the Gowanus Canal, a contaminated waterway in Brooklyn, NY, as a Microbial Heritage Site. It envisions the Gowanus Canal Microbial Heritage Site (GC-MHS) and the communities in and around this landmark.
Based on ongoing research on hydrogel applications for bioremediation, this paper speculates that GC-MHS is a renowned destination where people from across the world travel to and learn about the origins of heavy metal binding hydrogel bioremediation, watch the hydrogel purification process in real time, and witness an active bioremediation site.
The paper was accepted and will be presented by Caroline at the conference in Portugal.
