Michigan real estate developer perspectives on development, sustainability, and nature: An autoethnography

As a deep ecologist working to forge peace between nature and culture, I began this autoethnography to learn how highly successful real estate developers talk about and do their work. For 50 years I witnessed the loss of nature in Michigan. I knew of global losses of biodiversity and species and that these losses are tied to land development. I wanted to hear from those who would destroy nature: real estate developers.; Ethnography is a study of culture. Autoethnography is a study of one's experience in one's own culture (Ellis and Bochner 2000). This autoethnography chronicles my experiences entering the lives of 15 highly successful Michigan real estate developers. I am not neutral about their work: it breaks my heart (Behar 1996). Yet to understand what drives development and how we might protect nature, I had to go where it most hurt. During 90-minute confidential interviews, my life was transformed as developers honored me with narratives about how they became developers, why their work is meaningful, and how we can protect nature.; Like cream rising, my findings are a rich concentration of the constituent elements of these narratives. I analyzed developers' responses by question and created thematic categories. Other sources of data were fieldnotes; participant observation; eight key informant interviews; and developers' autobiographies, biographies, and guidebooks.; Findings included: (a) development is and is not about money; (b) developers talk about their work like women talk about their babies; (c) development is driven by individualistic, utilitarian notions of land as private property for human use; (d) nature is invisible unless protected by law or public interest; (e) plat maps, master plans, and zoning ordinances reveal and frame our destiny; (f) planning is at the core of the solutions and the problems; and (g) conversations and change are under way. I conclude that while there are forces resistant to change within the culture of the real estate developer, we all contribute to land transformation in the United States. I suggest a national sprawl campaign to shift American preferences; changes in policy, planning, and evaluation; and increased investment in land protection.