Cities are built almost exclusively for people. Every surface, every wall, every fa\u00e7ade is designed, maintained, and repaired with human use in mind. But cities aren\u2019t just inhabited by humans, and the idea that urban decay, those crumbling plaster patches and cracked brick faces, is purely a problem to be fixed ignores the potential it quietly holds for other species.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the provocation at the heart of Green Anarchy, a project by Yasemin Keyif of Bah\u00e7e\u015fehir University in Istanbul, presented as part of the UNFOLD 2026 exhibition at BASE Milano during Milan Design Week. Rather than treating a cracked or crumbling fa\u00e7ade as something to be patched over, Keyif asks what happens when designers choose to work with decay instead of against it.<\/p>\n
Designer: Yasemin Keyif (Bah\u00e7e\u015fehir University)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The answer takes the form of a small, biodegradable sticker pressed directly onto damaged building surfaces. Each unit is made from a blend of paper pulp, coco peat, perlite, and seeds in its main body, with an adhesive system of gum arabic, methyl cellulose, and glycerin that lets it bond to roughened or degraded masonry without any synthetic materials.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The process is surprisingly simple: the stickers are soaked, mixed, shaped, and applied by hand directly onto the wall. Over time, the seeds embedded in the substrate germinate and take root in the existing cracks and recesses, gradually turning neglected building surfaces into small, self-sustaining ecosystems. The name for this sequence, decay, attach, grow, also doubles as the project\u2019s driving logic.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Keyif developed the concept with Karak\u00f6y, a dense historic neighborhood in Istanbul, as the pilot context. The project maps four escalating stages of urban decay, from minor surface cracks to severe structural collapse, and identifies each stage as a viable entry point for the stickers. The greater the damage, the more surface area becomes available for attachment and growth, turning the most deteriorated walls into the most fertile ground.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The deeper idea is a repositioning of architecture itself. Buildings, in this framework, aren\u2019t just infrastructure for human activity but potential interfaces between human and non-human life. Cities already host birds, insects, mosses, and small animals that quietly inhabit the spaces we overlook, and Green Anarchy asks whether design can actively make room for that, rather than continually squeezing it out.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Presented as part of UNFOLD 2026, Domus Academy\u2019s annual international design showcase held under the theme \u201cEngage Friction: Designing Through Conflict,\u201d Green Anarchy fits the brief almost too well. It doesn\u2019t try to resolve the tension between the built city and the natural world so much as give them a way to grow into each other, slowly, without asking anyone\u2019s permission.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The post These Stickers Turn Crumbling City Walls Into Tiny Living Ecosystems<\/a> first appeared on Yanko Design<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cities are built almost exclusively for people. Every surface, every wall, every fa\u00e7ade is designed, maintained, and repaired with human use in mind. But cities aren\u2019t just inhabited by humans, and the idea that urban … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n