This research looks at the way in which architectural imaginaries can be used to examine the relationship between Modernity and the Anthropocene in correlation to bodies of water and the built environment. By using the images from the Squint/Opera media studio project, ‘Flooded London 2090’, and cultural artefacts to initiate the circulation of questions about the interaction of water and the architectural, guiding us through ideas about the posthuman, space, place, and water governance. With waterlogged realities becoming increasingly probable in our near futures, looking at these representations becomes highly valuable in reshaping our connection to infrastructure and the waters around us.

The images of ‘Flooded London 2090’ partake in this genre of urban imaginaries, and because it is fabricated in the city of London, it allows for questioning around flood infrastructure and the impact of flooding on its surrounding area. The flood of 1953 resulted in 307 deaths in counties east of London, and caused an uprising in prevention methods to deflect rising water levels.¹ The 1953 flood made it apparent that a new defense system was needed and that the previous ones were not up to par for the potential natural disasters that the city faced. Thus, the Thames Barrier was proposed and finally opened in 1984, spanning 520 meters wide with ten flood gates that can withstand around 9,000 tons of water.

However, the barrier poses an interesting case, as it is no doubt providing protection to the city from tidal surges and potential flood risks that arise, but it is also emblematic of issues of water governance and the concept of ‘modern water’.² The Thames Barrier, in providing a wall to slow down the flow of the tides, regardless of its flood prevention, is redirecting the flow of the river. The rearrangement of water goes against its natural movement, and the disruption is largely at the fault of human technological developments and the creation of governmental allocations over water. While providing a defense to the city, the barrier also acts as a symbol of the dichotomies of the human relationship to water: Nature v. Human, Tame v. Untamable, Inefficient v. Efficient.

Additionally, the Squint/Opera images draw attention to the ways in which people can occupy these urban water imaginaries and in what ways that may take shape. By pairing the images with the novel The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard³, the estrangement of living with rising levels of water can begin to be explored in these fictional representations. In Ballard’s depiction, the watery landscape of the drowned world has led to a sense of place and space being dissuaded, with the terrestrial geographical boundaries quite literally being washed away; the characters live in a world of gestationality.

The Drowned World imagines a submerged London that is characterized by generic European architecture, exotic wildlife, tropical temperatures, and decaying structures entangled with plant life and sludge. These depictions are similar to those that are represented in the images of ‘Flooded London 2090’, with inhabitants who are also shown altering their daily behavior to the watery world around them. The notions of exploration of memory and mapping processes that Ballard toys with in his novel are both components that go into the conceptualization of Water. He furthers these concepts around water by playing on the dichotomy of Man v. Nature, when, during the climax of the story, conflict arises because of a visiting outsider who dams the lagoon, unearthing the lost city of London underneath. The penetration of the lagoon is not dissimilar to the way in which the Thames Barrier opposes the River Thames and fortifies the city of London, except in The Drowned World, the characters realize they cannot exist without the aqueous reality and re-submerge the lagoon.

Moreover, ‘Flooded London 2090’ resembles visual representations of catastrophic stories that are seen in video games, causing one to wonder what the role of the human is in those examples of visual imagery. By looking at BioShockby 2K Games, you can see the ironic spin on a world that profits on the abstraction of water and how the player becomes involved within the narrative of the story, allowing for the dissection of a fictional representation of the human in a watery world. The game explores the idea of genetic modification by the use of a sea slug that contains the ingredients for genetic engineering — the player is forced to partake in genetic modification in order to beat certain levels in the game. But, is also tormented by the moral implications of genetic engineering and the violent outcome that ensues.⁴ BioShock created a high-risk posthumanist society that is attributed to the watery world that was created, using the tradition of Utopian collapse into Dystopia.

The game was praised after its release in 2007 for its aesthetic waterscapes, which highlight the submarine architecture of the underwater world in the game. The storyline plays on the idea of using submarine architecture as a form of escapism from terrestrial life above, seeking refuge from the destruction of the previous world by man itself.⁵ Again, the inhabiting of a body of water in order to start anew, plays into concepts of Modern Water and water governance, that water can be used as a substance for human exploitation. Through its ironic narrative, BioShock provides a game that comments on politics, water governance, and posthumanism, providing support for thinking through the questions on the role of the human.

This research uses ideas from multiple disciplines and the images from Squint/Opera to begin to facilitate questions about urban water imaginaries and the potential they have for rethinking the way in which we think about architecture’s interaction with water. This means thinking through visual and literary fictions that point out common ideas about water that have come about with Modernity and need to be redeveloped. As we continue to live in the Anthropocene, increased water levels become a reality, and the way in which we think about water in relation to our livelihood will have to be adjusted. Urban water imaginaries might just be the starting point for the conversation.