The Setting

The above photograph, taken in 2003, represents much of the level development in the Southwest.  These open range lands, many under private ownership and care, provide economic and ecological value as well as social value.  How these land are developed in the coming decades will say much about our culture and the professionals charged with the responsibility and designing and planning a built environment where we tread lightly upon the landscape.

Current Events

Adapting to new environments has been part of our history. Today’s challenges include climate instability, of which drought and warmer temperatures are expected to pose significant changes to the Southwest. Drought and warmer temperatures diminish surface water supplies, most of which are derived from melting snow pack, with the shortage being made up for by further tapping groundwater supplies. Energy scarcity, first felt by Americans in the 1970s by the oil embargo – an economic sanction, is also the focus of much concern today. Our reliance upon carbon-fuels for transportation, electrical generation and heating keeps us dependent upon off-shore interests in many instances. The creation of carbon-dioxide during the combustion of these fuels has been linked to climate change and instability. The production and manufacture of consumer goods, the most important of which is agricultural produce, is also dependent upon stable climates and inexpensive oil for transportation to our local stores and markets.

In Balance?

How has our current built environment exacerbated or alleviated climate change and energy consumption? A typical household will drink water piped from great distances, possibly from points out-of-state, operate electrical equipment supplied by centralized power stations located hundreds of miles from the point of use, burn gasoline originating from half a world away and consumes food from farms equally far afield.

Rediscovering

Subscribing to the vision of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broadacre City, where there is no place at which the natural world gives way to an environment dominated by man, where individual land owners will learn self-sufficiency on their acre-plus parcels by devoting part of their time to agrarian pursuits, and where such individuals form an interdependent local economy of eclectic talents moves us toward the Jeffersonian ideal of a democracy consisting of small farms and businesses, each having an attachment to the land and their community, and away from the social disconnection and sometimes alienation found among residents of contemporary urban and suburban landscapes.

Sincerely

Drawing from experience in the planning and architectural design professions, Sapienter provides professional consulting services to individuals and business, non-profits, and local governments who seek additional insight into their planning and design projects.