Living Maps: From Cosmos to Community

Topics: Transportation, Land Use & Land Cover Change

Live event

September 29, 2011

Venue

Land of Sky Regional Council

Location

Asheville, NC

What makes our communities livable and resilient? Living Maps: From Cosmos to Community explores the conditions that support life, from the outer edges of the solar system to their own communities in the Appalachian Mountains of Western North Carolina. Understanding these conditions can inform strategies for addressing interconnected challenges facing the region.

Vimeo videovimeo.com/50851470

This event originally took place at the Land of Sky Regional Council, in collaboration with UNC Asheville’s National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (Asheville, NC) on September 26, 2013. The production highlights concepts underlying the Livable Communities Initiative, a 3-year project funded by the HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities. Three screenings and dialogues were hosted with audiences who represent an array of regional governmental, planning, NGO and academic institutions tasked to develop regional and local strategies for sustainable development, economic prosperity, and quality growth.

The “Living Maps” program explored three questions with audiences:

How can we make transportation between where people live and work more sustainable and affordable?
How do we balance land use demands among agriculture, development, recreation and environment?
What global and regional issues will affect our communities over the next 20 years?

The movie above showcases the first section of Living Maps, and the rest can be viewed online (opens in a new tab).

Program kit

Original production files and materials. Some formats require legacy software, and links to other sites may no longer work.

Script and storyboard, installer, and the data sources used.

Script & Storyboard

Read the storyboard (web page)
Open the script and storyboard (opens in a new tab) (Google Doc)

Installer

Uniview Installer Files

wvn09_journey_FINAL.msi (27.4MB)
Windows installer. Requires Uniview 1.5 (opens in a new tab)

Data Sources

Videos and visualizations related to the program.

Reading and reference links for going further.

Resilience

Stockholm Environment Institute’s The best explanation of resilience video
On Resilience (opens in a new tab) from SEED magazine
What is resilience? (opens in a new tab) from the Stockholm Resilience Center
Resilience is the capacity of a system to continually change and adapt yet remain within critical thresholds.
Principles of a Resilient World (opens in a new tab) from Ecotrust
Resilience Regions (opens in a new tab) from from Ecotrust
Resilience Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Resilient Community Wiki (opens in a new tab) from the Stockholm Resilience Center
Community and Regional Resilience Institute (opens in a new tab)
Community Resilience and Adaptation (opens in a new tab)
A Resilience Community (opens in a new tab) from YES! magazine
Re-Thinking Progress: The Circular Economy (opens in a new tab) video from the Ellen Macarthur Foundation
Community Resilience Toolkit (opens in a new tab) Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (opens in a new tab) from Bay Localize
Pay Now, Pay Later: North Carolina (opens in a new tab) (PDF) (the projected economic costs of climate change)
The Business of Climate Change: Opportunities in Adaptation and Resilience (opens in a new tab) at the American Security Project
Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (opens in a new tab) from the Environmental Protection Agency

Whole Systems Design

Introduction to Whole Systems Thinking (opens in a new tab) online presentation from Transition US
Systems Thinking (opens in a new tab) from the Center for Ecoliteracy
Whole Systems Design (opens in a new tab) Leadership and Systems (opens in a new tab) (PDF) from the Rocky Mountain Institute
What is Design Thinking, Really? (opens in a new tab)

Planetary Boundaries

Big Question: Is Earth Past the Tipping Point? (opens in a new tab) (video from the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment)
From ocean to ozone: Earth’s nine life-support systems (opens in a new tab) from New Scientist magazine
How Defining Planetary Boundaries Can Transform Our Approach to Growth (opens in a new tab) from the Solutions Journal

To find out more or become involved with community issues in western North Carolina, contact UNCA’s National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (opens in a new tab).

The people and organizations behind the program.

Partners

Renaissance Computing Institute – Asheville
UNC Asheville National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center

Funders

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Education (opens in a new tab)

Presenters

Jim Fox (NEMAC)
David McConville (The Elumenati)

Scriptwriters

Jim Fox (NEMAC)
Ned Gardiner (NOAA)
David McConville (The Elumenati)
Susan Weatherford (NEMAC)

GIS & Visualizations

Jim Fox (NEMAC)
Ned Gardiner
Jeff Hicks (NEMAC)
Matt Hutchins (NEMAC)
Lindsay Irving (CAS)
David McConville (The Elumenati)

Historic Imagery & Data

Jim Fox (NEMAC)
UNC Asheville Photo Collections

Production Coordination

Lindsay Irving (CAS)

Event Coordination & Production

Nina Flagler Hall (NEMAC)
Clayton Hooker (The Elumenati)
Susan Weatherford (NEMAC)

Creative Director

David McConville (The Elumenati)

Technical Support

Ned Gardiner (NOAA)
Lindsay Irving (CAS)
Greg Mancari (DMNS)
David McConville (The Elumenati)
Ka Chun Yu (DMNS)

Participants

Ashevillage
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College
BR RN Patient Advocates
Barons Advanced Meteorological Services
Black Box Studio
Buncombe County government
Care Share Health
Carolina Mtn. Land Conservancy
Colburn Earth Science Museum
Communicatia
Community Foundation of WNC
The Elumenati
FAIA
FMD Architects
The GIS Institute
Haywood County EDC
Historic Resources Commission
Land Design
Land-of-Sky Regional Council
Madison County
Mountain Valleys RC&D
NC Department of Commerce
NC Department of Natural Resources
NC Division of Community Planning
Pisgah Legal Services
Smith Mill Creek
Square Peg, Inc.
SunDance Power
True Nature Camp
University of Georgia’s Odom School of Ecology
UNC Asheville National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center
Warren Wilson College
WWC Environmental Leadership Center
WaysSouth
WNC Green Building Consortium

Sustainable Community Initiative / GroWNC (opens in a new tab)

The Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program, branded as GroWNC (opens in a new tab), supports metropolitan and multijurisdictional planning efforts that integrate housing, land use, economic and workforce development, transportation, and infrastructure investments in a manner that empowers jurisdictions to consider the interdependent challenges of:

economic competitiveness and revitalization;
social equity, inclusion, and access to opportunity;
energy use and climate change; and public health and environmental impact.

Partnership for Sustainable Communtiies (opens in a new tab) at sustainablecommunities.gov
Partnership for Sustainable Communities (opens in a new tab) at the White House
HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities (opens in a new tab) Sustainable Communities Grants Map (opens in a new tab) at the Environmental Protection Agency
Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grants (opens in a new tab) at Housing and Urban Development

Livable Communities Initiative

Livable Communities Initiative Partners

ONE THOUGHT ON “LIVING MAPS: FROM COSMOS TO COMMUNITY”
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