I’m planning out a photobash (hopefully part of a set) showcasing options and possibilities for a more solarpunk world. My goal for these is for them to be a more practical and actionable view of a solarpunk society, more than just green skyscrapers or super scifi-looking places. I’m mostly setting these in a post-crumbles setting, with a focus on rebuilding in a more thoughtful and inclusive way. I want to try to illustrate solarpunk concepts and themes directly.
I’ve done a co-op salvaging technology for reuse, and a high speed railway, and I’d like to take a shot at showing the places where people live next - just a street at a time, so not every scene will check every box, but I’d very much like to source ideas to include while I’m still planning layouts.
I’ve got a few different elements I’d like to include already (again maybe not all in one scene):
- More colorful buildings, emphasizing buildings as a canvas for art from graffiti to commissioned murals
- Lots and lots of trees. I like the idea of a street/path layout that provides each building with some kind of vehicle access (for firetrucks and ambulances and handicapped people, along with day-to-day things like moving trucks, large items deliveries, construction vehicles) while converting many roads to forested bike and pedestrian paths. At the very least, more tree-lined streets
- Streetcars/streetcar cables overhead (emphasizing public transit)
- options for a Third Place, where people can be outside home or work without having to be customers or tresspassers (I really don’t have any of these yet)
- Alternate uses of existing structures and resources; I want to avoid the feeling of a scratch-built or utopian future. I’m currently working on a parking garage converted to living space with colorful facades between the concrete, and a farm, park, or forest (I haven’t decided yet) on the roof
- The tech salvage co-op from last time delivering a laptop or running wires, building a meshnet
- Green energy, solar and wind in realistic locations (so not much wind in the cityscapes, I suspect) especially in a setting where infrastructure has been neglected and rebuilt
- Alternatives to corporations, and an emphasis on society being run by and for regular people
- Alternatives to cars; bicycles, rickshaws (pedal-powered and electric),
- Fruit trees, public gardens
If you have any additional elements, ideas for scenes/combos of elements, or specific ways you think things should be shown, and especially practical considerations, please let me know. It’s a lot easier to work those in while I’m planning rather than trying to work on it once layers are all tangled and perspectived.
It’s been awhile since I did proper full colors and textures photobashes, and I’m still working on the more loose/casual style, but I’m getting a bit better as I go, I’m happy to take ideas.
Also, I’d also like to do some more non-city scenes, rewilding, smaller communities linked by public transit, but don’t have any specifics yet.
All the plants. Big beautiful trees but also green walls and roofs. Any surface that isn’t being used for some other purpose should be a garden.
Hey, sounds great! I was happy to read about reusing existing architecture.
options for a Third Place, where people can be outside home or work without having to be customers or tresspassers (I really don’t have any of these yet)
Not my idea, but I liked it: repurpose streets, partially, into collective anything. Gardens, playgrounds, speakers corners, eating areas for communal kitchens.
It’s literally the space which connects people, their common ground, and was historically used for all these activities before being invaded by cars.
You can keep one or maybe two narrow lanes for utility, but lots of street space can find a new purpose, reflecting the values and habits of the citizens around.
Imho what I miss the most in solarpunk cities are workshops/makerspace and small scale factories of some sort. Maybe making some diy wind turbines, a bunch of 3d printer, converting cars into something more usefull and so forth.
Street music would be cool as well or some other form of life art such as theater.
Workshops are definitely going on the list, I can’t believe I didn’t think of that before. Music too - I might be able to fit a musician in the current scene, and I’ve been thinking about what buildings could be repurposed for concerts and what outdoor solarpunk concerts would look like (using at least partially natural amplification, like from a stone or concrete structure? Fewer disposable containers?) Street musicians are part of what makes city life a bit more vibrant, so that kind of public activity definitely fits
I forgot to mention, I’m putting these out on a CC-BY license so you can use them for any solarpunk projects you have
That would be really cool! The highest rez versions are/will be here: https://jacobcoffinwrites.wordpress.com/postcards-from-a-solarpunk-future/
I’ll add any others I make there as well. I’m working on a street scene with a bike path/market and the repurposed parking garage, and I kind of just want to do a really simple straight-on shot of the garage like a postcard. After that, we’ll see
Maybe an old gas station with a new purpose
