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By exploring the nature x culture nexus through the duality of two Texas cities\u2014the one where I grew up and the one where I live now\u2014the similarities and differences, the good and uncomfortable, and the variation of nature\u2019s role in culture and urban development are revealed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Texas\u2014Rooted in Land<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Southern Texan-Mexican border towns are some of the most unique places in their geography and culture. Living along the border enables an understanding of how Earth’s natural shape, manifested through hydrology, is a mechanism to create geopolitical boundaries that cannot contain culture in the same way it attempts to contain people. Growing up, the \u201cboundaries\u201d of community did not halt at invisible county lines, nor did they halt at the very visible riparian condition that separates two countries. The feelings of community, visibility, and culture permeate\u2014we are connected with or without permission. Simultaneously we see that same portal of connection being manipulated as a boundary of separation, a barrier, and at times, a graveyard<\/a>\u2026 What if nature had a voice? Would she approve?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walking over the Rio Grande River doesn\u2019t feel disjointed or like you\u2019re arriving in another country\u2014it feels like an extension of the community where we grew up. Because of this, I didn\u2019t understand the significance and deep rootedness of [RGV border] culture until I no longer lived in the place I grew up. I\u2019m no longer there\u2014a city located within the larger geographic collective known as The Rio Grande Valley. This collective feels representative of my identity, extending past myself and into a larger people, region, and community. Hunters, farmers, ranchers, vaqueros\u2014the RGV roots and maintains a big piece of our character in our relationship with the land. Though undoubtedly tied to the economy, the majority of people are not using the land to make themselves rich; they\u2019re using it to connect. There\u2019s a respect, a reverence, and an appreciation for what it can provide for you, how it can sustain you, and the opportunity it provides to gather with friends and family. This is how nature serves as a conduit for culture\u2014one that bridges people on either side of the Rio Grande and acts as an infrastructural tether to connect us as neighbors and people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though these values centered around our natural environment didn\u2019t come full circle to create a \u201csustainable urban plan\u201d for our cities in the RGV\u2014for example, we are still heavily vehicle-dependent and seemingly allergic to density\u2014they did contribute to a cultural foundation that translates into auras of familiarity. Its result is an inexplicable one, one that immediately connects people that have never met before in places across the country and around the world. \u201cOh you\u2019re from the valley?! No way! I grew up in ___\u201d \u2026 the feelings of home flood back, making me now more grounded, more here<\/em>, than I was moments ago. This ease of connection had set up a host of cultural expectations and standards within me without my realizing, only presenting themselves when I left and arrived somewhere else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, after my migration north, I’ve realized that self-reflection carves out a path to assimilation and comfort, which is not always easy when you no longer live in a community that is culturally familiar. To non-native residents of a big city and an even bigger metroplex, it\u2019s easy to feel disconnected, isolated, and hesitant to explore outside of your neighborhood\u2014which often involves getting on a highway and driving 20-40 minutes in any which direction to arrive at your destination. Here, the river also contextualizes experience, but its impact feels opposite. It shocked me that cultural and urban differences can feel more distinct crossing a river within a city than crossing a river to another country. Earth\u2019s natural shape is still being manipulated, but this time for efficiency and the promise of economic benefit that has yet to come to fruition. With Big Business serving as due north, it\u2019s no wonder fleeting feelings of connection pass through as we drive around the city, similar to the river that\u2019s been stripped of its curves, relocated, and channelized to maximize efficiency\u2014flowing, flowing, gone. Intrinsic respect for land cannot exist as a cultural value when others prioritize development and profit over people and planet. As Ned Fritz<\/a> said during a 1983 interview to defeat the Trinity River Project<\/a> 50 years ago that saved the Great Trinity Forest, \u201cThe environment is up against entrenched profit-making interest as well as long-standing cultural myths, and so to save the environment requires great cunning, skill, breadth of appeal, and, therefore, diversity. So I\u2019m in favor of everybody joining the environmental movement or participating in it as much or little as they see fit … From that respect, why, we need the hard-liners. We need real cutting edges.\u201d About 50 years later, have we drawn these lines? Have we created these cutting edges to diverge from business as usual? Or did Ned\u2019s message get lost in the entropy of capitalism? There seems to be a veneer on the \u201cnew\u201d that pops up because feelings of inauthenticity are unequivocally tied to requirements of capitalism\u2014how can you feel rooted here<\/em> if here <\/em>doesn\u2019t feel authentic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where interventions of greenspace could serve as a cultural thread, stitching up the urban fabric of a disjointed metro, we\u2019re seeing nature being sacrificed for vehicular infrastructure to get people places faster. And for what? Does driving a car bring you more peace than walking down a tree-lined street, or relaxing at the park, or biking through the city? Highways leave thoroughfares of cultural fragmentation all over the metroplex all the while public greenspace exists to serve as a vehicle for human connection. But for some reason, we\u2019re still talking about investing in highway expansion instead of highway burial<\/a>. We\u2019re divesting from what could be a functional, safe public transit system<\/a> that not only saves emissions but saves space\u2014space that can protect, restore, and invest in the public green and natural ecosystems within the city. Accessible spaces to gather and unwind among trees and neighbors are few and far between here\u2014not to mention inequitably distributed\u2014so why don\u2019t we do something different?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Addressing the negative side effects<\/a> of the disconnection of humans from the environment, which has been caused by the planning, design, and construction of our built environment, is not a problem easy to solve, but it\u2019s also not outside of our reach. What can we do to stitch back these connections and create positive feedback loops within our social-ecological relationships? How do we make sure we always consider nature when we\u2019re dreaming up a masterplan, writing design guidelines, or putting pen to paper on a site? The Nature Futures Framework<\/a> provides an opportunity and a vocabulary to do just that. It\u2019s a pluralistic and participatory framework that enables exploration and creation of positive nature futures that depend on how the user group values nature. By going through an exercise that explores stakeholder\u2019s connections and value systems for the benefits of nature, you can uncover how best to preserve, restore, and build with nature to create a symbiotic relationship that is managed uniquely based on project scope. Here we explore and ask, \u201cDo we value nature for nature, nature for society, or nature for culture\u201d?![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/11\/Picture3.png\")
North Texas\u2014Rooted in Development<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/11\/AdobeStock_319304402-1024x685.jpeg\")
Nature Futures Framework – A Different Way <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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