ABSTRACT
At any given moment, a single site has different meanings to different people; they understand its significance depending on their interests, their viewpoints, and their values. Beyond that, landscapes change over time; they evolve as material realities and also as ideas. The studies in this portfolio propose representational strategies to acknowledge and document a site's plural stories. Conceived to address large scales, complicated situations, and contradictory ambitions, their goal is to propose methods that translate rigorous information into widely accessible terms. Representation does not mean the neutral cataloguing of every dimension of a site. It articulates values and relationships. A representation makes a site visible in new ways, and if its language can speak to general audiences as well as specialists, it has the ability to offer terms for public conversation about the future. It becomes a tool for advocacy – and for action.
