Liam Young
Planet City

Humans dominate the planet. Following centuries of colonisation, globalisation and never-ending economic extraction and expansionism, we have remade the world from the scale of the cell to the tectonic plate. But what if we radically reversed this planetary sprawl?

What if we reached a global consensus to retreat from our vast network of cities and entangled supply chains into one hyper-dense metropolis housing the entire population of the earth?

Planet City explores the productive potential of extreme densification, where 10 billion people surrender the rest of the planet to a global wilderness.

Although wildly provocative, Planet City eschews the techno-utopian fantasy of designing a new world order. This is not a neo-colonial masterplan to be imposed from a singular seat of power. It is a work of critical architecture – a speculative fiction grounded in statistical analysis, research and traditional knowledge.

This project is collaborative with multiple voices and cultures supported by an international team of acclaimed environmental scientists, theorists and advisors.

Could we imagine coming to such a global consensus, radically reversing our existing assumptions?
What would it take?
What would it look like?

Climate change is no longer a technological problem but rather an ideological one rooted in culture and politics.

This is a fiction shaped like a city. Simultaneously, an extraordinary image of tomorrow and an urgent examination of the environmental and societal questions facing us today.

Credits

Director: Liam Young
Production Design: Liam Young
Visual Effects Supervisor: Alexey Marfin
Costume Director / Producer: Ane Crabtree
Visual Effects: Case Miller, Aman Sheth, Vivian Komati, Yucong Wang
Original Score: Forest Swords (Matthew Barnes)
Vocals: EMEL
Director of Photography: Horacio Martinez and Pannyhire
Lead Researcher: Case Miller
Researcher: Pierce Myers
UTS Research collaborators: James Melsom, Kate Scardifield
Narrative consultant: Jennifer Chen
Main Costume Assistant: Ela Erdogam
Costume Artists: Holly McQuillian, Karin Peterson, Kathryn Walters (Zero Waste Weavers), Aneesa Shami (High Altitude Bot Herder), Yeohlee Teng (Code Talker), Courtney Mitchell (Beekeeper), Ane Crabtree (Nomadic Worker, Algae Diver, Drone Shepard)
Fiber Artist: Janice Arnold
Mask Artists: Liam Young (High Altitude Bot Herder, Code Talker, Algae Diver, Drone Shepard), Zac Monday (Zero Waste Weavers)
Costume Still Photography: Driely S
Costume stills Photoshoot: Produced by Eva Huang
Performed by David Freeland Jr, AJ and Miguel Alejandro Lopez, Joy Brown of Jacob Jonas The Company.

Loan from National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.   Purchased with funds donated by Bagôt Gjergja Foundation, 2021