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Imagining the future of Seneca Meadows landfill

Layers of Change - Generational Transformation and Renewal of Seneca Meadows: “I took a timeline approach that considers the changes in the landfill site over seven generations—from the Haudenosaunee, to deforestation, to stripping of the land, to the current landfill. I took an optimistic look at possible futures moving forward, if we do reach a zero-waste goal. My design allows for an exploration of these different futures. Perhaps there is an area left unbuilt, leaving room for the unknown of what will get built here.” —Annika Schon ’26
Layers of Change - Generational Transformation and Renewal of Seneca Meadows: “I took a timeline approach that considers the changes in the landfill site over seven generations—from the Haudenosaunee, to deforestation, to stripping of the land, to the current landfill. I took an optimistic look at possible futures moving forward, if we do reach a zero-waste goal. My design allows for an exploration of these different futures. Perhaps there is an area left unbuilt, leaving room for the unknown of what will get built here.” —Annika Schon ’26
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Juniors in Cornell’s landscape architecture design studio are taking on a tall challenge this fall: to imagine the future of Seneca Meadows, New York State’s largest landfill. Seneca Meadows accepts roughly 21% of the total waste generated in the state.

According to a 2023 New York Times story, the existing landfill rises about 300 feet above the surrounding landscape—a height which is roughly the same as the Statue of Liberty. More than 1000 trucks day and about 100,000 trucks year travel to and from the landfill, hauling waste from New York City (which accounts for about 25% of the total as of 2021), from across New York State, and from municipalities in other states and Canada.

Hannah Hopewell, the Cornell CALS landscape architecture faculty member who teaches the studio, asked her students to imagine the future of the landfill, if the expansion is approved. Her students’ assignment this semester is to look far beyond the 15-year horizon of the current land use application—to create their visions for the landfill 200 years from now.

See the students’ preliminary visions for the future of Seneca Meadows landfill.

 

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