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We talk with Alfie Vick about eating plants, taking biophilic principals to all communities, environmental ethics and his deep understanding of the Southeastern Native American tribes.
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In today's episode, we talk with UGA Professor Alfie Vick about eating plants, taking biophilic principals to all communities, environmental ethics and his deep understanding of the Southeastern Native American tribes. He talks about how their history, culture and practices are an example in living a balanced life in-tune with nature. Alfie also talks about the thousands of native plant species in Georgia and designing natural spaces such as the Children's Garden at the State Botanical Gardens in Athens, Georgia and Serenbe's own medicinal garden. He's also working on a future Serenbe neighborhood.
The Robinson
Cherokee Blessing of the Land
Southeastern Cultural Complex
Auburn University Rural Studio
UGA Office of Global Engagement
U.S. Research Geological Survey
University of Georgia College of Environment & Design
Fulton County Economic Development
Austin Forham
Aflie Vick was working at ECOS when Steve met him. They were the planning company that had won the award for the Chatt Hills master plan community engagement in 2001. Steve and Alfie continued to bump into each other over the years, but then reconnected when launching Chattahoochee NOW to look at the Chattahoochee River (where Alfie was a key figure). At one meeting, Steve mentioned Serenbe's 3rd phase Mado and his plan to put in medicinal gardens for residents.
ECOS was a full-service landscape architecture firm that was ahead of its time in site design (it was acquired by another Atlanta company several years ago). Steve remembers several firms from across the US applying, but when they looked at all of those companies they agreed that ECOS was on the cutting edge and wanted something different. This was before Serenbe was even a thing, and they were merely working on engaging the community. Chatt Hills had partnered with the Nature Conservancy and received a grant from Fulton County Economic Development that allowed them to put an RFP out (the one ECOS won).
Serenbe's Native History - 6:15
By the time Alfie was working with Chattahoochee NOW, he'd been working at the University of Georgia researching Cherokee ethnobotany. Steve invited him to Serenbe to show him the historic evidence of Creek Indians on what is now Serenbe's land. Alfie was able to validate these sites, including a large boulder with two basins carved on the side that come together with a drainage flume that has to be man made. Alfie's research revealed that basins like this were typically created to process acorns into an edible product during the Woodland Era 2,000 years ago. Steve remembers an archeological dig done at Serenbe several years ago turned up an item believed to be an agrarian tool that was carbon dated at 9,000 years ago. According to Alfie, there's data that proves there's been human inhabitation in the Southeast for 14,000+ years, and it was mostly agrarian rather than nomadic once corn was introduced.
In fact, Alfie believes the location of the basin he referred to marks where the Creek Indians would have grown corn because it is on the flood plane of Cedar Creek. Or once it was fallow, it would be grown up as river cane, which is a native Georgian bamboo species that is still found today along rivers. Thomas Peters, Serenbe's Director of Landscape and Natural Resources, researched river cane as a master's student with Alfie at UGA. River cane is an important species for making baskets and other items. Alfie still teaches a course in Cherokee ethnobotany every other year and takes students on a 2.5 week field excursion starting in North Carolina and following the northern route of the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma. They look at the transition of the Cherokee people from the Southern Appalachians to Oklahoma as a result of removal. He sees it as a story of resilience and adaptation despite horrific circumstances because their people are now thriving and even re-establishing some of their sovereign rights. Alfie even compares their ability to adapt to communities to our need to adapt in today's world as we figure out climate change and threats to our communities.
Living A Balanced Life - 14:15
When Steve had first purchased land in Chattahoochee Hills, he talked with a friend who was concerned about which side of the river they'd bought property. He was glad to hear the Nygrens were east of the Chattahoochee River because that is the side Creek Indians were on rather than Cherokee. Creeks weren't removed from their land because they integrated into white society. Their was even a family on Serenbe's land as late as 1860, because their neighbors had a notation on their property deed when they moved to the area. Steve even chose to do a Blessing of the Land with a Creek Indian Chief rather than a groundbreaking ceremony when he decided to develop the land out of respect for where he was building.
Serenbe's third neighborhood, Mado, is named for the Creek word that means "life in balance." Balance is an important concept to the Southeastern Cultural Complex (all Southeastern tribes) and includes physical, familial, cultural balance that made it difficult for Europeans to understand why the Creeks made decisions the way they did. Unlike the Creek Indians, our culture today tends to push forward progression and heavy growth rather than a balanced life.
Balancing Growth & Culture 19:05
Alfie sees Serenbe incorporating prosperity into balance by shifting the narrative of what prosperity is to things like "how many of your neighbors do you know?" or "can you rely on the community around you to support you in times of need?" Earlier in the day, Steve and Alfie toured other developers around the property and Steve saw their excitement at how Serenbe incorporated beauty, nature, and neighborliness into a prosperous development.
As communities try to get back to cultural and environmental balance, there are still hurdles to overcome. One of Alfie's current masters students is researching how to take Serenbe's biophilic design and principles and apply them to lower income areas. While the Serenbe community itself has a higher price point, the principles are universal. Steve is also looking forward to seeing other people take the principles and apply them in different ways. Serenbe's partnership with Rural Studio is an example. That program has previously been solely through Auburn University, where architecture students design and build cost-saving and efficient homes in south Alabama's more impoverished communities. They wanted to test commercial viability of the product, so Serenbe tested the permitting and certification process and now has two artist cottages at the Art Farm.
Playing Outside - 27:29
Another project Alfie is passionate is about was the Children's Garden at the State Botanical Gardens in Athens, Georgia. The gardens were started in the 1980s and Alfie began a master plan update in 2012, which included a Children's Garden to replace an asphalt parking lot and a new gateway building to orient and welcome guests, to name a few. He now gets to watch this idea come to life through the work of Koons Environmental Design.
One of Serenbe's future neighborhoods, Spela, has plans for a park with similar natural playground elements. Alfie and some of his students are working on the design now and are glad to be a part of finding ways to encourage play and exploration of nature for all ages. Steve has some playful ideas as well, including a treehouse with a zipline that goes to the Wine Bar (for adults of course).
Alfie wants to create a setting where parents feel comfortable letting their kids explore in a natural place that has some risk, but no danger. He notes that other countries are building similar parks and that some exposure risk is beneficial to children's development because it helps them navigate life later on.
Eating Outside - 35:19
Alfie also planned Serenbe's food forest and medicinal garden. A food forest is an intentional food producing landscape that mimics the native forest in terms of structure. It's meant to not require annual planting because it self-perpetuates the way nature does. Alfie describes Serenbe's as a microcosm of our Piedmont forest - what you'd find if you left the food forest and went into Serenbe's larger forest. He wants to build a confidence in people that our native plants are edible. {Alfie couldn't remember how many native species are in Georgia. Our podcast researcher found several different numbers and estimates it's ~3,000} We rely on only 30 species for 90% of our food, though. Alfie wants to see humans discovering the uses of more native plants and enjoying them the way our ancestors did. The potential is there, but we must conserve natural areas to preserve biodiversity.
Serenbe Is A Living Laboratory - 42:29
Alfie sees Serenbe as a living laboratory for his students. He's worked on a water quality monitoring system to understand how Serenbe's development practices have positively impacted the watershed compared to traditional development. One of his students recently interviewed people living both in and out of Serenbe for her thesis to compare the impacts of biophilic design. She found statistically significant evidence that living in a biophilic community meant higher levels of health and wellbeing, environmental awareness, and nature connectedness in that community's residents. There continues to be research to determine the why on that, but it proves that places like Serenbe can benefit us.
Alfie and Steve are also working on a summer away program for UGA students that they're calling the UGA Biophilic Academy at Serenbe. He wants it to be an 8-week program for design students of any discipline to study biophilic design, placemaking, and environmental ethics. Students apply for this program through the UGA Office of Global Engagement.
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Alfred Vick is the Georgia Power Professor in Environmental Ethics at the University of Georgia. He is a licensed landscape architect and a LEED Fellow. In addition to teaching in the CED, he is on the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of the Institute of Native American Studies.
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