Speculative Grounds

Speculative Grounds examines the rapid expansion of Buckeye, Arizona, where groundwater scarcity, large-scale development, and data centers are reshaping the desert. Through documentary fieldwork, archival research, and groundwater models, the project investigates how environmental limits are negotiated through planning, policy, and technological speculation. As aquifers become increasingly constrained, it traces how desalination re-emerges as a proposed solution linking the American Southwest and the Middle East.