Understory is an exploration of the story
beneath a community.
Understory is the story beneath a community; the network of unseen memories, connections, challenges and imaginings that form the context of that place. It's the practice of making the invisible visible; highlighting ways in which humans are in relationship with their surroundings. It is about our connection to each other, to place, and to our other-than-human kin, and it is about exploring those connections across time, from our deep past to the future.
From 2025-2029, we are working with community partners in Watchet, Minehead, Dudley and the Amber Valley to investigate these layers of memory and connection. Using playful design and mapping technologies to help make the layers more visible and to ignite conversations and community action.
Understory’s mapping technologies, playful invitations and imaginative practices provide the enabling infrastructure for communities to bring forth new worlds.
“By making community networks visible, Understory highlights potential collaborations as well as how information and collective effort flow through a community. I find the visual insights compelling, offering many ways for communities to access, break down and play with their own data. Investigating how network interventions can underpin real world wellbeing is powerful work, and I am delighted to have been an advisor.”
Nicholas A.Christakis, MD, PhD, Yale University (Director, Institute for Network Science)
“Understory looks amazing from a distance, but it really is something else when people and projects you know and care about begin to appear on an ever growing web of connectedness.”
Lorna Prescott, Dudley Co-Lab
If you’re here looking for information on Phase One of Understory (2021-2024), you can