SITUATING FLYOVER TERRITORY: Identity + Mobility in the American Midwest

2017-ONGOING Research Scholarship, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

Field Research: Cleveland, OH; Kansas City, MO; Minneapolis, MN; St. Louis, MO; USA

This project explores the intersection between identity and mobility in “Flyover Territory,” deploying various mapping techniques and ethnographic methods to understand both territory and urban space by the networks that pass through them.

The continual urbanization of the United States is leading to the emergence of megaregions throughout the country, including the Midwest. Despite its common pejorative as the flyover country between the East and West Coasts, the Midwest is too large to be recognized as a stable or singular identity. What and where is the Midwest? By spatializing the flow of people, critical nodes, synergies and actors are revealed, illustrating how these infrastructural networks influence the identities within Flyover Territory. The essence of place within this region is explored, illuminating how natural landscape and physical dimensions come together to influence the identity. When assembled, these cartographies serve to produce a new imagery of Flyover Territory.