Toward a sustainable non-urban

Norah MakiDSI Thesis, 2014

Intent

explore a non-urban model for sustainability in the U.S.

co-create a new mythology of the American landscape

Non-Metropolitan Counties

Everyone, including cities, has a stake in the future of the non-urban.

natural resourcesraw materialsfoodgoods & services

By 2012, 86% of U.S. residents had home internet

“Speaking to you as a farmer and former county commissioner - the internet is so vital to the economic health of a community....I see it more and more.”

- Trudy, Chester, MT

Home computer ownership

Home internet access

1987 20121997

Montana Maine Florida

Old Myth

Cycles of boom and bust

Perceptions of a ‘rural backwater’

Job creation throughgeography-based

extractive economies

New Myth

Cycles of sustainable growth and decline

Increasingly diverse population

Job creation through the invisible geography of the internet

give the land a voice in the conversation

Intent

explore a non-urban model for sustainability in the U.S.

co-create a new mythology of the American landscape

Creating a visual language that re-unites nature and metaphor

1. Shape-mining 2. Processing & Refinement 3. Application

The New Biology

Girls in America : Into the American Landscape

“These landscapes defy easy elegies”

“There are many competing, interactive components - we use the word “trade-offs” here - and that is what these images capture...

things just don’t fit together easily, it’s more complicated.” - Julia, Buck Island Ranch, FL

Manifest Love

Visual Mapping tool

Literally & conceptually re-shaping myth

Regionally specificPonderosa Pine bark - Montana

Cabbage Palm boots - Florida

“We could visualize where there were lots of stakeholders and resources dedicated to a root cause that doesn’t really have a lot of opportunity for being addressed and how it would make more sense to move resources to another need or root cause where you are more likely to find success”

MacArthur Agro-Ecology Research Center, Buck Island Ranch, FL

“I still believe that there’s something special about this place. Maybe it hasn’t shown itself yet. Or maybe I just haven’t looked hard enough” - Craig, MT

Thank you