Drifting Ecotopia: a Social-Ecological Park by Yuyuan Chen (2025) is a speculative public system designed in response to the ongoing environmental crisis in Venice—particularly sea level rise, over-tourism, and ecological disruption. Instead of resisting change, the project embraces a future where architecture is adaptive, mobile, and symbiotic with water. The system consists of floating islands, adaptive roads, and inflatable bubbles. The islands, varying in size and mobility, support cafés, theaters, and gardens while integrating vegetation to ease ecological pressure. Adaptive roads rise and float, connecting rooftops and floating structures, offering new circulation as ground levels submerge. Bubbles rest on rooftops, water, or grow from façades, creating soft, light-filled spaces for rest or extension. More than architecture, Drifting Ecotopia is a spatial ecosystem—one that redefines public space as both social and ecological. It imagines a future where coexistence, flexibility, and fluidity become the foundations for survival, not just for humans, but for the many life forms that shape the urban environment.
