CRD is pursuing the creation of an organization dedicated to conceptualizing, defining, and positioning rural design as a new, interdisciplinary field of inquiry and practice capable of addressing rural problems comprehensively, scale appropriately, and thus, effectively. The organization will foster interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration for the continuing development of rural design, and will function as a think tank / clearing house to identify areas of common interest, share resources and ideas, and collaborate on important rural issues affecting North America.
We have chosen to initially contact only particular institutions because they are located within the ecoregions that comprise the Midwest. These regions share a similar resource base created by similar climatic and geologic forces. Because of the common resource base and influencing forces, the region's economies, cultures, built environement, and rural development are often similar and interconnected, regardless of where in the ecoregion they reside. Thus work in one area of an ecoregion may be applicable in another area of the ecoregion in another state or province.
