Climate change is altering the microenvironment of cities, causing changes including the expansion of mosquito habitat due to warmer and wetter temperatures. Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, such as Dengue, will increasingly affect urban populations.

Synthetic Symbiosis is a living architecture that is responsive to the dynamic ecology of urbanisation. It is guided by the belief that the scent of cities can influence public health. There are three scales of investigation in this designed system that responds to the threat of mosquitoes to public health.
‘Biological Scent Production’ investigates the design and application of an organism, synthetically modified to emit specific volatile compounds to attract and repel mosquitoes. ‘Passive Diffusion’ investigates an optimised living architecture to naturally diffuse scent. And ‘Emergent Distribution’ investigates the emergent design of a living system network on an urban grid.