Welcome to the swinging 2060s

The first thing you’ll notice when you land in Moorsey is the time difference: about forty years.

I know, the jetlag’s savage isn’t it. Sleep it off. We’ll see you at dinner. Shall I take that bottle for you?

Did you sleep well? Oh I know… those marshmallow sheets! Product of our thriving seaweed industry.

Have a seat in the restaurant and I’ll be with you shortly. Looking for local tips? Take a look at the Metro.

Video showing Moorsey Metro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGQ-pcnzO8U

Moorsey is just like anywhere in the UK: nosy, full of gossip and totally flooded. What can I get for you?

You can take off your mask darling – covid’s over. That’s better, now say again? The soup was it? Wonderful. Back in a mo…

CHEF!

Video “Remembering CV19 Day”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIxnietR_PQ&t=1s

Soup coming up lovely. Now, tap your feet for me. On the floor there come on. That’s it. Feel all that energy you’re making?

It’s cooking your dinner! Ever since The Great Reconstruction After Covid—“AC” as we say—the whole world is powered by nature or elbow grease. In this case: yours. Keep it up!

Video “When DIY energy goes wrong”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HwIcU57I90

Soup! And remember the plastic bottle you arrived with? Yes? Well now it’s a spoon. Here you go. We repurped it. Bon appeteety mon peteet ancesteeurr.

Careful with the table-cloth! It’s Moorsey Kelp.

Finished, darling? Kelp Cocktail?

That band are amazing live. Yea I finished 10 mins ago, maybe see you there. Oh, cool. Well I… I guess I’ll have what you’re having.

Yes this IS fun. No YOUUU are very nice. Come on let’s go dancing. It’s not fahhrr. “Cahrs?” Nooo there’s no cars. There’s no roads! They sank in the 40s. They put Swindon on stilts you know! Anyway, whaddawe need roads for… we’re going dancing!

… Back in 2020

About the project

Moorsey is a place somewhere in England, some time in summertime 2060. It exists, happily, thanks to bold actions to adapt to climate change in the 2020s, catalysed by the outbreak of coronavirus.

It is a speculative design project intended as a tangible taster of one preferable future. A place people want to visit and even stay. We hear all the time that sustainability requires sacrifice; ‘less this’, ‘stop that’ and ‘none of that’. This is compounded by dystopian climate sci-fi and depressing eco-exhibitions. It’s no wonder we choose unsustainability. Moorsey aims to plug a gap for optimistic stories about sustainability and the future. To give us all something to aim for. In this future, life is both enjoyable and sustainable. In our present day it can be too.

The world of Moorsey is built on existing solutions to climate change. In this way, it is science fact, not science fiction. At its center are three core concepts: Repurp (circular material flows), a booming seaweed economy (replacing unsustainable plastics and textiles), and DIY energy (including active transport and affordable renewable energy). Technology to enable these already exists and is only getting better. Sustainable lifestyles don’t have to come at the cost of our jobs, comfort or pleasure. We can adapt.

Alongside this blog, our online news channel (@moorseymetro on instagram) and our interviews with citizens, we’ve created a physical artefact from 2060 Moorsey: a set of three souvenir postcards. They are intended as a tangible taster of sustainability coexisting with pleasure and satisfaction. Wish you were here? Come visit. Relax. Stay as long as you like.

About the artists

Designers, creatives and changemakers. Collectively, Joey McAleese and Pete Ashworth, worked together to co-design a sustainable future during a global pandemic. Using speculative and participatory design, they worked with people online to look at how we might reprioritise post-covid-19 and show that we can have a sustainable and enjoyable future. Their answers came from solutions already invented today but amplified and celebrated in the future.

Both creators are UAL students studying MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures. Both from a design background, Pete has worked in the advertising industry for 7 years while Joey has worked as an in-house designer in the tourism sector. Together they have a passion for designing for good and making environmentalism accessible and appealing for all.

Food For Thought:

Read more about the three core concepts at the center of Moorsey.
Repurp (circular material flows):
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/concept
Seaweed economy:
https://www.dezeen.com/tag/seaweed/
Abundant renewable energy:
https://youtu.be/uT66CRYkSM8?t=392
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Telling the story

To create the world of Moorsey in the swinging 2060s, we’ve used a mixture of owned and found imagery. All writing is our own, with invaluable additions from many co-creators throughout the project. For full disclosure, below is a list of all the images in this exhibition and their sources.

Sources

Figure 1

Created by the artists

GIF: Live on Moorsey Seafront

Created by the artists with thanks to Bianca Falcone-Bridge

Figure 2

Figure 3

www.youonlyliveoncetravel.com.au/blog/2018/7/30/stopping-over-in-copenhagen-71-nyhavn-hotel-it-is

https://www.youonlyliveoncetravel.com.au/blog/2018/7/30/stopping-over-in-copenhagen-71-nyhavn-hotel-it-is

http://www.kobenhavnergron.dk/place/havneparken/?lang=en

Figure 4

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g189541-d12704075-Reviews-Hotel_Sanders-Copenhagen_Zealand.html#/media/12704075/360829328:p/?albumid=106&type=0&category=106