Ecological action can be distributed
Small interventions can connect fragmented spaces when they operate as part of a wider spatial strategy.
Footpath 47:
Seeding Climate Memory
How can grassroots ecological action extend a threatened brownfield habitat into the surrounding neighbourhood?
Project Overview
Footpath 47 is a brownfield landscape in Barking Riverside shaped by the accumulation of pulverised fly ash from a nearby coal-fired power station. These unusual ground conditions have created an Open Mosaic Habitat that supports specialised species.
Planned development and flood defence works risk replacing parts of this landscape with raised, paved and managed public space. The project explores how its existing ecology could extend beyond the site before this transformation takes place.
01. Seeding Climate Memory
The proposal uses site-specific seeds collected from Footpath 47 to establish small ecological nodes across Barking Riverside.
Young participants collect seeds and soil samples before construction changes the site. A community Seed Library stores these materials, while a Social Archive records memories and sensory experiences associated with the landscape.
The collected seeds are then made into seed bombs and distributed across overlooked spaces in the surrounding neighbourhood.
02. Building an Ecological Corridor
Individual interventions gradually form a network of green nodes between Footpath 47 and inland green spaces.
Interstitial spaces and existing roofs become possible stepping stones within this network. Local ruderal species maintain a connection with the ecological conditions already present at Footpath 47 and allow its habitat to extend into the surrounding urban area.
03. From Strategy to Action
The intervention spreads through repeated small actions across the neighbourhood.
Seed Archive Posts distribute seeds and provide space for local information. Simple seating creates places where residents can pause and observe the changing landscape. As more sites are planted, scattered interventions gradually become part of a wider ecological network.
Upscaling
Each intervention introduces ruderal species into another overlooked space. As these sites accumulate, they act as stepping stones within a wider ecological network.
04. Corridor 47
Turning the strategy into a cooperative game
The ecological strategy was translated into Corridor 47, a three-player cooperative game.
Players take the roles of local actors with different abilities. They collect resources, green rooftops and interstitial spaces, and work towards connecting Footpath 47 with inland green space.
Urban Pressure cards introduce development, paving, fencing and other disruptions that can fragment the emerging network. Players have to respond to these changing conditions while working towards a shared ecological goal.
Roles
Players represent three local actors, each with a different capacity to shape the ecological network.
Resources
Resource cards provide the materials and actions required to expand the ecological network.
Urban Pressure
Urban Pressure introduces events that can interrupt, damage or block the emerging green network.
05. Playing the System
Each turn moves through three stages:
Collect → Act → Urban Pressure
Players collect resources, use them to expand the green network, exchange cards with one another, or activate the particular ability of their role.
The game ends when a continuous ecological route connects Footpath 47 to inland green space, or when development pressure blocks the remaining possibilities.
06. Testing the Game
The game was tested with three participants in a 30-minute session.
Players began exchanging resources and coordinating their individual abilities around the shared objective. As Urban Pressure changed the board, they adjusted their routes and developed new strategies.
The test showed that the cooperative structure worked effectively. It also identified opportunities to strengthen the Urban Pressure system and increase the level of challenge.
Project Reflections
Different actors can contribute in different ways
Local groups bring different forms of knowledge, action and support to a shared ecological process.
A game can make spatial conflict playable
Corridor 47 translates ecological connectivity, cooperation and development pressure into a system that players can negotiate through play.