Latest Updates
03/14/15: Future Cartographic is a project to
document what neighborhoods will look like 200 years in the future. I’m doing this through one-on-one conversations and walking “expeditions” with people from diverse backgrounds in neighborhoods of all kinds. The aim of the project is to build civic engagement around the long-lasting effects of neighborhood transformations and ultimately
to demand more equitable, human, inspiring, playful, and sustainable change.The process of documenting the distant future is rooted first in sharing strong personal experiences of place from our past, and second in exploring together to fully share and experience anew the present state of the neighborhoods we call home. As we do this,
a mashup of personal past and neighborhood present takes shape in the distant future. By documenting these futures in narratives, maps, and illustrations we begin to see certain truths. Truths not just about what the future will look like, but also the truth that
we have the ability to achieve great things in our own time and to begin creating these inspiring futures.
I’ve developed this project over the past year as a Creative Community Fellow with National Arts Strategies. The conversations to be documented over the coming year are just the start. As the project unfolds, I plan to present discoveries about the future in a “sci-fi performance lecture,” in an “Atlas of Future Neighborhoods” book and mobile app (pictured above), and ultimately to grow a movement demanding a more inspiring, fun, human, and equitable built environment.
Are you ready to join Future Cartographic? Membership starts at just $12. That’s $1/month!
Description
What will your neighborhood look like in 200 years? Will it be more beautiful, more inspiring, more human than it is today? As Founder and Chief of Expeditions of the Future Cartographic Society, I’m mapping what future neighborhoods will look like in order to inspire civic involvement today.
Working with residents from all walks of life in big cities, suburbs and rural towns across the U.S., I learn about an individuals past relationship to place, walk and share an experience of the present state of their neighborhood, and then work to develop maps, stories, and illustrations that represent incredible, inspiring, whimsical, and humanizing distant futures for the places we now call home.
Why is this important? Our neighborhoods are constantly changing, but we don’t often think of the long term impact of the choices we’re making now. Is your neighborhood awesome? What choices were made 100 or 300 years ago to make it that way? Can we build empathy with the unknown residents of our neighborhood in the future? By looking far beyond our immediate concerns in the present to a more hopeful distant future, I believe we can boost civic engagement and community ownership over the forces of change that often feel like they are beyond our control.
Who am I? My name is Erik Moe. I have been working in the arts/culture and social justice sectors since the late 1990s. My experience ranges from rolling up my sleeves to clean up neglected spaces for use as art centers to leading a 20-person national team of digital organizers at one of the biggest economic justice nonprofits in the U.S. Today, I advise do-gooders on social impact and digital strategy (when I’m not conducting expeditions to the future).
Where is the money going?
The funds raised in this phase will enable me to conduct “expeditions to the future” in the form of one-on-one dialogues with residents from diverse backgrounds in large and small communities across the United States. My goal is to visit, experience, learn from and create future narratives about 20 neighborhoods in the U.S. by Spring of 2016. To reach this goal, I’d like to conduct 40-60 “expeditions” or walking dialogues in the coming year (2-3 per community).
Transportation is my primary expense during this phase. In places where I am unable to stay with friends, supporters, or participants I will also have lodging expenses. I estimate that the average cost per expedition will be $500. Neighborhoods closer to my base in Washington, DC will be less expensive. Travel to rural and west coast communities will cost more. Whenever possible, multi-stop trips will be scheduled to save on costs.
I need your help to make this happen! RocketHub allows all funds raised to support the project. For every $500 raised, one more future neighborhoods expedition will be conducted.Meeting the $10,000 goal will cover the estimated 50 expeditions required for this phase of the work.
In later phases of the project, I plan to present the findings of these expeditions in book, mobile app, and in a science-fiction-as-fact performance/lecture. Help me get there by funding this first round of expeditions today!
Other ways you can help: Do you have travel resources such as airline miles or the use of a car for a day or a week? Are you an airbnb host who would be willing to donate your space during a residency in your community? Do you have a relationship with hotels, airlines, or car companies who might have interest in sponsoring this project? Please be in touch.
One final way to help is to hire me. I subsidize my creative projects with contract work as a social impact and digital strategy advisor. If you need help using online communications to make your organization more impactful, let’s talk!