About

I’m a designer, cartographer, and design educator, based in Washington, D.C. and committed to the Chesapeake Bay region. I use design—especially maps, images, websites, and in-person events—to help us imagine landscapes, past and future.

• You can reach me securely via Signal or GPG.
• My newsletter is the best way to know when I’m offering a class or tour.

Creative practice

Design and visualization

I design and build websites, make maps and data visualizations, and create print publications. (Example projects.)

Interpreting landscapes

I’m interested in how historic land use patterns and long-buried natural systems still shape our communities today, pushing their way to the surface like seeds emerging with the change of seasons. I make maps and lead tours that examine landscape history and planning issues. Current projects trace the District’s lost streams and wetlands (you can read more at WAMU), look at the Chesapeake’s rail network in its topographic context, and examine migration and demographic patterns around D.C.

Experimental education

I help run Knowledge Commons DC, a free school that has offered more than 1,000 classes around D.C., in borrowed venues and in grant-supported popup spaces. Our organization works in partnership with public library systems, arts organizations, museums, and local businesses. Our programs have been covered by NPR, the Washington Post, and MSNBC.

Getting in touch

• Bluesky: @imagineterrain.bsky.social (I’m here most often)
• Twitter: @imagineterrain (largely inactive)
• Email: hello@imaginaryterrain.com
• Signal: email or DM for my number
• GPG public key (text/asc) and fingerprint:
  2AD3 4E21 3CA4 F6B4 7FE1 241E F284 A593 4532 8EE7

Selected press and events

• Panel, “Waterscapes of Enslavement and Freedom: Towards a Hydrography of Race and Placemaking in Antebellum District of Columbia,” DC History Conference, April 2025
• Lost Streams of D.C.: Slash Run, A Walking Tour, Dec. 2024
• Interview on I Hate Politics (June 5, 2024)
• Streams map in 730DC (March 29, 2024)
• “Shining ‘daylight’ on the Chesapeake Bay’s buried streams”
  (Chesapeake Bay Journal, July 10, 2023)
• “D.C.’s unique history provides a bit of extra security from sea level rise”
  (NPR Weekend Edition, July 31, 2022)
• CHRS Preservation Cafe: Buried Streams, Jan. 22, 2022
• “70% Of D.C.’s Streams Have Disappeared. Where Did They Go?”
  (WAMU/DCist, Aug. 16, 2021)

Colophon

This site is generated using Jekyll, mostly from Markdown files. Type is set in Adobe Minion Pro and Adobe Myriad Pro.

The photo on this page is by Mark Seltzer, for Knowledge Commons DC.