How can minigolf be used as a way to engage in a city ecosystem?
This question has led me down an avenue of research that has encompassed a plethora of interwoven topics and inquiries; city infrastructure and governance, private and public land use, embodiment and meditation, watersheds, ecology, community and participation, ethics of materials, and land use—just to name a few. If this list didn’t make it clear, I’m taking the phrase “city ecosystem” seriously. It’s holistic—with roots in world-ecology as outlined by Jason Moore in Capitalism and the Web of Life, where the system of capitalism is studied as a natural force that shapes the world in ways greater than we can control~
The city ecosystem is everything organic and inorganic, it is the people living in it, the machines operating, the governance, and especially the built environment. I want to better understand this complex system, I want others to engage in this exploration as well-–whether through participation, creation, or simply asking questions (internally or externally). These goals and the overarching question—how can minigolf be used as a way to engage in a city ecosystem?—is being supported by a project of constructing miniature golf courses integrated within sidewalk strips throughout neighborhoods in Portland Oregon.
In this push for better understanding I look at The Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI) a non-profit group that is not an artist collective nor environmental organization, instead occupying factors of both and fills many more roles. Their primary purpose is to "increase and diffuse knowledge about how the nation's lands are apportioned, utilized, and perceived." They release newsletters, host exhibitions, lead field trips, conduct research, create public programs, and more. Their work is centered around how land-use in the US affects the lives of people, a phenomenological study.
What I find most fascinating about CLUI is the apolitical nature of their work, apolitical in a scientific approach. There’s a kind of removal of bias in the way they write, more fact than opinion. For example, a reviewer used the phrase “oil exploration” when talking about one of the many landscape topics they cover. I don’t find my work to be apolitical, but in some of my arguments as to why mini-golf, I explain that it’s an idea that can be easily pitched and the politics that are inherent can benefit from this sort of espionage.
see also:
concave city geography
city geology