HEZ

Human Exclusion Zone

heznoview

Welcome to the Human Exclusion Zone Community

This anonymous forum is dedicated to the creation of a Human Exclusion Zone (HEZ), a piece of land set aside from any human interaction and visibility in perpetuity.

The human story is conjoined with entitlements that have allowed our species to physically interfere with the planet at will. History itself can be measured by the expansion of our self-granted permissions and possessions. Our right to these claims is rarely examined.

The HEZ project is a collective action to call unfettered development into question through the creation of permanent monuments of non-development. Not to be confused with conservation efforts, an HEZ is a living aide-mémoire, made for people, by people, in order to ban people from accessing a dedicated somewhere.

Imagine if the very maps that celebrate our dominion were obliged to include such defiant blank spots. Imagine an egalitarian observance of willful inaccessibility and invisibility. An HEZ challenges age-old notions of “property rights” and simultaneously creates new communities through the exclusion of everyone…

Join our community!

An open call to specialists...

The process of realizing HEZs starts with assembling a community-based platform that is less pedagogical and more exploratory, global, and democratic. To this end, the platform shall exist as a wiki-based digital forum that preserves the anonymity of its members, thus avoiding dilemmas that may arise from a community project that assigns authorship.

As uncharted territory, the concept triggers a myriad of questions and challenges that requires the greatest diversity of critical and fact-based opinions, suggestions, and collaborative dialogues.

An active public digital forum will naturally initiate related real world events relating to recording and circulating questions of feasibility, outreach, financing, as well as legal, psychological, and ecological impact issues.

If you know something-Say something!

The HEZ concept triggers a myriad of practical questions and challenges that require the experience and intellectual rigor of individuals across a broad spectrum of fields including:

  • History
  • Philosophy
  • Political Theory/Practice
  • Biology, Botany, Forestry
  • Property Law
  • Social Media
  • Border Policy
  • Urban Planning
  • Conservation
  • Ecological Impact Studies
  • Enviromental Activism
  • Land Art Law
  • Anarchist Studies
  • Community Organization
  • Critical Security Theory
  • Carbon Emissions Trading
  • Non-profit Management and Organization
  • Real Estate Property Valuation
  • Sustainable Architecture
  • Sustainable Energy
  • Durable Building and Duration materials
  • Restricted and Special Use Airspace
  • Web Mapping Services
  • Imaging Satellites
  • Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Policy
  • Conservation Easements and Land Gifting
  • Population Demographics, Psychographics

    • These are only a small fraction of areas to be examined and discussed for a substantial Human Exclusion Zone to be realized.

    FUQs (Fundamental Unasked Questions)

    Let’s look at examples of specific questions that might pertain to the creation of an HEZ:

  • What form does an HEZ take?
  • A circular wall? Or should its border use an extant geological rim, such as an abandoned open-pit mine? Could it be a mote, a cleared “no man’s land” belt, or even built off of an existing structure?
  • What are the costs associated with building various structures?
  • How would one finance the building and operating costs of HEZ?
  • Does such a zone need to be crowd funded or written into law by a government, maintained by taxes or voluntary labor?
  • What are the pros/cons of tying operating costs to carbon emissions trade?
  • How is egalitarian non-access ensured over time?
  • What is the best security solution?
  • How can an HEZ's integrity be established and guaranteed in perpetuity?
  • What kind of urban development plan can be devised for areas near HEZs?
  • What is the best legal argument to establish a no-view zone?
  • How visible is an HEZ to humans?
  • Should its border take that form of a rim, by, for example, setting aside one of the many abandoned open-pit mines, or take the form of a mote, a cleared belt, or said wall?
  • Can restrictions in building height be established?
  • Can a no-fly zone be established? What are legal precedents for no-fly zones?
  • How do recent amendments to the constitution of Ecuador that assign plaintiff’s rights to trees apply to HEZs?

    • Within a community that is committed to realizing HEZs, all contributions and solution-based suggestions relating to the all-important ‘how?’ are welcome. Constructive debate is encouraged and archived so that new members can easily immerse themselves and join in.

    "Build a Wall"

    One version of the HEZ is to erect a wall around the perimeter of the designated land area. Our planet has a rich history of exclusion walls, such as the Great Wall of China, or the wall separating Israel and the West Bank, or more recently, Donald Trump’s proposal of a continuous brick-and-mortar wall along the US-Mexico border.

    While an exclusionary wall built to contain an HEZ does offer a certain aesthetically and symbolically satisfying monument to non-development, there are serious considerations.

    The concept of an invisible island ecology that is not only separate, but in effect, imprisoned, poses important questions regarding biological sustainability and vulnerabilities.

    The Human Perspective

    Perhaps the most important question is how will people perceive a Human Exclusion Zone. The question has both literal and philosophical implications.

    How people experience an HEZ opens up the issue of proximity. How close can people get to the site? It seems clear that it would make a substantial difference of experience if people could walk right up to a 25-foot high concrete wall, rather than taking in a view from an elevation or a considerable distance.

    Equally interesting and important are the psychological impacts that such an area could have on surrounding communities and the world at large. What value can HEZ’s hold for humans? It’s a question that can’t be fully predetermined. Certainly, one of the digital community’s primary activities will be to examine models of human interaction with the HEZ, from conception to maintenance to unknown future variables.

    If you support the creation of an HEZ, a piece of land set aside from any human interaction and visibility in perpetuity, you can help