A project studying climate migration's impact on property and sovereignty in North America. By Noah Gotlib. Atlas of RetreatMediaAcknowledgementsAboutEmailInstagram
A project studying climate migration's impact on property and sovereignty in North America. By Noah Gotlib.
Atlas of Retreat
A growing collection of absent places.
New Harmony, Indiana was among the first of the many utopian communities which would develop across the Midwest during the 19th century. Founded in 1814 by the Harmony Society, a German pietist sect led by George Rapp, New Harmony was envisioned as a self-sufficient, harmonious society based on Christian principles in which all goods and land would be held in common.
Kaskaskia, Illinois, occupies a 15-square grid in the center of the island.
Despite New Harmony’s economic success, surrounding settlers were suspicious of the insular, German-speaking commune. Rapp eventually decided to move the Harmonists back to their original settlement in Pennsylvania where they faced a warmer welcome among the Low German-speaking Amish population.
Birds Eye View of the old town of Kaskaskia, from the Illustrated historical atlas of Randolph Co, Illinois, 1875. Library of Congress
In 1825, the Harmonists sold the town to Robert Owen, a Welsh industrialist and visionary social reformer, who sought to transform New Harmony into a rational, educational, and cooperative society. Owen established a variety of social institutions designed to reduce inequality and promote a spirit of cooperation. However, by 1827, the utopian experiment began to falter, and many residents left in search of more stable living conditions.
On of the few remaining homes in New Kaskaskia is elevated, one of the strategies funded by FEMA to remove the structure from the flood plain.
New Harmony languished for the following century until Jane Baffler Owen, descendant of Robert Owen and heiress to a Texas oil fortune, poured money into the restoration of the Rappite and Owenite buildings. Owen also commissioned landmark public facilities for the town; a non-denominational “Roofless Church” by Philip Johnson, and an Athenaeum by Richard Meier. New Harmony stands as a remarkable blend of architecture of different movements striving to create a better society.
The Immaculate Conception Church shortly after the conclusion of weekly service
Cedar Rapids, Iowa contains the largest contiguous site of flood-induced Managed Retreat in the Midwest. In 2008, the city was devastated by a flood inundated over 25 square kilometers and 7,000 properties.
Northwest Area of Cedar Rapids in 2024, with most residental streets and canopy stripped away.
In response, the city developed the Cedar Rapids River Corridor Redevelopment Plan, which involved acquiring 1,356 properties through floodplain buyouts, funded by local, state, and federal resources, and establishing intergovernmental and private partnerships.
Removal of the Oakwood Beach neighbourhood on the Staten Island south shore after Hurricane Sandy
Impression of former streets, removed several years after houses in the area
Foundation slab of a removed home in the buyout zone
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