Welcome to Landscapes of Hope

A crowdsourced project mapping places where people find hope – past, present, future, and personal – in the St. Louis region

The project began in Fall 2026 in Dr. Laura Westhoff’s history course, St. Louis: Hope in Action. We studied what hope is (and is not), how hope is essential to human flourishing and thriving communities, what history might tell us about hope, and how we can find hope hidden in the landscapes around us. While plenty within and around us can tempt us to despair, we learned to read landscapes to find hope and resilience hiding in plain sight. We invite you to explore and contribute to the map!

Professor Laura Westhoff (front row, second from right) and her students looked for evidence of hope while visiting neighborhoods and cultural sites, including The Green Center, around St. Louis last semester as part of the course “St. Louis: Hope in Action.” Westhoff designed the course as part of a fellowship at Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good. (Photo courtesy of Laura Westhoff)
Professor Laura Westhoff (front row, second from right) and her students looked for evidence of hope while visiting neighborhoods and cultural sites, including The Green Center, around St. Louis last semester as part of the course “St. Louis: Hope in Action.” Westhoff designed the course as part of a fellowship at Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good. (Photo courtesy of Laura Westhoff)