The last time you looked out the window of an airplane, what did you see? Were there dead-end residential developments only connected to one another via four-lane arterials? Or perhaps you saw strip malls surrounded by seas of parking? How about vast tracts of agricultural terrain divided into geometric shapes? These are the types of images architect and photographer Alex MacLean captures with his camera.
MacLean, who was featured as the keynote speaker at Waterfront Center’s Urban Waterfronts conference held in Seattle last week, began his career in architecture but has since taken up a different passion—aerial photography.
MacLean started taking aerial photographs of landscapes from his single-engine plane to document human activity’s influence on the natural landscape in the U.S. He has published his work in such books as “Designs on the Land,” “Visualizing Density” and his most recent work, “OVER: The American Landscape at the Tipping Point.” The images are powerful reminders of the way we organize, shape and carve up our environment to suit our needs and desires.
At the conference MacLean displayed various images from his collection, focusing on the “collision” of population growth and climate change and how it is reflected in both the built and natural environment.
How Did We Get Here?
MacLean demonstrated what he calls “incredible rapid growth” through a photograph of a suburban development in Las Vegas where rows of construction sites consume every piece of open space in the frame. He implied the growth is partially due to population increase and residential zoning requirements, but it is also driven by the desire for each family to have its own private dwelling unit with its own private yard.
MacLean also noted that the average house size has doubled since 1970 and that new communities are taking up a lot more space. This is a direct result of our houses being separated from different aspects of our lives, such as our place of work, education and services.
To make it possible for communities to be organized this way, a system of streets and highways was created as a means of connection. This network of roads allows people to get from one place to another, but gasoline is used along the way. Furthermore, once one has reached his or her final destination, the car needs to be stored at a new location; hence the invention of parking lots.
MacLean’s photographs featuring a church and a sports stadium demonstrate exactly how much space is dedicated to the automobile. Swaths of pavement surround comparably much smaller buildings. And an abundance of impervious surfaces translates into an increase in the amount of polluted stormwater shedding into nearby waterways and causing damage to fragile ecosystems.
Where Are We Going?
MacLean’s other photographs showed developments along waterfronts clearly demonstrating their vulnerability to rising sea levels. Some places that were featured include Galveston, Texas, Miami and Seattle. (He also shared a shot of Lake Washington’s collection of houseboats. About which, MacLean quipped, may be the answer to rising water levels.)
He explained that development is concentrated on waterfronts because the amount of real estate is scarce and the demand for it is high. The resulting concentration of buildings and people along the waterfront means that those communities are particularly susceptible to flooding and other natural hazards exacerbated by climate change.
Another side effect of climate change is increasing desertification. This is captured in one of MacLean’s photographs of a line of houses, each with its own dock extending toward—but not quite reaching—the water line. The entire neighborhood lost its direct access to water due to rising temperatures and the water body’s dwindling reserves.
As MacLean showed photographs of homes destroyed by natural disasters, he commented that we are becoming “a nation of refugees” and that the situation will only become worse as climate change continues to plague the globe. Referring to the damaged buildings, MacLean asked “Should we come back and rebuild this?”
He responded that the effort may be futile, after all, with an increasingly “volatile” atmosphere, which may wipe out any redevelopment efforts. It may be practical and prudent to consider building our city centers and neighborhoods in less risky locations.
Opportunities to Survey a Changed Landscape
As he has been surveying the land from his plane, MacLean has seen one shift over the years. From the sky, he has discovered efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change in the form of white and green roofs, windmill farms and recycling parks.
While the combination of greenhouse gases stemming from driving and the resulting water pollution is severely damaging the environment and challenging the way societies are organized, all is not lost. The marks left on the landscape, visible from the sky, are beginning to reflect a new perspective on how we should interact with natural resources, ecosystems and the environment as a whole.
