Artist Statement
LUCKY WE LIVE HAWAI‘I is a common saying locals use to express a deep appreciation for the islands’ natural beauty. Family. Food. The lifestyle (even when it can feel like a struggle). On a deeper level, it communicates a sense of respect for Hawai‘i so deep, people devote their lives to protect and perpetuate it. For those who understand and appreciate the value of Hawai'i’s dynamic environment, heritage, and culture, life in Hawai'i provokes an endless array of questions and imperatives for shaping the futures of humanity.
Despite its physical isolation, an enveloping flow of material and information vastly connects Hawai‘i to the world. From coral reefs to alpine deserts, nearly all of the Earth's biomes, soil types, and microclimates are represented, featuring native flora and fauna found nowhere else. Hawai'i's culture coevolves and develops in this exemplary instance of biodiversity. Paired with a year round growing season and an untapped availability of nearly every form of clean, alternative energy—solar, wind, wave, geothermal—Hawai'i is poised to become among the most vibrant and self-reliant places on the planet. A model of sustainability, resilience, and abundance.
Simultaneously, the mass-marketed image of Hawai‘i as an idyllic paradise obscures a major problem: environmental degradation. The cumulative effects of deforestation, wetland and reef dredging, stream channelization, urbanization and sprawl, traffic, pollution and climate change have negatively impacted Hawai'i’s socio-cultural, political-economic, and ecological systems. As a result, families have experienced changes to their communities and neighborhoods that threaten the unique qualities of life valued in Hawai'i. It’s already yesterday's news that Hawai‘i has one of the highest numbers of endangered species in the world; a growing population dependent upon expensive imported fossil fuel energies and industrialized food resources; an aging utility infrastructure; and among the most polluted locations in the USA. This current imbalance amplifies the stresses of globalization and urbanization upon our local culture—struggling to adapt to the spiritual and financial fears of further degrading an already jeopardized environment.
Inspired by Traditional Hawaiian resources management, Hawai'i Futures presents a series of connecting points to get people thinking of Hawai'i’s built-environment from a more "big-picture," place-based perspective. This serves to catalyze discussions around the role architecture, landscape, and urban design can play in creating resilient places to live--neighborhoods centered around streams, shorelines, community, food production, education, local business and the arts, and the many more things that make a place special for those who choose to live there.
Questions this exhibition encourages the viewer to explore include:
If streams, like beaches, were declared a publicly accessible resource for recreational, educational, and agricultural purposes, how would that transform current land-use paradigms?
If neighborhoods were organized so every resident was within a 5-10 minute walk of a farmers market selling locally grown foods, how would that change zoning?
If every home were required access to a common agricultural area, how would that change the configuration of existing city block patterns?
How would a decentralized utility infrastructure reconfigure the pattern of urban development if rainwater was harvested in the valleys and solar power generated along the coast?
What if there was a maximum developable footprint within each watershed?
How will shorelines be relocated in the inevitable occurrence of sea level rise and erosion?
Questions such as these are presented in a graphic, solution-oriented format to illustrate a conceptual, transformational vision for restoring ecosystems and reorganizing Hawai'i’s developed lands over the next 100-years. This extended timeframe is chosen to acknowledge the multi-generational focus this level of urban reorganization will require.
Hawai'i Futures promotes the idea that the future resilience and abundance of Hawai'i depends on how well society integrates our socio-cultural and political-economic systems to complement the ecological cycles of each individual watershed. The island is a city in and of itself.
The built-environment is a manifestation of these systems and shapes people’s attitudes and lifestyles, and their abilities to connect to the environment, create culture, and perpetuate the values that make Hawai'i unique.
Consequently, how we choose to design (and re-design) Hawai'i's built-environment today will shape the culture future generations will inherit tomorrow.
Thank you for your attention and time--
Sean Connelly
