Mapping Sustainability

Carl Hayes

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The community of New Paltz has a strong sustainable background in the way that it functions and provides for its inhabitants. When it comes to sustainable practices, many of us cannot visualize how the combined processes can shape how a community survives. I want to explore a series of sustainable systems in the town of New Paltz and visualize it, using storytelling illustration, mapmaking, and interactivity. Using information gathered from local businesses of the town, government and the local community, I want to communicate the processes of the system as well as educate the viewer on how the systems impact them as members of the town. The audience will be the locals of New Paltz, our student body, as well as any visitors to our town. The map will have information that can be found interesting by all groups, from the way that local restaurants compost food, to the way that the town provides clean living alternatives; from electric cars to net-zero commercial buildings. Similar to tour guide maps and road maps you find at rest stops on the highway, this project will map out the systems in place in our town, for understanding and education. Mapping Sustainability is a project that highlights what makes a town like New Paltz so great, a healthy community and a healthy environment.