Mapping the Path to a Better Future: Environmental and Social Impact Planning of Property Networks

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY GSAPP, ARCH 6676, SPRING 2023

 

DAY / TIME: Fridays 11am - 1pm

LOCATION: Avery 115

 

INSTRUCTOR: Prof. Molly Burhans, mab2488@columbia.edu (she/her/hers)

TEACHING ASSISTANT: Naumika Hejib, nrh2128@columbia.edu (she/her/hers)

 

OFFICE HOURS: Fridays 1:20pm - 3:30pm (on-campus, location TBD); Wednesdays 9:30am - 10:30am (virtual via Zoom)

 

Image: Molly Burhans, Good Lands; An Integrated Approach to Scaling Land-Based Solutions - (2016, 2023 revision)

 

Overview

Despite dire warnings about human-driven global ecosystems collapse and the climate emergency, our efforts to curb environmental destruction continue to fall short. What we do over the next decade will determine the fate of life on earth. The continuation of human and non-human life requires using our best technology, most advanced science, novel collaborations, and creativity to reframe our relationship with land and land ownership.

Among the largest property holders globally are governments, religious institutions, and multi-national corporations. Scaling sustainable land-use and design practices with these actors is necessary to mitigate and properly adapt to climate change’s already demonstrable impacts.

At different geographic scales, unique processes and professions shape our landscapes. These processes have evolved over time as land was colonized and commodified. This course will look at existing land-based propositions for climate change and explore how they can be integrated with the planning, use, and management of property owned by some of the world’s largest landholders. Principles from urban and landscape design in tandem with computational practices will be directed towards a rethinking distributed networks of property as more than collections of assets and liabilities; but as powerful vehicles for driving positive social and environmental change.

Case studies of massive landowners include the Jesuit Catholic religious order and their property in Canada and Los Angeles County governmental properties. A hypothetical private landholder with significant landholdings in the mid-west will be considered, though to a lesser degree than the previous two, to provide context of this work for government, non-profit, and private landholders. We will use GIS and a geodesign framework to explore how these properties can be planned, designed and managed to better address climate changes. The challenges faced by working with these institutions and large landholders involve not only technological and social barriers but require addressing land justice history. Design scalable solutions require understanding the landscapes of our past and present so that we can walk and work together to cultivate the flourishing of our futures.

 

Learning Objectives

• Understand the definition of property and land ownership from multiple perspectives.

• Conceptualize different ways to visually represent land ownership and understand what the implications of this may be for multi-stakeholder projects that include addressing historical land injustices through reparations or reconciliation processes.

• Understand what the Geodesign Framework is and how to use it.

• Understand how computational design can be used to scale sustainable land-based solutions to large networks of properties to address climate change in a more time and cost-efficient manner.

• Be able to create a proposal for a project that would optimize a large (>30 parcel) property portfolio to positively impact climate change or its effects, such as mass migration.

 

 

Course Work

 

Phase Projects

The course will be divided into four phases; (1) Defining Property, (2) Understanding Property Across Scales, (3) Understanding Stakeholders Across Scales, and (4) Landscape Interventions Across Scales. For each phase students will complete a Phase Project (see following section).

 

Final Project and Presentation

Student groups of 3-5 individuals will work together on creating a Final Presentation that will be ~30 minutes in duration (subject to change based on student enrollment). This presentation will synthesize course readings, reflections, and work developed during each Phase Project. As part of the synthesis, students will propose next steps that could help Los Angeles County or the Jesuits of Canada build on their semester's work to develop a feasible project.  The Final Project will be a 15 - 30 page letter-page-size or 10 - 20 page tabloid-page-size report that includes the contents of your group's final presentation, including the final proposal for continuation of work to support LA County or the Jesuits with realizing their environmental and social justice values through the use and management of their properties. The proposal will be general and will not include detailed logistics, such as projected budgets or staffing.

 

Weekly Material and Assignments

Every week we will explore course topics through a combination of academic or non-academic articles, plan sets, reports, graphics, and media. Some weeks you will be required to submit a brief (1-2 paragraph, 400 word maximum) written reflection on weekly material. Several weeks will involve a graphic reflection, rather than written. A PDF and Adobe InDesign version of a template for each graphic assignment will be provided through Canvas. This is meant to reduce the amount of time required to complete these assignments and streamline the development process of your graphics. Graphic assignments are meant to support ideation of subjects and be "sketchy" exploratory exercises of material. They may include text, though full paragraphs are discouraged. Weeks that do not assign a written reflection or graphic assignment will focus on producing work directly for case-study related Phase Projects and the cumulative Final Project and Final Presentation.

 

 

Phases and Phase Projects

The course will be divided into four phases;

(1) Defining Property

(2) Understanding Property Across Scales

(3) Understanding Stakeholders Across Scales

(4) Landscape Interventions Across Scales

 

Phase One | Defining Property

The complexities of defining  "land ownership" across geographic scales, from properties to trans-national territories, will be explored throughout Phase One. You will develop a sufficient working definition for "property" that will support your exploration of case study materials. Consider how graphic media can support communication of a more nuanced and accurate understanding of land ownership than is provided by commonly used data that exclusively considers land through a lens of formalized land tenure systems (e.g. cadastra [parcel] data). Contextualize historical residence of land, considering territories, "informal" land ownership, and consider how that land's ownership is currently defined -- explore if and how graphic products and the design processes that use them can support land-justice reconciliation and reparation process currently being undertaken by groups, such as the Jesuits and Indigenous communities in Canada.

Phase One Project: Representing Property

Students will individually create three different graphics, contained on an 11 x 17 template, that depict property and its ownership at the parcel-scale. As a class we will review these together and the outcome of our discussion will generate parameters for a rule-based model that can be built to incorporate site-scale graphic communication of the concept of property that we have explored to the entire property portfolio. To reduce time-intensive model building, students will only agree on models and parameters (as much as possible) together. The instructor will take their input and build two models based on the entire class' input; one for each of the two main case studies. These models will generate the portfolio base map used for the other Phase Projects.

 

Phase Two | Understanding Property Across Scales

Analyze a case study property portfolio to extract key information about its environmental, social, or economic conditions to generate an understanding of baseline existing conditions that will enable informed plans and decision making. Combine this standard analysis procedure with base maps created in Phase One that integrate parcel-fabric data with geo-graphic representations of the property's relation to people and historical context.

During this phase you will be introduced to standards for data resolution at different scales of landscape analyses and gain awareness of how to analyze a large set of properties with appropriate data, where to find such data, what is required to harmonize geospatial datasets of different originations for a common feature across large geographic areas (you will not harmonize the data you use if it requires this; it is often an intensive process that requires a significantly large team with extensive software engineering and professionals with niche-GIS competencies -- while you will not be able to harmonize data, you can use it, as this is somewhat theoretical, and you will learn about the process and workflows that would be required were you to take our case studies and conduct this work or build from it in a way that can appropriately drive real-world decisions regarding the properties).

You will learn how to consider and document the assumptions being made with the data you chose to work with, areas for improvement that could be explored outside of time constraints for a single semester course, and useful insights you made with the data set(s) you chose to use to analyze a condition of the property. Increasingly high resolution spatial data within the last half-decade has enabled the possibility of analyzing large sets of relatively small properties across large geographic areas, however, there are still many gaps in what is available and its quality at required resolutions across large geographic spans.

Phase Two Project: Existing Conditions

You will run one analysis of your choice will be on either LA County or Jesuit property datasets. We will coordinate as a class to reduce excessive redundancy of analyses selected in order to ensure that the final project, which will be completed in groups, has sufficient variety of information.

 

Phase Three | Understanding Stakeholders Across Scales

We can identify different levels of policy and regulation that impact large, distributed, networks of property. These distinct levels of stakeholders and decision makers that have variable, but considerable, influences on  "landscape modification" apply to essentially all landholders whose property portfolios transcend multiple administrative jurisdictions (counties, states, or countries). The highest level of stakeholder influence on these properties, and furthest from the nitty-gritty of on-the-ground site design and planning, is their context to macro-economic development and legislation dictated by countries, trans-national coalitions, and large, global landholders' organizational policies, such as Canon Law concerning property in the case of the Catholic Church.

The modification of landscapes at larger scales of land-use planning is largely shaped and enforced as legal processes that are informed by design and planning. Land modification of properties at all scales is influenced by economic considerations for stakeholders and the community (in the US, the community is usually represented by local planning boards). These considerations include resource management, real estate development, taxation, etc. Ideally, taking into account land reparation and reconciliation, concerns for environmental and social justice, the promotion of human and community flourishing would be considered with equal weight to economic consideration, the latter which tends to be the paramount concern.

Part Three will explore individuals and institutional arrangements that impact land across geographic scales and use a lens of network analyses to build a model to explore who influences the landscapes we are studying. We will seek to gain a better understanding of the degrees of influence of these various stakeholders have across geographic scales and how they relate to potential barriers or leverage points for systemically, sustainably shifting how a large landholder's property is modified and maintained.

Phase Three Project: Stakeholders at Different Scales

The Phase Three project will be conducted in groups of 3-5 students. Students will be provided a shared, virtual whiteboard with a graphic template with geographic and temporal axes. Students will individually add 3 unique stakeholders (individuals or institutions) to the graphic and provide a write-up (~300 - 500 words) describing the influence of these stakeholders.

 

Phase Four | Landscape Interventions Across Scales

By this point we have broadly identified different geographic scales of influence on landscapes of the property sets we are studying. We have considered the scales of influence on these properties and the stakeholders involved; from large-scale land-use policy down to considering the types of stakeholders that are responsible for approving and ensuring smaller scale decisions, such as selling or building on a particular parcel, conserving a portion of it or updating their planting or maintenance plans. We have considered how to represent this land in ways that can contribute to an inclusive perspective of property and support critical justice reconciliation efforts.

In Phase Four we will consider interventions and solutions and how to optimize their implementation and impact in context to the foundation we have laid in Phase 1 - 3. We will consider site-scale interventions and solutions that can support environmental and social justice. For example; stormwater management, habitat preservation, strategic tree planting, the support (financially or via land-back) of reconciliation work, housing, etc. Building on our understanding of existing conditions of properties and how we represent property, and who might be able to realize proposed interventions, each student will then run one analysis that will rank properties based on their suitability for the intervention of their choice.

Consider a property portfolio comprising 700 properties that has no overarching plan for its use and management. If something, like stormwater management interventions, is implemented haphazardly it can have an exponentially less positive impact than if you run a query on all of those properties and identify the properties with the highest areas of impervious surface that also have drainage systems that go directly to a delicate aquatic ecosystem or combined sewer overflow system [etc.]. Consider how this approach could also identify properties to best support reconciliation and justice efforts -- instead of selling properties and providing financial compensation for atrocities committed against indigenous population from these sales, if the Catholic Church strategically considered sacred sites, historical context, and community it could shift its approach to reconciliation to be more encompassing than solely fiscal compensation; but include property-based decisions that promote the preservation of ecosystems and a more integral justice.

Phase Four Project: Optimization of Impact

One analysis of your choice will be run on either LA County or Jesuit property to rank properties based on their suitability and potential impact for a site-scale landscape intervention of your choice. We will coordinate this work, as was done in Phase 2, to reduce excessive redundancy of analyses selected in order to ensure that the final project, which will be completed in groups, has sufficient variety of information.

 

 

Schedule

 

Jan 20: Introduction

Course introduction, overview of schedule and assignments, review available data packages and materials for case studies.

 

Reading:

A Framework for Geodesign, Carl Steinitz

https://www.esri.com/en-us/esri-press/overview

Preface, Chapter 1, Chapter 2 (Optional reading), Chapter 3, Chapter 4 ( Up to pg - 43)

On scale and complexity and need for spatial analysis - Carl Steinitz

http://ncgia.ucsb.edu/projects/scdg/docs/position/Steinitz-position-paper.pdf

 Optional Reading:

Scale considerations in landscape approaches

https://www.asb.cgiar.org/climate-smart-landscapes/chapters/chapter9.pdf

The ‘Deplorable’ History Behind the Pope’s Apology to Canada’s Indigenous Communities

https://time.com/6200213/pope-apology-canada-history-indigenous-communities/

 Los Angeles Has a Housing Crisis. Can Design Help?

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/22/arts/design/los-angeles-housing-crisis.html

Can the World’s Religions Help Save Us from Ecological Peril?

https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/can-worlds-religions-help-save-us-ecological-peril

 

Look at:

Across Scales: From Global to Local, Molly Burhans

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1NVXUdbqV_VbPWAJk2bPc3My0rKOIemDf

 

Jan 27: Land Ownership Across Scales

Review different forms of land or territorial ownership across scales; from nations to local, individual land holders. Discuss the history of land ownership in case study areas and general overview of forms of land ownership in other parts of the world. Understand how we say who owns what land and what the implications are for how we define “property” when performing studies or developing designs.

GUEST SPEAKER (Tentative): Dr. Lee Schwartz or Dr. Ravi Shankar

 

Reading

Benefits of Land Registry Digitization

https://blogs.worldbank.org/digital-development/benefits-of-land-registry-digitization

 Guidance for Using Tribal Boundaries, Areas and Names Resources

https://www.epa.gov/geospatial/guidance-using-tribal-boundaries-areas-and-names-resources

 Administrative boundaries - making other data more operationally useful

https://afrimapr.org/blog/2020/admin-boundaries/

 Chapter 1: Boundary Science

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/administrative-boundary

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780323884730000014

 Look At:

The new, LADM inspired, data model of the Dutch cadastral map

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837722001016

Native Land Digital

https://native-land.ca/

Watch (Optional)

The Lake of Betrayal (on PBS Passport)

https://www.lakeofbetrayal.com/

 

Feb 3:    Representing Property

Explore different visual representations of land ownership, including data-based GIS maps. Review cases of land ownership representation performed in studies examining areas with both informal and formal land settlements. Ideate with others about the stakeholders for your case study sites and how you might appropriately represent relevant stakeholders relationship to the land as “property” or “territory.”

 

Feb 10: Geodesign – integrating property, people, spatial science, and design

Introduction to geodesign framework; understand the geodesign approach to land-use planning and how it integrates the people of a place, geospatial sciences, information technologies, and design professionals. Consider relevant workflows for design projects and how this framework can be applied to one of the three case studies.

 

Feb 17: Representation and Reparations

Read about existing land reparation programs. Tentative guest speakers will include a Jesuit priest from the Canadian Province of Jesuits and local indigenous leadership involved in their reparations process. Examine how textual and visual representation of landownership within design documents may influence processes and project outcomes.

GUEST SPEAKERS: Fr. Ted Penton, S.J. and Maka Black Elk

 

Feb 24: Workshop – Property Representation

Visualize land ownership within a case study area and explain your choices.

 

Mar 3: UD Studio Colombia Trip, no class

 

Mar 10: ON ZOOM: Student presentations; property and existing conditions, Phase 2 Projects

Pick 1-2 focused environmental variables (habitat, transit, hydrology, etc.) to analyze your case study property portfolio’s existing conditions or context. Upload these into ArcGIS Online and present what you learned in the form of a story map. Selected variables can involve computationally complex high-resolution raster analytics or a simple vector-based model; students can select the condition they are studying based on their interests and GIS background.

 

Mar 17: SPRING RECESS

 

Mar 24: Land Modification Across Scales

Review different disciplines in design, planning, and architecture and the scales of their impact. Discuss where landscapes are impacted on national levels, state-levels, municipal, and parcel scales. Discuss different disciplines that work on each scale and how – across space and time.

GUEST SPEAKER: Dr. Stephen Ervin

 

Mar 31: Student presentations: Project Stakeholders

Present the constraints and leverage points for land modification within your case study area and key stakeholders.

 

Apr 7:  Designing Across Scales - Parcel to Province and Project Proposal Outline Due

design processes translated from parcel to regional/provincial scales. Student groups will submit a draft outline of their final presentation / proposal.

 

Apr 14: Designing Across Scales - Integrating Globally

Explore how transnational non-state actors can further scale regional efforts to address climate change to their global property portfolios.

 

Apr 21: Computational Design: Scaling Solutions, Parameters

Introduction to computational approach of examining and optimizing design of property portfolios.

Guest Speaker (Tentative): Arancha Munoz-Criado

 

May 5: Final Presentation

Groups of 3-5 students present a hypothetical proposal they created together for one of the three case-study landholders properties. The proposals outline how the selected landholder could move forward to optimize their property’s future use, management, and development to address climate change. Groups will bring together their representations of land ownership, analyses of existing conditions, an overview of identified stakeholders, and potential outcomes and pathways to further explore and identify solutions for the property portfolio they have explored throughout the semester.

 

 

Participation

Engagement in group work, timely completion of exercises, in-class activities and discussions will contribute to your overall evaluation. Students are encouraged to ask questions, explore materials, and cultivate an open space for inquiry and dialogue. 

 

 

Attendance

Attendance at all class meetings is mandatory. Two unexcused absences will result in automatic low pass; three absences will result in a failing grade. Notify the instructor in advance if you know that you will not attend class for any reason. You will be considered absent if you enter the room 15 minutes after the start of class. 

 

 

Plagiarism and Academic Integrity 

You are responsible for reading and understanding Columbia University GSAPP's Code of Academic Integrity:

GSAPP Plagiarism Policy: https://www.arch.columbia.edu/plagiarism-policy
GSAPP Honor System: https://www.arch.columbia.edu/honor-system

Violations of the Code may result in instructor and/or college level sanctions ranging from failure on the assignment or the course through dismissal. 

Special note on plagiarism:  When you turn in assignments or projects to satisfy the requirements for this course, you are implicitly stating it is your own work (or, in group work, acknowledging all involved through including their authorship).  The failure to properly acknowledge your use of another work is plagiarism. Plagiarism of any kind will result in a failing grade for the assignment and a report of the violation as per the notification procedures outlined in the Code.  Copying someone else’s graphics or images without sources is plagiarism, just as much as not citing a sentence you copied from a book.

 

Accessibility Support Services

The Office of Disability Services (DS) provides students with different abilities extra support as needed and appropriate. Students seeking accommodations or support services from Disability Services (DS) are required to register with the disability office. 

More information: https://www.health.columbia.edu/services/register-disability-services