Three years ago Gilad Meron, Mia Scharphie, and Nick McClintock contacted Emerging Terrain’s office, at the time in Omaha, about a new research proposal. They were conducting case studies of practices in the relatively new field of public interest, or social impact, design. Although Emerging Terrain hesitates to call itself “public interest” (because it can falsely imply that the public concurs), we were excited to be part of the research so that our work could contribute to a larger discussion about how we, humans, shape the world around us. Three years later, Proactive Practices has released the first edition of their Emerging Terrain case study. Coincidentally, it serves as a summary of Emerging Terrain’s time focusing exclusively on Omaha, and operating as a nonprofit. Gilad, Mia, and Nick’s work has drawn important lessons from that phase, and serve as a bridge to the next.
Thank you Proactive Practices. You encourage us to get to work and produce another chapter for the case study.
Emerging Terrain
We have had a marvelous time collaborating with the Arid Lands Institute on an exciting community initiative, Connect the Dots. On February 20th, several hundred people gathered on Van Nuys Street in the San Fernando Valley to explore how water-conservation science, design visioning, and citizen engagement could develop future street infrastructure that fully integrates stormwater capture for groundwater health. This was made possible through Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Great Streets Initiative, empowering council districts across the city to shift from carbon-intensive and auto-centric streets, to a diversified, low-carbon public domain.
Read the final report here:
https://aridlands.org/lead/news/final-report-celebrating-great-streets-connect-dots-van-nuys
We are honored to be featured in the October 2013 issue of Metropolis Magazine. In Rethinking the Great Plains: Emerging Terrain, the research-and-design nonprofit, offers a new vision for Omaha, author John Cary explores the organizations work beginning with Stored Potential, and expanding to some of the larger regional planning initiatives we have undertaken, since inception in 2007.
Our friends at Public Interest Design just released a list of 100 individuals and organizations in the U.S. doing important work at the intersection of design and service. We are honored to be recognized as part of this growing movement that is re-imagining the world!
Come learn about the changing landscape of Sarpy County and what it means for the community
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
7pm, snacks provided
former Borders Bookstore
Shadow Lake Towne Center
72nd St. & Highway 370
Papillion, NE
Download the event poster and hang it on your wall!
Photo by Alex MacLean
