American Roundtable: Appalachia Rising, West Virginia

00 Introduction

Designers—specifically, landscape architects and architects—are uniquely positioned to work alongside community members, political leaders, funders, and allied professionals to document, propose, and visualize alternative futures.

01 Difficult Terrain: The History of West Virginia’s Infrastructure

Through a series of writings and mappings, Caroline Filice Smith explores the history of infrastructural investment in West Virginia communities marked by decades of precarity and neglect.

Credit: Caroline Filice Smith and Merritt Chase

02 Positive Outcomes: Improving Public Health with Outdoor Recreation

In a powerful short documentary film, Elaine McMillion Sheldon addresses public health in West Virginia through the story of grant-funded youth programs that temporarily provide short-term after-school activities for kids.

03 Land-Based Ventures: Providing Jobs and Alternative Futures

Through writing and audio clips, Brittany Patterson profiles three experimental land-based ventures that provide economic benefits and novel work opportunities across the state.

Sprouting Farms. Credit: Merritt Chase

04 Vacant Lots to Urban Farms: Food Justice in Appalachia

Grow Ohio Valley (GrowOV) is a Wheeling-based urban agriculture initiative that has become a regional model for urban farming and food justice in Appalachia.

Photographs and text by Rebecca Kiger.

05 Your Land: The Transformation of Public Spaces in West Virginia

The Monongahela National Forest: Conservation Inspiration for West Virginia's Future

Credit: Kent Mason

Client: Merritt Chase
Year: 2020–1
Scope: Strategy, Editing
Team: Sarah Rafson, Candace Opper

PLP worked with landscape architect Nina Chase of Merritt Chase to produce Appalachia Rising: West Virginia, one of ten reports selected to be part of American Roundtable—an Architectural League initiative that brings together on-the-ground perspectives on the condition of American communities and what they need to thrive going forward. Appalachia Rising: West Virginia imagines alternate, post-carbon futures for West Virginia’s communities, acknowledging the state’s reverence for land and preparing the region for the inevitable effects of climate change.

Working closely with Chase, the lead editor, and the team of six contributors, PLP helped refine the report’s strategy and edited each of the multimedia contributions with the focus on creating a holistic report that aligned with the American Roundtable’s vision. The incredible group of collaborators on this project includes nationally acclaimed photographer Rebecca Kiger, Academy Award-nominated and Emmy winning filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon, West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Brittany Patterson, and Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Caroline Filice Smith.

Join a lunchtime event to discuss the project on January 27 at 12 p.m. EST. Free and open to all; visit archleague.org/events to register.

To learn more about American Roundtable, visit The Architectural League’s website.

Photo credit: Rebecca Kiger