STARTING FROM PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN TO DOCUMENT THE URBAN DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY OF ROME, THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATURAL AND URBANIZED LANDSCAPE IS REPRESENTED BY REWORKING THE PICTORIAL ICONOGRAPHY OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY GRAND TOURS. THE IMAGE OF THE RUINS OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT ROME ISOLATED IN THE MAGNIFICENT LANDSCAPE OF THE ROMAN COUNTRYSIDE IS REPLACED BY THAT OF AN UNSTOPPABLE URBANIZATION CROSSED TODAY AS THEN BY GRAZING FLOCKS...

MYCORRHIZA REFERS TO A PARTICULAR TYPE OF SYMBIOTIC ASSOCIATION BETWEEN A FUNGUS AND A HIGHER PLANT, LOCATED WITHIN THE ROOT SYSTEM OF THE SYMBIONT PLANT, AND WHICH EXTENDS, BY MEANS OF HYPHAE OR MORE COMPLEX STRUCTURES SUCH AS RHIZOMORPHS, INTO THE RHIZOSPHERE AND THE SURROUNDING SOIL...

ON THE NEOM WEBSITE THE LINE WAS PRESENTED LIKE A COGNITIVE CITY STRETCHING ACROSS 170 KILOMETERS A MIRRORED ARCHITECTURAL MASTERPIECE TOWERING 500 METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL, BUT A LAND-SAVING 200 METERS WIDE THAT REDEFINES THE CONCEPT OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND WHAT CITIES OF THE FUTURE WILL LOOK LIKE. NO ROADS, CARS OR EMISSIONS, IT WILL RUN ON 100% RENEWABLE ENERGY WILL EVENTUALLY ACCOMMODATE 9 MILLION PEOPLE AND WILL BE BUILT ON A FOOTPRINT OF JUST 34 SQUARE KILOMETERS WILL ALSO HAVE ACCESS TO ALL DAILY ESSENTIALS WITHIN A FIVE-MINUTE WALK, IN ADDITION TO HIGH-SPEED RAIL – WITH AN END-TO-END TRANSIT OF 20 MINUTES.....

EXCLUDING EXTREME NATURAL EVENTS SUCH AS FIRES AND STORMS, VOLCANIC ACTIVITIES THAT SOLAR AND LONG-TERM GEOLOGICAL PROCESSES, HUMAN ACTIVITY REMAINS THE SOLE CAUSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND POLLUTION ON EARTH. THIS ACTIVITY IS MAINLY CONCENTRATED IN URBAN AREAS FROM WHICH ABOUT 75 PERCENT OF GLOBAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND 60 PERCENT OF TOTAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION IS GENERATED. THIS IS BECAUSE, WHILE OCCUPYING NO MORE THAN 3 PERCENT OF THE HABITABLE AREA ON EARTH, ABOUT 55 PERCENT OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION IS CONCENTRATED THERE, WITH A FORECAST OF 70 PERCENT IN 2050....

A WORLD THAT ADAPTS TO LIVING ON WATER IN WHICH THE TRADITIONAL IMAGE AND STRUCTURE OF BUILDINGS HAS STARTED TO UNDERGO A MUTATION AND TO INTEGRATE NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL ELEMENTS TYPICAL OF AN AQUATIC WORLD SUCH AS ALGAE, MOSS AND NETS. A WORLD PARTLY DYSTOPIAN BUT SOMEHOW CAPABLE OF TRANSMITTING THAT SERENITY AND BEAUTY TRANSMITTED BY THE ELEMENT FROM WHICH ALL LIFE ORIGINATES AND WHICH CONSTITUTES THE MOST MATTER OF WHICH EVERY ANIMAL OR PLANT LIVING BEING IS MADE...

THE CITY AND THE BUILT SPACE, REAL AND SYMBOLIC, AS A FORCED ARENA FOR THE CONSTRUCTION AND STAGING OF SELF-IMAGE...