Charles Proctor

London has the sixth biggest metropolitan economy in the world, by 2036 we can make it circular!

Boris Johnson | Towards a Circular Economy, 2015

Last year Britain disposed of £1.2Bn worth of metals, the highest per capita of any EU nation. This is amidst claims that the Anthropocene will be our next epoch of mass extinction and much like the previous 3 out of 5 extinctions will be down to the potential starvation of critical elements. Conversely, countries like China are mining and amassing the worlds greatest reserves and threatening to monopolise the markets with over 60% of global trade. If  history were to repeat itself and China enforced a metals embargo, how would the impact of material scarcity affect society and design today?

Hyper Urban Metabolism acts as a scenario where the likelihood of a metals shortage affects both the geopolitical shifts and our own personal interactions with the vital metals of our modern age. Rather it leading to stagnation, sites such as the Royal Albert Docks, London’s newly conceived 3rd Financial District will grow and flux in tune to the opportunities and scarcities affected by the newly found circular economy. Buildings will act as material banks, a choreography of interlinked, exchangeable components which can be leased, tracked and sold for profiteering purposes. Architecture will become disposable, age will be eradicated and structure a newly found demonstration of affluence. Capitalism feeds from scarcity and whilst our current reaction is to save, metabolise and recycle our mineral wealth, the disposition and instability it can create  may question our strive for a more efficient future.