Centering Rurality: Building Rural Theory in the Black Belt

Abstract

Urbanity has long been the practical and epistemological domain of design and planning theories. As such, the methods and tools for addressing global climate challenges and persistent social inequalities have also been disproportionately urbane in scope. Conversely, rurality has remained a largely peripheral area of study despite its outsized global footprint and importance to contemporary human existence. Unlike the limitations of our intellectual domains, global challenges transcend the territorially constrained urban typology. Reducing our carbon emissions while sustainably meeting ever-increasing energy and resource demands will involve a dramatic rethinking of both urban and rural forms of human settlement. This thesis seeks to develop a theoretical and methodological framework for ‘rural design’ by analyzing the historic and contemporary development patterns and lived experiences of communities in the Black Belt Region of the Southern United States and concludes with a provocation towards the future development of rural design and planning practice as a critical area of study.