Are you land-centred or human-centred?
Slide: ChatGPT, Land-centred vs. Human-centred, 2025.
Above is the breakdown according to ChatGPT ^^^
I've spent the last hour debating this in my head. I believe I am both.
Places I don't like because they feel too human-centred include:
- strip malls
- Las Vegas
- ski resorts and golf courses
Places I absolutely loved, yet I felt restricted in my relationship with the land because of my limitations as a human, include:
- Scottish Highlands
- Iceland
- Canadian Rockies
Interestingly, most of the work I've been doing in the last 5 years is helping land-centred entrepreneurs develop their businesses to better communicate and address human-centred issues. I oscillate between both depending on the need.
Article FAQs generated by AI:
1. How can someone balance being both land-centred and human-centred in their work or life?
Balancing both orientations requires a deep sensitivity to context, recognizing when the land needs to lead and when human needs must be met to build relationships, trust, or sustainability. It’s about listening to the environment and the people simultaneously, and designing systems, spaces, or experiences where neither is sacrificed, but rather, each is honoured in rhythm with the other.
2. What challenges might arise when helping land-centred entrepreneurs navigate human-centred issues?
A key challenge is translating the intuitive, place-based values of land-centred individuals into language and systems that resonate with human psychology, behaviour, and communication norms. This often means bridging worldviews – grounding visionary or nature-first ideas into digestible narratives, operational strategies, or offers that humans can understand, trust, and engage with meaningfully.
3. Why do human-centred spaces like strip malls or ski resorts often feel dissonant to someone who values land?
These spaces are often built with profit, convenience, or entertainment as primary drivers, frequently at the expense of ecological integrity or natural beauty. For someone attuned to land, such places may feel artificial, extractive, or disconnected—lacking the texture, rhythm, and humility that comes from designing with land instead of over it.