Rural Adaptation

Catalog description

This research seminar will invert the figure/ground relationship of city and hinterlands, focusing on the rural territory as an ecological, social, cultural and spatial entity with its own attendant operations, and, in the context of changing climates, specific risks and opportunities. The Finger Lakes Region, its industries, economies, and ecologies will be the locus of our attention. Throughout the semester, each student will research a specific operational landscape, which will be collectively compiled into a Rural Atlas of the Finger Lakes Region. The atlas will unpack the cultural, geographic and regulatory contexts that shape each particular type of rural landscape, the specific risks and changes projected for the region, as well as speculative tools, management methods and assemblages that might help these communities adapt.