The inspiration for the type of fungus used was taken primarily from 'shelf' fungi that grow on the side of trees, absorbing nutrients from them. In my story, the fungi had been adapted to grow super hard and absorb nutrients from the atmosphere, in much the same way as a coral. The project actually began with a couple of different ideas of how the fungi and the city would look together. Including an almost playground type Shanghai:
The combination of the imagery of buildings as trees that make up the forest of a city as well led to a desire to expand on the metaphor of the city as an ecosystem. In combination with the research on the environmental economies of slum cities this metaphor seemed to be a real possibility of holding grounds in reality.
