New York designers Studio Lindfors have created a series of images imagining how New York and Tokyo might look like in a few hundred years as a result of rising sea levels.

Above: New York

Called Aqualta, the project predicts that communities will adapt to the changes by building piers and navigable canals to replace the existing transport networks.

Above: New York

The images depict rooftops used for growing food and oyster beds cultivated to protect the coasts.

Above: New York

See also: Flooded London by Squint/Opera

Above: New York

Here's some text from the designers:

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AQUALTA by Studio Lindfors

Studio Lindfors has released a new series of images called Aqualta – a play on Acqua Alta, the increasing high tides flooding Venice – which visually explores what a coastal metropolis might feel like a hundred years from now due to rising sea levels. The images illustrate two cultural and financial epicenters – Tokyo and New York – adapting to, rather than resisting, rising waters.

Above: Tokyo

Aqualta imagines city dwellers migrating to higher and dryer elevations as water levels gradually increase. Piers, boardwalks and systems of navigable canals reestablish the transportation network lost below.

Above: Tokyo

Residents repurpose rooftops for farms and greenhouses. Wetland ecologies and oyster beds thrive and take root to better protect coasts from future storms. The cities are shown without combustion – engines, power plants, all emissions are rendered obsolete – resulting in cleaner, quieter neighborhoods. Aqualta reveals an adaptable city infrastructure capable of acclimating to nature.

Above and top: New York

Studio Lindfors is a design firm based in New York City. The firm is versed in a wide range of project types and dedicated to the pursuit of speculative proposals that explore the realm of the fantastic. Current projects include a restaurant in Houston, a film studio in Brooklyn and illustrations for the House of Inconvenience.