Juli Sikorska
»Urban Heat Island Living: Berlin Neukölln«

Floor stickers in Leinestrasse underground station (U8)
 
Posters around Leinestrasse:
Rollbergstr. 67
Boddinstr./Hermannstr. 222
Thomasstr./Selkestraße
Herrnhuter Weg 6
Donaustr. 102/Rathaus Neukölln
Hertastr. 1-1a
Hermannstraße 122
 
Workshop: »Urban Climate Futuring: Berlin-Neukölln 2039«
Date: Saturday, 18 September, 2-6 pm
Duration: 30 min
Location: Prinzessinnengärten Kollektiv, Neukölln, St.-Jacobi-Friedhof, Hermannstr. 99–105, 12051 Berlin
 
www.urbanheatislandliving.com
 
 
In the near future, climate change will lead to extended hot periods, days with extreme temperatures, and heavy rainfall in cities. What impact will these climatic changes have on the health of human and non-human actors? »Urban Heat Island Living« is a speculative study that uses sci-fi ideas, future prototyping and modelling to analyse links to nature in urban centres, to examine increasing climate change in cities, and to imagine a sustainable future for the Berlin district of Neukölln.
 

Fig.: Installation view of Juli Sikorska’s project »Urban Heat Island Living: Berlin Neukölln«, Thomasstr./Selkestraße, Berlin Neukölln, Art in the Underground 2020/21: as above, so below nGbK, Photo: Adam Naparty

 
What if Berlin-Neukölln were to radically adapt to life with increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves? In a public workshop with Berlin actors, JULI SIKORSKA imagines possible systemic and infrastructural solutions for living and surviving in a city whose everyday life is shaped by the unstoppable climatic changes of the future.
 
Fig.: Installation view of Juli Sikorska’s project »Urban Heat Island Living: Berlin Neukölln«, Floor stickers at Leinestrasse underground station (U8), Berlin Neukölln, Art in the Underground 2020/21: as above, so below nGbK, Photo: Adam Naparty

 
Based on the many heat islands currently emerging and growing in Europe due to human activity, JULI SIKORSKA transports Berliners to the year 2039: the city is experiencing a typical hot summer with temperatures of over 45°C. With floor sticker ads in Leinestrasse subway station and poster campaigns at Tempelhofer Feld and Thomashöhe Park, the project points to potential life-saving measures: in JULI SIKORSKA’S scenarios, »cooling centres« and »public water hoses against heatstroke« are part of the systemic changes realised by the city of Berlin between now and 2039 to preserve the urban living space. Rather than apocalyptic images of an uninhabitable city, the project presents conceivable future scenarios like the creation of a forest on Tempelhofer Feld or the planting of drought-resistant trees and succulents along Leinestrasse to create shady places for coming heatwaves, potentially making a difference in both climatic and social terms.
 
Fig.: Shot of Juli Sikorska’s Workshop as part of »Urban Heat Island Living: Berlin Neukölln«,Prinzessinnengärten Kollektiv, Neukölln, St.-Jacobi-Friedhof, Berlin, Art in the Underground 2020/21: as above, so below nGbK, Photo: Meike Kenn

 
JULI SIKORSKA is a Polish-German designer. She studied human-computer interaction and environmental studies at Munich University and at MIT, Boston. She is a graduate of the entrepreneurship programme at Munich’s Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM). Her immersive works have been shown, among others, at the Design Museum, London (2020) and at ACUD MACHT NEU, Berlin (2017). »Urban Heat Island Living« is an ongoing multipart research project previously realised at DOX Centre for Contemporary Art x Uroboros Bites, Prague (2020, under the title »Working from Home 2026«) and at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Munich (2019).