Need to Know
15 : 03 : 23

Belgium – An artwork is immersing viewers in the unseen and largely unknown inner workings of soil at a microscopic level, with help from augmented reality.

Developed by London-based studio Above & Below, Entangled Landscape is best described as a ‘meditative mixed reality experience’. The project merges art and science in a collaboration between soil scientists, city planners, data analysts and games engine experts. The result is an augmented reality version of natural landscapes that visitors can explore through smartphones, uncovering the invisible collaborative life in the soil.

Entangled Landscape uses environmental live data from the Southwest Flanders area in Belgium to bring visibility and awareness to what occurs in the soil at a microscopic level. The artwork educates visitors about biodiversity and the complexity of fungi and roots, materialised as a poetic reflection of nature’s complex invisible collaborative systems.

We previously looked at how soil inspires food futures, as climate change pushes all innovators to look inwards and understand more about the eco-system and opportunities that abound underground.

Australia – Experiential tourism company Journey Beyond has commissioned architectural firm Woods Bagot to scale up its transcontinental rail service. Journey Beyond is investing more than £5.5m (A$10m, $6.7m, €6.2m) to upgrade its trains, starting with The Ghan, which runs between Adelaide and Darwin, a journey of almost 3,000km.

Woods Bagot’s new renderings usher in a new level of sophistication and elegance in train interiors and feature a palette of colours inspired by the landscape artist Albert Namatjira, one of Australia’s most renowned Indigenous painters. Updated elements will include bespoke fixtures and fittings in the guest cabins and newly designed Outback Explorer Lounges, with leather banquettes, swivel chairs and a stone-clad bar. The firm will also revamp the onboard Queen Adelaide Restaurant with a focus on highlighting the rich landscape of Australia represented through collaborations with First Nations artists.

As consumers become increasingly critical of the aviation industry and its impact on global carbon emissions, the resurgence of train travel – along with a demand for its upgrade – will play an essential role in the travel, hospitality and luxury industries, as we revealed in our Rail Travel Re-Ignited market report.

Global – In a new report forecasting the future of digital engagement, hand-made cosmetics firm Lush and The Future Laboratory reveal that 49% of consumers believe social media platforms do not do enough to protect users from harassment, harm and manipulation.

Following a survey of 12,000 social media consumers across the UK, the US and Japan to understand their digital wants, needs and desires, the report concluded that social media platforms face new challenges as people engage less with them. Over a third of Meta users say they have used Facebook, Messenger (17%), and Instagram (18%) less frequently than a year ago. Perhaps their desertion is due to their lack of trust in the platforms’ owners. ‘The promise of social media was connection, expression and community,’ says Jack Constantine, the chief digital officer at Lush. ‘But today, many consumers distrust social media platforms. Some even experience digital platforms as a hostile space. Our research alarmingly shows this.’

In Anti-provocation Platforms, we previously looked at how consumers who burnt out on traditional social media spaces can now access a new wave of platforms featuring common good values in their functionality.