My entry for Superstudio, an intensive two-day competition by SONA. For 2017, the brief, in summary, is to create a space in your city that addresses its many problems, i.e. homelessness, terrorism, lack of green space, etc. 

Below is my powerpoint presentation and my corresponding 3-minute speech.

Sydney is growing, and just like any other city in a limited space, it's building up. But skyscrapers, these masses of glass, steel, and concrete, aren't necessarily people friendly. So, I thought of making these skyscrapers more relatable. I looked to nature and thought of mountains and how they were very much alike in regards to the way we move through both spaces. So then, I thought of a fun thing, someone does when they're exploring these mountains, and that brought me to ziplines.

And from there Zipney was born. Zipney is a bunch of zip lining systems scattered around Sydney to provide Sydneysiders a new, fast, and fun way to explore their city. So by know, you could be asking how this relatively small intervention could help Sydney's urban problems, and let me answer that by giving you some examples. 

First, let's look at office workers. A majority of those who utilize skyscrapers are them. On the right, we see here a bunch of stressed out office workers, and let's say they'd have to go to this meeting during midday. Instead of the tedious task of walking from a building to another with Zipney you not only get there quick, but the adrenaline rush you get you're more focused to power through that meeting. Moreover, it also saves you on coffee money.

Anybody who tries to traverse the city on the weekends know how congested the sidewalks can get and if you're a tourist unfamiliar with Sydney that can be quite frustrating. With Zipney, we can give tourists a new way of sightseeing through Sydney. Maybe their hotel is connected to landmarks like the QVB. Last minute shopping has never be more fun, just don't shop til you drop, of course!

Here we see a man who's taking drugs maybe he's depressed and who can blame him when a city seems to be designed to be closed and secluded. But with Zipney, the sounds of laughter and screams of joy would echo throughout the city and would definitely have an impact on the atmosphere of city life. Also, the high you get from using these ziplines is a whole lot safer.

To end, I included this photo right here to show how a Zipney could be used by a wanna-be superhero, for example. For a more practical use, in times fire Zipney could provide a quick escape. Apart from these, the limits of Zipney only depend on your imagination. Understandably the brief presents us with a grim look of city life, but I believe the root of the problem is this closed, secluded mindset we gain by living in cities. With Zipney providing a platform for multiple approaches in making the city more social, I believe that in its tiny ways it could at least make the daily grind more manageable.

"Lowly, unpurposeful, and random as they may appear, sidewalk contacts are the small change from which a city's wealth public life may grow." -Jane Jacobs

*final words* The reason I went this outrageous concept was because I thought the competition was the right platform for it. 4 out of the 4 tutors I talked to agreed with that and even encouraged me to keep on that path. But sadly, the panel saw my concept as this unrealistic, ridiculous thing. Funny though that after a week of my proposal, I see this event in Facebook and some charity company is setting up ziplines between two skyscrapers near Circular Quay.