Place-making in Arizona's southwestern desert

This qualitative place-making inquiry has two goals: first, to improve understanding of what people make of Arizona's unbuilt southwestern desert lands as place and, second, to seek patterns in the dynamics of place-making that might apply to unbuilt landscapes more generally. The research investigates place-making through examination of desert experiences of natural scientists and policy makers in three time periods: the mid 19th Century, the turn of the 20th Century and the present day.; Place-making is framed as a complex adaptive system (CAS), constantly dynamic and mutually defining. Key aspects of the place-making CAS are space, people, experiences between them and elements of the larger context. Two intangible forms of place are considered: relationships between individuals and space and meanings ascribed to the space. Specific properties of relationships and meanings emerge from the process.; Natural science and public policy documents from two historical periods were examined; 14 semi-structured interviews were conducted with contemporary natural scientists and policy participants. Iterative textual analysis identified five types of relationships between individuals and desert lands: alienated, indifferent, appreciative, attached and at home. Analysis also found that meanings are ascribed to the land in ways that answer four overarching place-making questions. The answers to these questions describe the physical character of the land, assess its value and potential as individual home or national homeland and describe the ways in which people care about the land.; This research shows that, as desert place-making unfolds, this land tends to resist people and people's changing needs fuel constant adaptive changes in relationships and meanings. Experiences facilitate these changes. Elements of the larger context both expand and limit place outcome possibilities.; Future research that addresses desert relationships and meanings of other groups would expand the public's understanding of Arizona's desert lands; research that tests the CAS framework, the relationship typology and the four overarching place-making questions from this study would improve the understanding of place-making in unbuilt landscapes.