Echo Worlds: An immersive journey into urban edge ecologies

Echo Worlds is an immersive ecological sci–arts experience exploring how urban edge-spaces – verges, commons and small waterways – can become portals to natural futures. Guided by the lives of bats, visitors step into an echo world shaped by sound, light, texture and scent, discovering the sensory richness of urban nature. The installation combines surround sound, 360° projection, subtle shifts in scent and haptic feedback to simulate the perspective of a bat navigating its twilight environment. This sensory journey encourages participants to “become more than human,” exploring what it means to share a world with other species. The work draws on collaboration between artists, ecologists and community groups including: James W Norton (na/films), Alice Lawrence (University of Cambridge), Dr Lara Houston (Global Sustainability Institute), Abbey People, Dr Veronica Zamora-Gutierrez (Lecturer in Bat Ecology), Bryony Yates (Bat walk guide) and students from Anglia Ruskin University’s BA (Hons) Digital Media Production course. By merging technology and ecology, Echo Worlds challenges us to rethink the role of immersive art as a tool for connection, empathy and accessible engagement with nature.