Stefano Boeri's Vertical Forest towers are slowly popping up around the world. In Shanghai, the concept is transported to the Red Planet in “Vertical Forest Seeds on Mars”. The project is part of the Shanghai Urban Space and Art Season 2017 exhibition (SUSAS), which Stefano Boeri co-curated with Li Xiangning (Dean of the Tongji University School of Architecture and Urban Planning) and Fang Zhenning (independent artist and international critic).

Currently open at Shanghai's Minsheng Port, the three-month SUSAS exhibition showcases art, architecture, urban planning, and design projects that envision the future of today's cities. 

Developed by Stefano Boeri Architetti's China studio and Tongji University's Future City Lab as a response to Earth's rising sea levels, the project envisions a “colony of Shanghai on the Red Planet” in 2117. Habitable “eco-systemic seeds” would travel via an interplanetary space station and be planted on the Martian surface. Exhibition visitors can check out the project at an on-site installation, where they can fully “experience” the Vertical Forest Seeds with augmented reality technology.