Oh, one more to consider: Reckoning Press is more climate fiction than explicitly solarpunk, but it was one of the things that got me to give solarpunk a chance.

Ecotopia is a fun one because it hits all the notes but predates the genre.

Murder in the Tool Library is a favorite of mine because the setting is awesome and aspirational while feeling real and human, and because the murder mystery plot is a change from the usual ecofiction.

The solarpunk TTRPG Fully Automated! is free (libre and gratis) and has several sections devoted to its setting and worldbuilding that helped me understand a bunch of solarpunk concepts by seeing them in practice and to start thinking much bigger with my own fiction. It also has some good advice on creating engaging plots in an aspirational solarpunk setting where a lot of the usual problems have been solved.

That’s interesting, even going with modern tech, it’s a neat answer to preserving darkness. Military-grade passive night vision with the analogue tubes are ridiculously expensive but you wouldn’t need them just for walking around - simple infrared spotlight goggles are way cheaper, and probably lighter, especially if you remove extra binocular features. They could also be assisted by infrared streetlights if those wouldn’t mess up other animals. Downsides: I don’t think walking while wearing them would be fun, your depth perception and field of view takes a hit with most designs, and slow update of the screen can be disorienting. They’re also more complicated to make than flashlights.

That’s an interesting idea - instead of carrying a flashlight you might carry an RFID transponder. They’d need to not be linked to any personal records (such as purchase) to protect anonymity and prevent tracking. And a personal flashlight might still be useful.

I’m not sure I love the idea of lights flicking on, identifying where I am to someone waiting in the dark. Maybe it would turn on lights for a block length on the street or something? I’m also wondering if the reduced on-off cycling would wear out lights faster and, if so, how replacing them more often stacks up to more energy spent running them all the time.

Still it’s an interesting compromise position on the light pollution situation.

The question of how to make migrations as pleasant as possible and rebuild as much of the physically embodied culture that was left behind as possible is one that is very relevant right now, so I would love to see you make a postcard of a migrant town, if you don’t already have one. If you can show how even migration can be a place of solarpunk joy, then suddenly the people of New Orleans do have a realistic joyful future despite the bleak prospect of evacuation.

This is a heavy topic with some pretty high stakes but it’s going on my list. You’re right that it’s something worth rendering, it’s art we might need, though TBH I hope someone better qualified than me gets to it first.

If you’d like to discuss how these places and experiences should be represented sometime, I’d definitely be interested. I know I’m usually unqualified to make these scenes (aspirational fiction requires so much more knowledge to do well and solarpunk scenes often involve a terrifying mix of civil engineering, history, cultural knowledge, plant knowledge, city planning, accessibility outreach, vehicle infrastructure, and more) but I’m profoundly unqualified to say much of anything about the experiences of refugees and migrants. That’ll be something to work towards through research and conversation, and perhaps to carefully reference in small scenes in prose fiction etc at first. References to Little New Orleanses and similar neighborhoods seem like a good place to start, with more detail in time.

Thanks for talking about this stuff with me. I really appreciate it!

That’s something I’ve been wondering about - I live in a place with lots of ledge to anchor foundations to (or to get in the way of basements, depending on your situation and budget). I know skyscrapers drive in huge piles for support which I think aims for that supportive material underground? I know from researching bunkers that in other places the ground is kinda moving steadily, which can roll or twist unprepared or poorly designed structures. I’ve seen that New Orleans for example has some skyscrapers but just having them doesn’t necessarily mean building them is a good long term plan and that the ground will support those kind of structures.

This is so cool! Thank you - this definitely gives me a place to start

I don’t disagree - I don’t tend to have much sympathy for folks who build in flood planes and end up getting wet, but then again, I’m blessed to live in a region largely free from hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, volcanos, and floods. I suppose much of the United States wouldn’t pass my ‘‘so don’t build there, idiot’’ test. The folks who do obviously look at those risks differently than I do, consider their needs, their love of a place, a lack of available housing, opportunities, etc, and probably dozens of other factors when making that decision. I definitely understand loving a place and wanting to preserve it.

I think we’ve also seen the way culture fragments and changes and is lost when its place vanishes. I don’t know that a New Orleans diaspora would be able to preserve or rebuild everything that makes the city special to the people who live there now, and I’m not comfortable just kind of telling them to deal with it, even if it seems inevitable to me now.

I’m not sure what degree of realism I’m aiming for in this art, even after a doing this series for a year. My outlook on our near term future, (when I let myself think about it) is quite bleak. The postcards are kind of an attempt to focus on the potential for something better, to talk about possible options, and to emphasize the aspects of solarpunk I love and to introduce people to them. I want the scenes to feel aspirational and attainable. And in a place (country/national discourse) where a large swath of the population is fearfully/enthusiasticly examining any leftist media for glimmers of top-down, authoritarian conspiracies, I’m aware that pointing out ways things are going to get bad looks to them like a celebration of the end of their comforts etc. And that that can drive people away from solarpunk and from possible solutions. So I don’t know, I guess from a messaging standpoint, at the moment, I’d rather emphasize adapting to changing conditions and reconsidering our current ways of doing things in order to talk about those impending problems and what we’ll do in response. I’ve done some other scenes of deconstruction and rewilding but I try to keep them mostly to cultureless mcmansion suburbs rather than working class cities. I’m not really comfortable shrugging and saying it’s pointless to try to preserve what we can of something parts of the audience care about.

I want to emphasize that I’m talking about the tone of this particular postcard art series, and trying to find my own goals for it, and that I don’t think you’re being unrealistic, exactly. I’ll keep the difficulties of the preservation aspect in mind.

I’ve seen raised houses but not many versions of bigger city buildings - if you find any I’d love to reference more examples in the art!

I’ve seen a few examples of parking garage conversions. I think all are top-down professional things so they don’t have the same range of materials or casual attitude towards building load as this one, but some look a bit similar.

https://www.axios.com/2019/10/30/the-future-of-parking-garages

https://www.reddit.com/r/repurposedbuildings/comments/zoaec8/parking_garage_turned_into_44_apartments_in/#lightbox

There’s also this interesting one that goes less dense on the interior space in favor of more common areas, almost like tiny yards to go with the tiny houses: https://www.axios.com/2019/10/30/the-future-of-parking-garages

Breakers are a good idea (or making it clear the channel is a narrow one). I’d like to show water agriculture and a ferry too if possible. One of the reasons I struggle with cityscapes is the scope creep - I keep wanting to add one more ideas until the image is overcrowded, awkwardly arranged, or has a funny aspect ratio. Then again, this sort of perspectiveless side view is a personal favorite because it simplifies the art tremendously. Maybe I’ll try doing a set that can be arranged together horizontally to form one wide image…

Thanks for the rec on Bangkok, that’s a really good idea and I’ve got a bunch of reading to do. Are there any favorite water bus designs in particular (or anything else) you think I should make sure not to miss? Thanks again!

Thank you for the name (genre?) recommendation! I had a sense of the kind of image I was referencing with these but not a name for it. Often, looking up the type of art I want to make solarpunk versions of is a huge source of inspiration and one of my favorite parts of the process! I enjoyed stuff like this as a kid but I don’t know if I can think of a name for it. It’s fun to look through them again!

And thanks! I definitely enjoy trying to show reuse, repurposing, and a mix of old and new.

Good point on the dolphins!

The amphibious public transit idea came from another discussion where someone suggested them so they could double as a fleet of rescue/evacuation vehicles. They basically wanted sturdy buses that wouldn’t stall when traversing a few feet of water, and which didn’t pose as much risk of getting stranded. I don’t know if that makes them any more practical or if a flood-prone city would just maintain a fleet of buses and a fleet of boats for rescue situations. Duckboats would almost definitely be harder to maintain than either one separately, but they might justify the cost if it means they’re getting their money’s worth by using them normally for public transit?

I think you’re absolutely right that a ferry connection would be easier to set up and maintain.

I’ll look into Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead though to be honest, I don’t really play games. I might be able to convince my SO who does to take a look though - I sometimes watch them play.

I’ve heard the wisdom around boats before, but I was thinking of houseboats because that’s a thing some people do IRL, and I like to include different lifestyles in the art when I can. TBH, given some of the drama I’ve read around rich people trying to get houseboats banned from mooring in public waterways near their private beaches, I was under the impression it was an economical way to live, though that might just be the case in some modern-day ultra-expensive coastal cities.

Ropeways are something I mostly know from ski mountains (my area is lousy with them) but I was surprised to learn about how much they’re used elsewhere for public transit - rich areas like the Alps definitely use them, but they seem to show up a bunch in the Middle East, South East Asia and Central America, where I don’t know that they necessarily guarantee rich surroundings (there was a somewhat famous rescue a year or so back in Pakistan when one broke while high over a valley). I don’t doubt the mechanical complexity (see: recent accidents), and I’ll admit I’m probably too fond of them as a concept for steady public transit that crosses rough terrain well, but I don’t know that alternatives like entire train lines or buses would have a lower impact. For all I know they do. I aim to balance the environmental footprint (including largely unseen parts like manufacturing and maintenance) against depicting places people might like to live.

100% with you on the fertility of the soil in river basins, and depictions of homesteads/uses of heat.

I respect folks who can picture the very long long term future, but to be honest, even positive depictions of it don’t feel very actionable to me. I’m not a scientist, researcher, inventor, so the hundred-thousand-year future feels pointlessly out of reach, especially with how bad things seem likely to get in the near term. I want to make stuff that inspires at least a little hope and ambition for today and tomorrow - and to depict scenes that make people think think, “why aren’t we doing that?” or “could that work?” I think the aspirational goal is the same, I’m just more focused on doing the best we can in the next few years and emphasizing any positive progress over perfection.

Thanks for all your input, I really appreciate it

That’s a really good point! People need a reason to use them despite the cool factor. I’ll have to think on that.

I was kind of picturing these as a network of wide balconies/bridges/extra-wide fire-escape type walkways rather than full levels (not that the sketch made that clear) which would mostly be used seasonally. Like they might see some use for shortcuts etc when its dry but if the place floods for weeks or months(?), they’d be important for getting around. During that time the lower streets might be treated a bit like canals and each building an island. I’m kind of trying to imagine designs where what would be a city-wrecking flood today surges up and everyone grumbles about it but otherwise basically goes about their business.

I don’t know how feasible that is, or how well a given society would maintain a public resource that sees sporadic use much of the year, but that’s the hope. I’m going to look up the elevated walkways you mentioned, I’m very curious about differences in their implementations and if there are any positive ways to incentivize use of a separate level (rather than just taking the ground away). Thanks for bringing that up!

Thank you, this is really interesting! I don’t think I knew about Sacramento being lifted to reduce flooding risk, that’s fascinating! I knew there were some places with undercities due to building over old ruins (or undermining themselves with, well, mines) but I this project is really cool! The current issue makes a lot of sense - I’ve seen the stilted houses in the southeast US, where they mostly seem to use the tall open space under house as a sort of boat/car storage, and with their tides and such it makes sense they’d want as little drag as possible (probably want to tow the boat out of there if you have time). And a more enclosed (but water-survivable) lower floor makes sense for a place where the water just kind of rises up without pushing on the building.

I love sponge city concepts, they seem like one of those rare multi-win solutions in most of the implementations I’ve read about so far. This article about how New Orleans are using some of the practices is pretty cool, though given the city is below sea level I guess there’s only so much they can do.

I love the idea of referencing the chinampas agricultural system in spots where its just going to have to be wet. I’ll have to read up on this to get a better idea of how to depict it.

Thanks again!

Crom banged out a quick 3d model of his Amphibi_bus idea: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6744397

I had no idea that New Orleans was the origin of those amphibious vehicles, (or that you have a National WW2 museum) that’s so cool!

Welcome to the instance! I’m very glad you brought this over here! I’m really hoping to run some of these ideas past folks who know more than I do! I’m thinking about doing some art if I can be sure the details are correct enough.

There’s some redundancy with your summary but I thought I’d copy my comment over just in case:

"I really like figuring out scenes/aspects of solarpunk that don’t normally make it into the visual art, so I’m glad you’re thinking about this and starting a discussion!

Some cities are going all in on ‘sponge city’ water management techniques, but as far as I know, they’re above sea level, often with depleted aquifers under them waiting to be refilled. I have no idea if any of those practices are applicable in New Orleans.

It may be that some areas just aren’t practical locations for permanent human settlements, or that they become less-so with worsening weather, and that may be something people will need to make decisions on in the future - at what point is rebuilding just throwing good resources after bad? But there’s a tremendous amount of history and culture in these places that absolutely should be preserved, so I’d love to see city designs that can accomplish that.

I’ve never been to New Orleans but I’ve seen those stilt houses in other areas in the American south and I think the designs are really cool (concrete reliance aside, but geopolymers may offer an alternative there?). They at least show a recognition that this space is routinely underwater and a willingness to adapt which I think fits a solarpunk ethos.

Rebuilding city structures in a similar way, on stilts or with open bottom floors, could provide some really cool opportunities for common spaces/third places whenever they’re dry. Depending on how high the buildings need to be, you could have a decent amount of headroom, room enough for parks, playgrounds, skate parks, parkour courses, anything that can be submerged and washed clean or stowed in the preparations for a storm. It might sound like they’d be dark and grungy but I think they could be really nice, sheltered from overhead sun, with room for a breeze to blow through.

For buildings of extreme historical value, it might be possible to lift some onto raised platforms preemptively rather than wait for rebuilding. I know people move important buildings sometimes so that seems within the scope of human accomplishment.

(Though I’m from a place where our ground is very stable and features a lot of ledge - I have no idea what the ground is like in your area or what it takes to build structures that won’t shift, especially once partially submerged (and the ground thoroughly soaked). These ideas might make for cool art/fiction but be completely impractical, I assume folks down there have been thinking about these problems for much longer than I have.)

Another solarpunk option might be accepting a certain amount of encroachment by the water, and switching to canals, ropeways, raised walkways, etc for getting around. This probably still assumes buildings will raised, which still requires a fair amount of changes to the area.

I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with.

Edit to add my SO’s suggestion: city of houseboats/rafts/riverboats. Or maybe a mix of that, the encroachment/canals, and the raised buildings?"

Now that I’ve been thinking more on it, I have a few more thoughts:

Solar daylighting rigs (the fiberoptic type) could really help with the quality of the under-building spaces. That could be nice for sports areas, market places, etc.

If the sewage system descends from the building and slopes back towards higher ground or wherever they put the water treatment site, it could end up overhead for those low spaces, so we might want a double layer system or something? Composting (maybe even localized anerobic composting/biogas generation?) would be another option I suppose.

I brought this question up on the Fully Automated TTRPG discord and cromlygames suggested a public transit fleet which is built to be amphibious so it can help with mass evacuations in worst case scenarios. His design ideas was “Basically those ducktour buses (former America in Vietnam war amphibious APC), scaled up to London double decker bus. Door height set to match platform height for tram platforms. Assumes roads not blocked with debris or abandoned cars.” He assures me the double decker bus design is surprisingly bottom-heavy and tip proof though I think some stabilizing pontoons that swing down might be neat.

That is very cool!!

These are all awesome! You’ve given me a bunch to think about

I’ve seen the clipper ship Grain de Sail II, and I’ll definitely check these ones out too! I really like seeing some proof that modernized sail (with fairly traditional-looking rigging) is viable, and especially seeing which cargoes and routes make it viable. I think that might be a good look at what makes for worthwhile shipping in a solarpunk setting (high value goods, ingredients that only grow effectively in certain areas, humanitarian aid, etc). I think some takes on adding sails are perhaps too unwilling to compromise on the massive container ship design, grasping for how to keep that format running rather than examining if we should.

I wrote about this on the photobash I mentioned, but I genuinely like the optimization and logistical advantage of using standardized, stackable shipping containers which fit on ships, trucks, and trains without the need to load and unload the cargoes by hand at each transition in their journey. That’s great stuff, no complaints. What I wonder about is if that cost efficiency has caused other problems. We ship cargo all over the world but much of the time, we do it because it’s so cheap to do so. We ship raw material from one continent to process it on another, we ship that material again so we can shape it into parts, which are shipped back to the second continent for partial assembly, and then for final assembly on a fourth. Is that efficient? It’s cost efficient. But we burn terrible amounts of fuel each time we do it, and we do it for so many things. I’m not sure if there’s a green stand-in for that kind of dirt-cheap bulk shipping.

The Passat, the steel-hulled barque I borrowed parts from to make my last image (and its sibling ships) hauled nitrate, grain, concrete, and other stuff using a pretty traditional-looking hull (and loading it was apparently an important process which could and did lead to issues if done poorly. Like I said, most of the designs I’ve seen for container ships look a lot like regular ones with masts added on where they won’t get too in the way. I’d like to find or work out a design that starts with a viable sail ship and tweaks it towards modern features, like a way to somehow still load cargo in shipping containers, without messing up its form/function.

So thanks for the link (and for reading my rant)!