“Appalachia Rising begins with a simple prompt for a place that’s been exploited and maligned for much of its modern history: “We can start by listening to what the people of West Virginia are interesting in seeing in the future.”

Nina Chase, ASLA, is the editor of Appalachia Rising, and what follows is both design document and policy paper, and part of the final project for the Architectural League’s American Roundtable series, which is focused on better futures for small and medium-sized towns.

Appalachia Rising looks at how land is valued, tracing historical precedents established in West Virginia from extraction industries (oil, gas, logging, coal) to ecologically restorative agriculture and recreation.

The most defining rhetorical choice in Appalachia Rising is presenting West Virginia as a place of abundance—not deficiency—while still acknowledging the public austerity and corporate largess that’s defined it.”

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