Nomadic Nature(s)

Abstract

This project looks at both the role of Gibraltar within the global ecology and the dynamics of the local ecology on the peninsula. It describes how Gibraltar’s geomorphology—a mountain surrounded by water, located between two water bodies and two continents—has resulted a unique local ecology that is vital for the global ecosystem. Carried by the winds, migratory birds soar across the Strait; ocean currents and water temperatures determine the spawning locations of marine life migrating through the Strait; human migrants settle on their way to cross the Mediterranean; tourists travel to the peninsula to observe its unique and dynamic biodiversity. The Rock and its morphology produce local winds and precipitation, which have shaped the Rock into two distinct sides: an urban and cultivated west side, a steep and uncultivated east side, and a Nature Reserve on the Upper Rock. In turn, these sides have framed settlement patterns, from early military settlements between walls and on the Rock, to reclamations and Marinas on the verge of the surrounding waters. Levante clouds and limestone formations provide humidity and alkaline soils for endemic plants; the seeds of which are taken by the wind, insects, birds and Barbary macaques that reside on the Rock; whose residence in turn attracts troops of tourists and their accompanying taxi drivers. The project explores how both the global and local ecologies affect and are affected by human settlement and design. As humans are part of the same ecosystem as all other species, they shape it, and are shaped by it. Birdwatchers travel to coastal areas to see the journey of the flocks; cruise ships and dolphin tours interact with migrating marine life; urban settlements expand into the sea and onto macaque-territory; Mediterranean woodlands are cultivated and become Maquis-vegetation; behavioural patterns of Barbary macaques are influenced by the tourists coming to see and feed them and the architecture that provides for them; as well as vice versa. In a context of climate change and population growth, two paintings and a series of models anticipate changes in global and local migratory and settlement patterns and explore the role of design within these ecosystems. As sea-level rise, droughts, changing temperatures, and extreme weather conditions reshape global and regional migration and settlements areas of all species, the projected intervention in Gibraltar is an examination of the role of design in the balancing act of the global ecosystem.