Greg Stimac, Mowing the Lawn (Chandler, AZ), 2005/2006; inkjet print 41 x 30 in. Courtesy the artist

Christopher Leinberger explores the deterioration of America’s suburbs in the March issue of The Atlantic Monthly — a timely read in the context of the Walker’s Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes, which just opened and runs through August. Looking beyond the current subprime mortgage crisis, Leinberger writes “a structural change is under way in the housing market--a major shift in the way many Americans want to live and work. It has shaped the current downturn, steering some of the worst problems away from the cities and toward the suburban fringes.”

He cites a 2006 study by Arthur C. Nelson, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech, who modeled future demand for various types of housing. Nelson’s most startling finding: A likely surplus of 22 million large-lot homes (houses built on a sixth of an acre or more) by 2025--that's roughly 40 percent of the large-lot homes in existence today.

Leinberger adds:

As conventional suburban lifestyles fall out of fashion and walkable urban alternatives proliferate, what will happen to obsolete large-lot houses? One might imagine culs-de-sac being converted to faux Main Streets, or McMansion developments being bulldozed and reforested or turned into parks. But these sorts of transformations are likely to be rare. Suburbia's many small parcels of land, held by different owners with different motivations, make the purchase of whole neighborhoods almost unheard-of. Condemnation of single-family housing for "higher and better use" is politically difficult, and in most states it has become almost legally impossible in recent years. In any case, the infrastructure supporting large-lot suburban residential areas--roads, sewer and water lines--cannot support the dense development that urbanization would require, and is not easy to upgrade. Once large-lot, suburban residential landscapes are built, they are hard to unbuild.

Multi-disciplinary teams of up to five designers can compete. Local winners will receive a $1,000 and an expenses-paid trip to Boston for the 2008 United States Greenbuild Conference. Submissions are accepted until May 11, 2008, and a complete criteria package is available at the Web site for the Minnesota chapter of Emerging Green Builders. Theater and contest representatives will give a tour and answer questions at open house from10 am to noon February 2, 2008, at the Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Ave. S.

Walker in the Rough, which debuted in 2004, returns in 2008 to the grass that will house the Walker’s future park, on the western edge of the museum. Your job, as a potential designer, is creating one of the 10 workable, playable holes that will dot the course. A panel of curators, artists, architects and one golf pro will judge the entries. Selected designers receive stipends of $3,000. Deadline for submissions is Jan. 14, 2008.

The course, which opens Memorial Day weekend and closes in early September, will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Organizers are encouraging designers to create tie-ins to the traveling exhibition Design for the Other 90%, which comes to the Walker in spring 2008. Proposals should also address issues such as water, communication, shelter, transportation, and sustainability. Extra consideration will be given to holes made of recycled materials or materials that can be recycled.

Print or download an application here. For more info, contact Christi Atkinson, associate director of Education and Community Programs, at (612) 375-7572 or christi.atkinson@walkerart.org.