![]() ![]() ![]() This is a place where Solarpunk really gets infused by architecture and urban planning. Much of the art that's labeled 'Solarpunk' features buildings that are festooned with greenery, in some cases their architecture mimics that of the natural world, buildings shaped like flowers, etc. This seems to be a central piece of Solarpunk. Working with Nature instead of dominating it - In Solarpunk we often see buildings and technology that not only blend with the landscape, but take inspiration from it. Now a story about a Solarpunk cyborg, that's breaking some interesting ground. That stands in stark contrast to a world where technology is built to work with nature, not against it. In Cyberpunk we often see people live under crippling corporate authoritarianism, their only escape in drugs or virtual reality. Where Cyberpunk is dystopian, harsh, futurism, Solarpunk is hopeful futurism. They both live firmly in the science fiction spectrum (at least in my opinion). Cyberpunk - Solarpunk as a literary genre is said to be a child of, or reaction to Cyberpunk. In 'The Last Jedi' and 'Rogue One,' hope is all that drives the characters to make enormous sacrifices, and in 'Rogue One', to be utterly ruthless revolutionaries. But the path the characters have trod to reach that bright future is littered with carnage. In 'The Return of the King,' we never see the "Age of the King" Gandalf talks about after Sauron is defeated. Wars, murder or any of the other horrifically normal human activities can take place along the road toward utopia. On Hope - Just because something is hopeful doesn't mean there is no conflict. With them I can really feel the heartbreak, hope and fear of having such a shining world as Solarpunk either just out of reach or slipping from my grasp. These aren't new constructs by any stretch of the imagination, but when I think of trying to do something with a setting as exciting as Solarpunk, these have some serious narrative 'teeth' to them. Ages-old technology is failing, risking the destruction of everything the characters know. A quote I've used to describe my Æsterverse setting is 'There is a golden age right around the corner, if we are bright enough, brave enough and bold enough to seize it.' The second idea is that of utopia in decay. The first I think of is that our characters and our story haven't reached utopia - yet. Where's the conflict? There are a couple of devices that come to my mind to address this problem. A Solarpunk world has found itself in balance. One of the core issues in dealing with Solarpunk is that it's utopian. What I want to talk about are some of the challenges I've discussed with writer/creator friends when we try and tackle Solarpunk from a storytelling perspective. There is a concise but thorough description of Solarpunk here, and I've put a couple of other links at the end of this post. I'm not qualified to talk about most of them. To start with, I'm not going to try and cover all the bases. Taking a hint of wisdom from the all-knowing Deadpool, it's not pretty. Remember when I said this was a mess? Yeah. With all that said, the central question raises it's ugly head. And for my purposes here - a REALLY cool narrative construct. It's a design/architectural/urban planning philosophy, a spiritual way of looking at how we interact with the Earth, a political point of view. ![]() There are so many things going on with it that it's hard to figure out where to begin. Trying to nail down Solarpunk as a genre is. ![]()
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