FUTURE TRENDS: Power of Internet activism and Future Biomimetic Architecture

Internet activism can actually lead to social change

Internet activism is sometimes considered an ineffective activity that is only beneficial to our own egos. Described pejoratively as slacktivism, the phenomena originated on social media networks, where the involvement for the social cause is often reduced to nothing more than hitting a like button or re-posting a tweet. According to research called “Beyond the Hash tags: #Ferguson, #Blacklivesmatter, and the Online Struggle for Offline Justice”, internet activism is indeed driving a social change. The study, which analyzed 40,8 million tweets and 100 000 web links, came to the conclusion that the media which circulated on social networks in 2014 and 2015 nourished the tremendous growth of Black Lives Matter movement.

Biomimetic materials will reshape the future of architecture

Steel and concrete production creates more CO2 than the global aviation industry. This fact, along with general concerns for climate change, is forcing architects to rethink the use of traditional building materials. The cities of the future call for new biomimetic materials, which take their inspiration from natural sturdy structures such as bones and eggshells. Researches are now trying to imitate and scale the production of these materials to the industrial level. The new advanced materials will not only use a fraction of the energy which we now need to produce steel or concrete, but are also expected to have a self-repairing ability, just like our bones.