In the summer of 2018, I studied abroad on Santa Cruz Island in the Galápagos Islands, studying the one of a kind landscape found there and its complex dynamics of culture, land management, and ecology. My own project challenged issues faced by the residents of the islands. Questions of what is and isn’t “nature” are at the forefront of their struggle, as the goals of conservation often underprivilege the local human population. Sustainable design, therefore, required an understanding of the history and culture of the islands in addition to an understanding of the ecology. I worked alongside another student to design a civic space dedicated to water collection and storage in tandem with urban farming. The project was sited at the foot of a cliff at the edge of the city, the line between the urban and restricted land, the human and the non-human.