Making Sense of Place – Phoenix: The Urban Desert

A documentary special and educational outreach project produced by Northern Light Productions in collaboration with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

Making Sense of Place – Phoenix: The Urban Desert is a one-hour documentary film about urban growth and change in and around Phoenix, Arizona. In only half a century, Phoenix has expanded from a small desert town into the sixth largest city in the country.

Through the eyes and voices of Phoenix residents, the film explores the interrelationships both caused by and affecting individual choices, the democratic process and market forces in the region. Many factors contribute to this development pattern, which is providing homes and jobs to 100,000 new residents each year but is also threatening the region’s unique desert environment.