Reimagining cities within forests

What if cities could grow with the forest, instead of against it? The Imaginary Atlas: Amazonia imagines new urban futures where traditional knowledge meets emerging technologies. This multi-piece art and technology exhibition, presented at COP30 UN Climate Conference, is a collaboration between MIT’s City Science Group, the local institutions Federal University of Pará, and the Emílio Goeldi Museum.

The project immerses audiences in evolving Amazonian landscapes using urban design, cinema, and gaming engines as an antidisciplinary approach to envisioning futures. Visitors explore ecologies of the future shaped by climate data, traditional knowledge, and political choices.

Building on the City Science Group’s The Power of Without research, the installation investigates how bottom-up urban designs rooted in ancestral knowledge can integrate with new technologies to expand access to health, education, and community resilience.