A Nation is a Machine for Capital - Brian Nachtrab

A NATION IS A MACHINE FOR CAPITAL SPECULATIONS OF CORPORATE INFLUENCE ON THE AMERICAN URBAN FABRIC AND LANDSCAPE

BRIAN NACHTRAB

Cover Image: Front Range Megaregion (Nachtrab, 2020)

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

POSITION STATEMENT

6

ARGUMENT/FRAMEWORK

10

ALLIES/METHODOLOGY

16

CORPORATE IDENTITY

38

SITES

40

PROJECT PROPOSAL

66

REFLECTIONS/CONCLUSIONS

68

APPENDIX

POSITION STATEMENT

Collision of Governance and Capital (Nachtrab, 2020)

Following the decision in the contentious Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission—which secured corporations the right to spend their money on political interests—a critical turning point occurred, leading to the rise of Super PACS and a general trend towards increased political corruption1. What this thesis posits is a near-future alternate reality where the nation’s most powerful corporations wield the already large amount of control they have, seizing land and resources that best serve their specific needs. For investigative purposes, ten existing corporations from ten industries are speculated upon.

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The ten corporations selected for inclusion are provocative in the different ways each exerts dominance. Remarkably, in some cases, the corporation is successful because of strategic alliances with other corporations. This thesis would explore the corporations as heads-of-state in geographically and climatically different portions of the present United States. As of now, the United States contains eleven growing “megaregions”, as recognized by the Regional Planning Association2; these megaregions lay the groundwork for the territories explored in this thesis.

The thesis will also posit the massive changes that would be wrought upon these megaregions, through the means of “megaprojects”. Megaprojects are not confined to a strict list of defining qualities—an important distinction is megaprojects do not have to be architectural or “built” things—and as such the possibilities with the corporations’ megaprojects will be just as varied3. The megaprojects will be conceived of as means for each corporate territory to further their agenda/goals, whatever they may be. This thesis is multi-disciplinary; architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, cartography, economic theory, politics, graphic and branding design, all informing architectural speculation for futures both near and far.

In general, this thesis is concerned with all things of the “mega-” scale, and seeks to speculate on the effects of megascale architectures and corporate interests on the American urbanscape and landscape. Corporations are not neutral; they have a bias and they mine specific resources that may be territory-specific. The thesis argues that there is a fundamental connection between specific corporations and specific territories/urbanisms where they flourish.

1. “Citizens United v. FEC,” Wikipedia, accessed December 5, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC 2. Yoav Hagler, “Defining U.S. Megaregions,” America 2050, https://rpa.org/work/reports/defining-u-s-megaregions 3. “Megaproject,” Wikipedia, accessed December 5, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaproject

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ARGUMENT/ FRAMEWORK

Texaco Road Map (found object)

The issue of corporations and the importance of capital in the American context is a story that is as long as the very existence of the nation. After all, economic reasons drove the expeditions from Europe, and resulted in the subsequent settlement and founding of the colonies. Yes, the American story is one complex and varied, but nevertheless deducible to the common themes of money, land, and power. American architecture as of recently also follows these three themes, with some overlap, but rarely embodying all three.

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There is an architecture of money—think of New York City’s “Billionaire’s Row”, a district of supertall skyscrapers containing homes of obscene cost that are rarely lived in, acting only as investments for mostly offshore buyers. There is also the architecture of a lack thereof, as seen with practices in “value engineering”. Money and architecture are so closely tied together in the American context it is hard to conceptualize an American architecture without the financial consideration.

There is an architecture of land— examples of which include the many square miles of resource extraction, data, and transit infrastructure. So much of American symbolism and ideology is inextricably linked to the land, with infamous examples being “Manifest Destiny”, “Eminent Domain”, and perhaps most controversially ideas of population displacement and more recently ideas of urban renewal. There is the American fascination of owning land, of a single family home with a white picket fence, of the Jeffersonian grid. The land is seen in a simultaneously symbolic and utilitarian sensibility.

There is an architecture of power—this is made perhaps most apparent in places with ties to governance or the machinations of our daily lives. There is a distinct atmosphere of power in, say, Washington D.C. or Wall Street, that is simply not present in another location of similar conditions. These spaces are built for those who run the nation, as it is, and often by intention the architecture reflects this notion.

Billionaire’s Row in NYC (NY.Curbed.com)

ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge chemical plant (BusinessReport.com)

United States House of Representatives (NSSGA.org)

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What architecture occurs at the intersection of all three of these themes? Though there are almost certainly others, a definitive answer for an architecture of money, land, and power is a “megaproject”. Alan Altshuler and David Luberoff, authors of Mega-Projects: The Changing Politics of Urban Public Investment define a megaproject as: -Projects that cost more than US$1 billion and attract a large amount of public attention because of substantial impacts on communities, environment, and budgets.

-Projects can also be “initiatives that are physical, very expensive, and public”.

One important thing to note considering megaprojects is that there is no requirement for a megaproject to be a “built” space; a timely example of a non-built megaproject is the ongoing research and eventual manufacture of a COVID-19 vaccine. In light of this, the megaprojects proposed by each corporation will be just as varied, with bias toward the architectural.

Why the use of megaregions as sites? In a simple sense, megaregions are a fantastic representation of where American populations currently reside or are moving to in the coming decades. They provide a view of the United States that is separated from the political and historical stories of borders, and instead operate in the realm of people, and more importantly economics. In most cases, the megaregions are largely geographically and biologically diverse from each other.

Most importantly, the thesis positions itself in a future scenario; for clarification, the corporations take power in a near-future timeline, while the megaprojects are constructed and operate in a longer timeline. In the near-future, corporations would see the most logical locations to co-opt as those that were already developed heavily enough to support their ambitions.

Megaregions are not a strictly American idea, either; though the exact course of events described within this thesis would be viewed through an American lens, it would allow conversation to occur as to what the implications of this thesis could be for international contexts.

With this information, what artifacts does this thesis seek to create? Firstly, the full list of ten corporations will be culled down to a more manageable number between one and five.

Depending on the number of megaregions/megaprojects 8

to explore, the artifacts can reach a finer grain of detail, but at a cost of sheer amount of content. From the culled list of corporations, each one will be explored through a series of different representations, each of which is described in finer detail later in this book.

The first type of representation is mapping. Considering the ideological emphasis on the “land”, its resources and its alteration, mapping will be a critical point in the process to explicate each corporation’s direct interests and interventions in their respective megaregions. This will be the most objective form of representation seen in this thesis, acting as a balancing point between the other two types. Thus far, ten maps have been created for each corporation’s current and projected interests.

These were crucial for laying a groundwork of graphic style.

The second type of representation is diagramming. These diagrams are meant to act as the corporate point of view or persona within this world. In the near term, the corporations will create diagrammatic representations of their ambitions with each megaproject, a-la UNStudio or BIG. This is meant to convey the megaproject’s marketability and act as a means of justification for such drastic measures. There can also be diagrams set in the far future period, lauding all the benefits and results of utilizing the megaprojects (read: propaganda).

The third type of representation is rendering. These will be used as more humanistic vignettes into the world of these corporate megaprojects; from construction to implementation, it will be crucial to the narrative of this thesis to get a sense of what it is like to “live in the shadow of the beast”. To what extent the world building is carried out will depend on the number of corporations selected for speculation, as well as the exact type of rendering (still image vs animation, photo-realistic vs conceptual, etc).

Physical artifacts and methods of representation could also be explored, and would likely use forms of digital fabrication.

At this time, various aspects of the thesis are in flux, and as such being proactive yet flexible will be key.

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ALLIES/ METHODOLOGY

On the following pages, a series of “allies� to the ideas and intentions of this thesis will be described. Due to the currently broad nature of the ideas present in this book, there will be a series of five categories that the allies situate themselves in. The categories are as follows: Conceptualizing, Contextualizing, Mapping, Diagramming, and Visualizing.

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YOU ARE READING AN ARTICLE PRINTED FROM PLACES, THE JOURNAL OF PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP ON ARCHITECTURE, LANDSCAPE, AND URBANISM. READ MORE AT PLACESJOURNAL.ORG.

All Those Numbers: Logistics, Territory and Walmart How can architects adapt Walmart’s logistical expertise to make better-performing environments?

JESSE LECAVALIER

MAY 2010

Sam Walton’s ledger, Walmart Visitors’ Center, Bentonville, Arkansas. [Images courtesy of the author except where noted.]

Walmart Stores, Inc. is a discount retailer based in Bentonville, Arkansas.

In 2008 it earned 400 billion dollars and had a combined floor area larger than the island of Manhattan.

If Walmart were a country, it would be the world’s 26th largest economy, just behind Austria. Walmart is also the largest private employer in the United States, with a workforce of over 1.4 million, second only to the federal government. Charles Fishman, in The Walmart Effect, describes the company as “carefully disguised as something ordinary, familiar, even prosaic. But in fact, Walmart is a completely new kind of institution: modern, advanced, potent in ways we’ve never seen before . . . Walmart has outgrown the rules — but 1 no one noticed.” Charlie Rose, before introducing Lee Scott, then Walmart’s CEO, as a 2 guest on his talk show, proclaimed Walmart “the most powerful company ever to exist.” It is, in fact, the company’s specialization in logistics — borne out through obsessions with efficiency, information and distribution — that has made it the sophisticated corporation Fishman describes. Given that Walmart’s operations are fundamentally concerned with territory, examining them closely yields insight into some of the mechanisms now at work shaping cities.

Left: Pamphlet Architecture containing “snafu” (aabookshop.com) Right: “All Those Numbers: Logistics, Territory and Walmart” (placesjournal.org)

CONCEPTUALIZING: “snafu” and “All Those Numbers: Logistics, Territory and Walmart”

Two readings that were critical in the early ideation stages of this thesis were LTL’s “snafu” and Jesse LeCavalier’s “All Those Numbers: Logistics, Territory and Walmart”. The former was important for its notion of architecture’s “surrationalism”; that is, “seek[ing] a creative logic to engender disquieting associations between or within the everyday.”1 The latter’s importance is for its explication of corporate influence and power, most effectively with its story of Walmart’s pre-Hurricane Katrina preparations, reading: Even before the storm made landfall, the company had anticipated supply shortages and had trailers loaded and ready in their Brookhaven, Mississippi, distribution center. Right after the storm, Walmart dispatched trucks stocked with supplies to affected areas in Louisiana and Mississippi — often ahead of the National Guard.2 1. David J. Lewis, Paul Lewis and Marc Tsurumaki, Pamphlet Architecture 21: Situation Normal....(New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1998).

2. Jesse LeCavalier. “All Those Numbers: Logistics, Territory and Walmart,” Places Journal (May 2010): https://doi.org/10.22269/100524

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Images of APWA’s Top Ten Public Works Projects of the Century (APWA)

CONTEXTUALIZING: American Public Works Association’s “Top Ten Public Works Projects of the Century”

Gathering an understanding for what an “American Megaproject” already looks like be would be critical for the speculative design of a future megaproject in the American context.

The American Public Works Association recognizes the following ten projects in their list of the “Top Ten Public Works Projects of the Century”1: -The Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART), -The Grand Coulee Dam & Columbia River Basin Project, -Tennessee Valley Project, -The Panama Canal, -Interstate Highway System, -The Reversal of the Chicago River, -The Hoover Dam - Boulder Canyon, -St. Lawrence Seaway/Power Project, -Hyperion Treatment Plant, -Golden Gate Bridge 1. "Top Ten Public Works Projects of the Century," American Public Works Association, Accessed December 5, 2020, http://www2.apwa.net/about/awards/toptencentury/default.htm

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Bay Area Commute Diagram (Nelson, Rae 2016)

MAPPING: “An Economic Geography of the United States: From Commutes to Megaregions�

This study conducted by Garrett Dash Nelson and Alasdair Rae utilized datasets of commuter flows to derive an understanding of the United States as a complex series of megaregions, as opposed to the existing delineation of fifty states1. Using data as abstract as commuter routes and travel times to redraw the map of the United States is a methodology that the mapping exercises undertaken in the context of this thesis will aspire to.

The speculative future entailed in this thesis dictates that what we know as the United States is transformed into a collection of corporate territories, dedicated strictly to their economic and physical dominance. After the selection of megaregions to further study, the next step will be to do a series of maps of each territory. Alongside the individual mappings, it will be valuable to examine the territories in relation to each other also through mapping.

1. Garrett Dash Nelson and Alasdair Rae, "An Economic Geography of the United States: From Commutes to Megaregions," PLOS ONE, (November 2016): https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0166083

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Forming diagrams for Copenhill/Amager Bakke (Bjarke Ingels Group)

DIAGRAMMING: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and United Network Studio (UNStudio)

These maps will also be used to create further diagrams, which would be of a simple yet striking graphic nature. The intent behind these two styles of representation are to portray the realistic understanding of the territories versus a corporate “digestible� version.

Diagrams would take inspiration from the likes of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and United Network Studio (UNStudio); this clear, streamlined (arguably sterile) style of drawing would lend itself to how corporations would view their actions, and a very marketable way of justification of said actions.

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Left: Stills from Liam Young’s “New City” (ArchDaily.com) Right: Still from Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 (USATODAY.com)

VISUALIZING: Liam Young, Keiichi Matsuda, Superstudio, Dunne and Raby, RVTR, Blade Runner 2049, Total Recall, The Fifth Element, etc.

Another facet to explore would be at a more zoomed-in scale, regarding the impact of the corporations on existing urban contexts. This practice would constitute of a mixture of both previously mentioned approaches, combining maps, diagrams, and renderings. This would give a more personalized impression of this speculative future; a series of vignettes depicting firstperson views, a series of maps explaining the context of the vignettes, and a series of diagrams explaining the corporate view and attitude towards these megaprojects and megaregions.

The tonality of the thesis is certainly not optimistic, and the directions taken with certain megaprojects could be dystopian.

Aesthetic allies are to be found in the visuals from architectural minds and other speculated futures from the world of cinema.

There would also be exploration in physical models, most likely with 3D printing or other forms of digital fabrication.

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CORPORATE IDENTITY

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As previously mentioned, for investigative purposes, ten existing corporations from ten industries are speculated upon; American Airlines (Travel/Transit), Apple (Electronics), AT&T (Telecommunications), Berkshire Hathaway (Financials), CVS Health (Healthcare), ExxonMobil (Oil and Gas), General Motors (Automotive), Microsoft (Computer Software), Walmart (Retail), and the Walt Disney Company (Entertainment/ Media).

When speculating each corporation’s potential for dominance and influence on American cities and landscapes, it was helpful to gather some sort of notion of what these corporations symbolize or represent; their “Corporate Identity”.

On the following pages, each of the ten selected corporations has a corporate identity collage, as well as some important facts or ideas associated with each corporation.

This exercise provided some critical insights that will prove important for the further development of the thesis. Firstly, there is a common theme of history to all of the corporations; some are longer than others, but all corporations examined have a history that shows an evolution of the corporate identity. Secondly, some corporations have a more traditional “architectural presence” than others; for example, Walmart and the Walt Disney Company have more architectural presence than AT&T and Berkshire Hathaway. Lastly, it made more clear the potential routes for influence each corporation could take with their megaprojects in their corresponding megaregions, as was the intention.

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-World’s largest airline by fleet size, passengers carried, and revenue passenger mile -Headquartered in Fort Worth, TX (Texas Triangle Megaregion), but will be moved for logistical and tourism reasons -Will still be recognized as a continental endeavor but the megaproject will be seen as America’s gateway to international tourists and trade -American Airlines has suffered under COVID-19, and also has some history with publicity blunders/controversy

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-World’s largest technology company by revenue, and one of the world’s most valuable companies -Renown for its exceptional level of consumer brand loyalty (think: camping out for the new iPhone) -Brushed aluminum and glass in both products and architectural identity -Criticized for its labor/environmental/business practices, and origins of source materials -Another company with heavy focus on “image” and identity

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-World’s largest telecommunications company, largest provider of mobile telephone services -Headquartered in Dallas, TX, but could easily be based anywhere due to intangible nature of data/signals, and nationwide prominence/importance -Began as Southwestern Bell Telephone company, then American Telephone and Telegraph Company: created monopoly that was broken up by United States v. AT&T antitrust lawsuit

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-American conglomerate financial holding company (wholly and partially owns many other companies) -Presence in Nebraska (midwest, could be moved for purposes of thesis due to intangible nature of their business) -Conflicting imagery of humble beginnings with present day financial dominance, historic textile start

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-American healthcare and retail pharmacy company -2019: Eighth on Fortune 500 -Based out of Rhode Island (would be in the Northwest megaregion, could be relocated due to logistics of medication or intangibility of insurance policies)

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-One of the world’s largest “Big Oil Companies”, and one of world’s largest companies by revenue -Largest direct descendant of Standard Oil -Incorporated in NJ (Northwest megaregion) headquarters in Irving TX (Texas Triangle), but better to be placed in Gulf of Mexico megaregion -Climate change deniers/silencers, oil spills, political influence, human rights

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-Largest American automotive manufacturer (second to Ford economically) -Historic presence in Detroit (Great Lakes megaregion) -Contentious history: 2009 bankruptcy, labor conflicts over length of company’s existence, other controversies

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-World’s largest software manufacturer by revenue -Presence in the Pacific northwest (Cascadia megaregion) -Acquisition of other companies, digital presence lends itself to iconic pop culture status and representation (memes)

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-World’s largest company by revenue, largest private employer in the world, largest United States grocery retailer -Headquartered in Bentonville, AR, so not near any current megaregion (Front Range could be a good one, due to centralized location optimal for logistical dominance -Criticized in relation to labor unions, development practices, various PACs, environmental practices, etc

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-American/Multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate -Headquartered in Burbank, CA, but theme park presence in both SoCal and Florida Megaregions (use SoCal for purposes of thesis -Creator of some of the most famous films/art/music/entertainment in history -Stranglehold on media market, intense focus on corporate “image�

-Recent controversy of mass layoffs (COVID related)

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SITES

US Megaregions as recognized by RPA (Nachtrab, 2020)

Varying widely in geography, intentions, and actions, the corporations investigated thus far provide a substantial starting point for the speculation of an America run by and for the supremacy of corporate territories. The thesis will get more mileage if these territories can be as distinct from each other as possible, not only in geographic location, but also in their denizens and built spaces/infrastructures.

All “sites” are understood to be in relation to existing megaregions, and the analysis of these regions would be of a variety of scales, with emphasis on the “mega” scale.

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American Airlines (Travel/Transit): Florida Megaregion, interests in megascale air-travel infrastructure, tourism, logistics, air in general.

Apple (Electronics): Northern California Megaregion, interests in aesthetics, potentially pollution remediation, perhaps data.

AT&T (Telecommunications): Across Continental U.S., interests in data infrastructure, analysis, information tracking/conspiracy, electromagnetism.

Berkshire Hathaway (Financials): Northeast Megaregion, interests in finance, control/governance, power.

CVS Health (Healthcare): Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion, interests in healthcare, drugs, trade, Big Pharma.

ExxonMobil (Oil and Gas): Gulf Coast Megaregion, interests in oil/natural resources, draining/terraforming, desalination, new geographies/borders.

General Motors (Automotive): Great Lakes Megaregion, interests in road networks, automation/AI, logistics.

Microsoft (Computer Software): Cascadia Megaregion, interests in software, electronics, data, virtual reality, digital worlds.

Walmart (Retail): Front Range Megaregion, interests in logistics, products, dominance, supply chains, manufacturing, distribution.

Walt Disney Company (Entertainment/Media): Southern California Megaregion, interests in seismic activity, media, image, “Disneyfication”, “Go Away Green”.

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PROJECT PROPOSAL

Still from Liam Young’s “New City” (ArchDaily.com)

What artifacts does this thesis seek to create? Firstly, the full list of ten corporations will be culled down to a more manageable number between one and five. Depending on the number of megaregions/megaprojects to explore, the artifacts can reach a finer grain of detail, but at a cost of sheer amount of content. From the culled list of corporations, each one will be explored through a series of different representations, each of which is described in finer detail later in this book.

The first type of representation is mapping. Considering the ideological emphasis on the “land”, its resources and its alteration, mapping will be a critical point in the process to explicate each corporation’s direct interests and interventions in their respective megaregions. This will be the most objective form of representation seen in this thesis, acting as a balancing point between the other two types. Thus far, ten maps have been created for each corporation’s current and projected interests.

These were crucial for laying a groundwork of graphic style.

40

The second type of representation is diagramming. These diagrams are meant to act as the corporate point of view or persona within this world. In the near term, the corporations will create diagrammatic representations of their ambitions with each megaproject, a-la UNStudio or BIG. This is meant to convey the megaproject’s marketability and act as a means of justification for such drastic measures. There can also be diagrams set in the far future period, lauding all the benefits and results of utilizing the megaprojects (read: propaganda).

The third type of representation is rendering. These will be used as more humanistic vignettes into the world of these corporate megaprojects; from construction to implementation, it will be crucial to the narrative of this thesis to get a sense of what it is like to “live in the shadow of the beast”. To what extent the world building is carried out will depend on the number of corporations selected for speculation, as well as the exact type of rendering (still image vs animation, photo-realistic vs conceptual, etc).

Physical artifacts and methods of representation could also be explored, and would likely use forms of digital fabrication.

At this time, various aspects of the thesis are in flux, and as such being proactive yet flexible will be key.

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Florida Megaregion: American Airlines -Travel/Transit Industry -Interests in megascale air-travel infrastructure, tourism, logistics, air in general.

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Northern California Megaregion: Apple -Electronics Industry -Interests in aesthetics, potentially pollution remediation, perhaps data.

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Continental United States: AT&T -Telecommunications Industry -Interests in data infrastructure, analysis, information tracking/conspiracy, electromagnetism.

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Northeast Megaregion: Berkshire Hathaway -Financial Industry -Interests in finance, control/governance, power.

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Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion: CVS Health -Healthcare Industry -Interest in drugs, healthcare, trade, herd immunity, opioids/drugs, trade, Big Pharma.

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Gulf Coast Megaregion: ExxonMobil -Oil and Gas Industry -Interests in oil/natural resources, draining/terraforming, desalination, new geographies/borders.

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Great Lakes Megaregion: General Motors -Automotive Industry -Interests in road networks, automation/AI, logistics.

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Cascadia Megaregion: Microsoft -Computer Software Industry -Interests in software, electronics, data, virtual reality, digital worlds.

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Front Range Megaregion: Walmart -Retail Industry -Interests in logistics, products, dominance, supply chains, manufacturing, distribution.

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Southern California Megaregion: The Walt Disney Company -Entertainment/Media Industry -Interests in seismic activity, media, image, “Disneyfication”, “Go Away Green”.

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American Airlines (Florida): Large scale air-travel and air-trade infrastructure, focus on international perception of new American paradigm. Possibly a point of contact for air-based protections.

Apple (Northern California): Large scale production of electronics in conjunction with widespread pollution remediation in the Northern California megaregion.

AT&T (Continental U.S.): Network of Monolithic Data Distribution/Processing Towers, could sell data to other corporations.

Berkshire Hathaway (Northeast): Affiliation to the stock market (gigantic server farms, fiberoptic forests, etc.) As a owner of other corporations, megaproject requires less impact to instill dominance.

CVS Health (Piedmont Atlantic): Large scale production of pharamaceuticals, fostering drug dependencies and leaning into the practices of illegal drug trade both domestically and internationally.

ExxonMobil (Gulf Coast): Utilizing dams/locks and draining a portion of the Gulf of Mexico to increase rates of resource extraction and create new geographies/borders.

General Motors (Great Lakes): Networks of constantly shifting/ automated roads, urbanisms via-assembly line.

Microsoft (Computer Software): Server farms and infrastructures necessary to create a virtual world or augmented reality state.

Walmart (Retail): Largest scale means of production, distribution, and sale of all forms of retail items. A land for products, byproducts, and post-products.

Walt Disney Company (Entertainment/Media): Remediation and prevention of seismic activity to further the manicured corporate image, as well as propagate all forms of media and entertainment.

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33 Thomas Street (Wikipedia)

AT&T: Continental United States Network of Data Distribution/Processing Monoliths

Taking cues from current conspiracies surrounding data, types of signals and relations between governments and corporations, AT&T would restandardize and optimize the existing infrastructure of data distribution in the United States.

As it stands, cellular connection and data distribution holds a bias towards heavily urbanized areas or areas with a generally more consistent population density (see: AT&T map). Taking inspiration from their existing property in downtown New York City, 33 Thomas Street, the network of towers would be monolithic in scale and style, imposing their ubiquity across landscapes and urbanscapes of all types. The towers would inhabit a completely perfect grid, free of bias or preference; this would allow better connections everywhere, but also serve to broaden the area of surveillance and data extraction. Any data observed from an area could be sold to the corporation leading that region, or to a corporation in direct competition with them, creating a market out of consumer habits.

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Gulf of Mexico Seafloor Bathymetric Map (portpublishing.com)

ExxonMobil: Gulf Coast Megaregion Gulf of Mexico Draining/Terraforming, Resource Extraction

ExxonMobil’s ambitions lie in subjugating the Gulf of Mexico to an extreme degree. Extracting oil from the land underneath its waters is a logistically complex and at some points ecologically devastating endeavor. Acknowledging this, ExxonMobil uses their new territorial governance and walls off a significant portion of the Gulf, partially or totally draining it of water, and reveals a new geography of resource extraction and inhabitation. This will be made more intriguing in the various ways it can be spun; on one side, it would outright eliminate habitats for many square miles, and would bring great complications in relation to international borders and the like. On the other end, it would allow the process of resource extraction to be done more efficiently, allowing greater production in other megaregions. There would also be the coincidental effect of reducing extreme weather such as hurricanes, due to the warmwaters of the Gulf being effectively eliminated from the equation.

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San Andreas Fault and earthquake map. (MapsofWorld.com)

The Walt Disney Company: Southern California Megaregion San Andreas Fault Stabilization, Media Propagation

A present danger facing Southern California oftdiscussed in various media is earthquakes, and more specifically “the Big One�. The Walt Disney Company, having gotten its start in Hollywood, has a vested interest in the area. The threat of earthquakes of any size threatens the Walt Disney Company in the two following ways: -Firstly and most obviously, the financial risk is incredibly large. Having based most of their production infrastructure in the area, as well as significant themed entertainment property, protection would be critical.

-Disney is a heavily image-conscious corporation, and the act of stabilizing earthquakes in the region would do wonders in terms of PR. This stabilization infrastructure could also become an inhabited structure of entertainment and media propagation, creating a Disneyfied approach to disaster prevention and mediation.

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REFLECTIONS/ CONCLUSIONS

Since August, the thought processes leading to the current state of this thesis have been far from linear. Originally, this project was to lean even further into politics and American symbolism or paradigms, taking the lead from the present contentious state of the Presidency and American politics at large. Through the course of the semester's readings and discussions, new ideas came about and reformed the thesis.

The input of fellow classmates, Jennifer Akerman, and any critics present for reviews have been invaluable in getting the thesis to this point. Most importantly critiques have been to narrow down the scope of the project, which is currently in process and will continue into the spring semester. Other critiques have brought up various possibilities for the future of the thesis. In no particular order, here is a list of questions or provocations for the future.

-Will this move into a focus on policy/governance?

-Who is the target audience of this thesis?

-Could there be a set of diagrams that can help let future audiences grasp the notions of the thesis more efficiently?

-What is the importance of time/history in the context of the narrative?

-Is there a way to bring everything back together from an analytical standpoint?

-How is site/place important?

-Are there even more layers to the ideas present?

-Is there a radical change/pivot on the horizon?

-What is the rationale for the artifacts presented/their style thus far?

-Is there a way to analyze everything from a meta, "reflection" level for clarity's sake?

-Where can more connections between disparate aspects of the project be formed?

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A Semester's Worth of Notes: From early ideation to final review preparations and checklists.

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APPENDIX References / Image Sources https://big.dk/#projects-arc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_Thomas_Street https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkshire_Hathaway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BosWash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_Alley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_(economics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_identity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CVS_Health https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyfication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExxonMobil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_companies_by_revenue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalopolis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Continental_Shelf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_renewal#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Company http://fakeisthenewreal.org/ http://graham.umich.edu/media/files/6_26_THUN_GLAAC_140623.pdf https://hbr.org/2009/06/why-gm-failed https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0166083 https://money.cnn.com/2009/06/01/news/companies/gm_bankruptcy/

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https://news.yahoo.com/stock-market-news-facebook-faces-155612114.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_ sig=AQAAAGIc6AF-WGPCNWpopatPBBVKh86YWvF1wUH3Z2ewxrRK0FaPjjC9t7Bskax1Zzv9q_O2MB11TJ649Bl08lTB6kdoWHa5j38LIFADyNhDF-Lq94un4XZyKH2pxryg9Wc8aqmKIHlmrLauh_ePwRYEi7i0_0xHDQ6CCdFfxi1kELmF https://time.com/82953/general-motors-bailout-cost-taxpayers-11-2-billion/ https://www.archdaily.com/615649/corporate-dystopia-liam-young-imagines-a-world-inwhich-tech-companies-own-our-cities https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dow-jones-exxon-mobil-pfizer-raytheon-replaced-salesforce-amgen-honeywell/ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-07/u-s-megaregions-revealed-viacommuting-data https://www.businessreport.com/industry/news-alert-exxonmobil-selects-baton-rouge-forplant-expansion-worth-up-to-1b https://www.economist.com/briefing/2009/06/04/a-giant-falls https://www.mapsofworld.com/answers/k-12-resources/cities-on-san-andreas-fault/ https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/bertha-seattle-infrastructure-trouble-megaprojects https://www.nssga.org/nssga-podcast-theres-a-new-congress-in-town/ https://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-05/slimeography/ https://www.portpublishing.com/Computer%20Based/retaildetailgmsea.htm http://www.rvtr.com/ http://www.rvtr.com/projects/conduit-urbanism https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/if-the-interstate-system-were-designedby-a-slime-mold-93309928/ https://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/jun/01/general-motors-bankruptcy-chapter-11 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2759321/files https://www.unstudio.com/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2017/10/16/denis-villeneuve-answers-yourburning-blade-runner-2049-questions/760654001/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2020/08/25/american-airlines-layoff-17-500-employees-due-covid-19-slump/5632184002/ http://www2.apwa.net/about/awards/toptencentury/default.htm

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Cover Image: Front Range Megaregion (Nachtrab, 2020)