What do the places we make tell us about our culture and values? This course will present a broad, multi-century sweep of placemaking and the role of the built environment in ancient and contemporary cultures. We will ponder design features of ancient sites, study humanity’s evolving relationship to nature and natural systems, and focus on both new and old approaches to restoring a sustainable balance between the natural and built environments. With techniques developed for my architecture practice, we will explore creativity and communication in this context and consider storytelling as a tool to engage communities in their built environments. Each session will include interactive exercises enabling the participants to dive into and personalize the concepts presented.