Today the Architectural League of New York announced the commissioning of ten reports for its new American Roundtable initiative.

We’re excited to announce that Merritt Chase will be leading one of ten editorial reports alongside designer-led perspectives from across the country. The reports have been commissioned as part of American Roundtable, a new Architectural League initiative that will bring together on-the-ground perspectives on the condition of American communities and what they need to thrive going forward.

Merritt Chase’s report will highlight inspiring land-based projects in West Virginia that have positioned themselves to replace the region’s declining extraction economy. Through a series of contributions from an all-women group of regional landscape architects, artists, and writers, this multimedia project imagines alternate, post-carbon futures for West Virginia’s communities, acknowledging the state’s reverence for land and preparing the region for the inevitable effects of climate change.

We are excited to work with an incredible team of multimedia collaborators to make this report possible, including nationally acclaimed photographer Rebecca Kiger, Academy Award-nominated and Emmy winning film maker Elaine McMillion Sheldon, West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Brittany Patterson, Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Caroline Filice Smith, and Point Line Projects’ Sarah Rafson. Their collective dedication to expressing alternative narratives about Appalachia, specifically West Virginia, has inspired this work.

For more information on the American Roundtable project visit the Architectural League of New York’s website here.