In his manifesto for the Dezeen 15 digital festival, architect Winy Maas of MVRDV proposes covering the planet with a new inhabitable geological layer called The Sponge.
Constructed from the detritus of the Anthropocene era, The Sponge would be a giant, multilayered biostructure capable of nurturing both people and planet.
The Dezeen 15 festival features 15 manifestos presenting ideas that could change the world over the next 15 years. Each contributor will also take part in a live video interview.
See the line-up of contributors here and watch the video interview with Maas live on Dezeen later today.

The Sponge: towards a dendrocene
Earth. Our home. For the infinite future, I hope. Earth contains all known life in the universe, as far as we are aware. But our home is threatened: climate breakdown, population growth, deforestation, pollution, income and wealth disparities, lack of pure water, health problems, the enormous reduction of biodiversity ? just to name a few ? are accelerating tremendously.
We know that. And yet still we need to repeat it. These challenges demand action and, maybe more than ever, imagination. And somehow, architecture and urban design are better tools for this than we think.
French surrealist poet Paul Éluard once wrote that "there is another world and it is in this one". The idea of the Anthropocene has captured people's imagination in recent years ? the idea that humans have created a new layer in the geology of the Earth.
What if w...