Contributor
University of Virginia
Year
Volume 1 | Fall 2022
Content Type
Digital publication
Summary
A collection of explorations and cultural asset mapping of Apalachicola
Title
People, Community & Place Exploring Uneven Geographies through Disruptive Engagements
483 KB
Studio Brief
“Morning comes gently to Apalachicola. Oyster boats and shrimp boats begin their daily pilgrimages as the sun rises on the Florida coast. The lights twinkle on in this fishing village, its residents ready for another day in an unspoiled paradise. If you ever wondered if such a place still exists, yes, old Florida lives here.”
So says Southern Living magazine. In 2021, the newly revitalized Apalachicola, FL—a coastal panhandle city of 2,500 and the Franklin County seat—features artisanal shops, fancy seafood restaurants, and historical plaques. However, the official “old Florida” narrative omits the history of the African American population of the city and the broader region. Historic sites contribute to this erasure: a marker outside a restored cotton warehouse downtown states that Apalachicola was once the largest cotton port in the South, yet it makes no mention of the enslaved population that not only produced the crop but also outnumbered whites during the cotton boom of the 1830s.
Stories play an important role in the development and survival of cultures. They provide significant information about language, history, and the environment. Stories can be in written form—such as maps and text—or in verbal forms like oral histories and folk music. In all forms, stories and histories are connected to our daily lives and contribute to the makeup of our society, from entire cities to local communities. Historical practices in the marginalization of Black communities in planning and design shape the spatial, economic, and environmental conditions that have proven challenging to their survival. These historical practices often include conflict, inequality, discrimination, and displacement.
At this critical moment of social and ecological change, it is our responsibility as landscape architects to disrupt these practices through our work to reflect the values and needs of marginalized communities. How might disruptive engagements facilitate the transformation of a marginalized community through the practice of reflecting, articulating, and projecting (defining) an equitable future?
This studio project maps the commonalities and challenges of Black communities along Florida’s Forgotten Coast, while focusing closely on the Hill community in Apalachicola to co-develop community-identified goals and strategies that might be supported by the Justice40 Initiative.
Through partnerships with I’Cola and other community organizations, the studio team will develop a regional atlas, cultural asset maps, and community design strategies. These techniques will be transferable to other communities impacted by structural racism. With a focus on grassroots storytelling and capacity building, this work will center the voices of Black communities in design decision-making processes within a complex and fragmented policy landscape.