Sara Lum - Shifting Thresholds

Shifting Thresholds

Omaha, Nebraska
Emerging Terrain
Role: Project Director + Primary Researcher
Program: Urban Research + Placemaking

'Shifting Thresholds' is a three-phase project incorporating research, exhibition, and publication into a directive for future planning of a community at the per-urban edge of Omaha. The research phase identifies factors leading to current forms and functions of development at the edge. The peripheries of most U.S. cities have faced rapid suburbanization in the past 50 years, and ownership increments established in the 19th century continue to drive contemporary development practices. These pre-existing land increments, based exclusively on ownership boundaries, coupled with unplanned growth, have led to current suburban land use that is both environmentally and economically unsustainable. 'Shifting Thresholds' explores and documents the complexities of this at the southern fringe of the Omaha metropolitan area through contextual research methods: historical ownership mapping, corresponding categorical timelines, aerial photography, and a video archive of interviews with suburban residents, farmers, public officials, and developers. This knowledge can be used to inform future development that addresses shortcomings of past development while empowering the current generation to make informed decisions about the future.