This thesis focuses on the urban environment as a man-made space and the effects of that space on conceptions of the body, the spirit, and the more-than-human world. The author blends the personal with the scholarly to interrogate the ideologies that define how humans perceive the urban space, the narratives that construct it, and the people who enact their identities on the landscape. The author uses biking as a method to experience the landscape and uses observations as points of entry into explorations of semiology, materiality, and identity. This project seeks to offer alternative ways of thinking about the man-made urban environment and the capacity for those spaces to encourage human thriving.
","abstract_html":"<p>This thesis focuses on the urban environment as a man-made space and the effects of that space on conceptions of the body, the spirit, and the more-than-human world. The author blends the personal with the scholarly to interrogate the ideologies that define how humans perceive the urban space, the narratives that construct it, and the people who enact their identities on the landscape. The author uses biking as a method to experience the landscape and uses observations as points of entry into explorations of semiology, materiality, and identity. This project seeks to offer alternative ways of thinking about the man-made urban environment and the capacity for those spaces to encourage human thriving.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Gombis, Madeline"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Amy Hamilton"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-04-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-04-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:24:17Z","subjects":["Chicago","urban environment","semiology","nature writing","creative nonfiction","Nonfiction"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/646","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Amy Hamilton"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Gombis, Madeline"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2020-04-16T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Chicago","urban environment","semiology","nature writing","creative nonfiction","Nonfiction"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/646"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis focuses on the urban environment as a man-made space and the effects of that space on conceptions of the body, the spirit, and the more-than-human world. The author blends the personal with the scholarly to interrogate the ideologies that define how humans perceive the urban space, the narratives that construct it, and the people who enact their identities on the landscape. The author uses biking as a method to experience the landscape and uses observations as points of entry into explorations of semiology, materiality, and identity. This project seeks to offer alternative ways of thinking about the man-made urban environment and the capacity for those spaces to encourage human thriving.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Almost Trued: An Urban Exploration"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Amy Hamilton"],"dc:creator":["Gombis, Madeline"],"dc:date.available":["2020-04-16T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis focuses on the urban environment as a man-made space and the effects of that space on conceptions of the body, the spirit, and the more-than-human world. The author blends the personal with the scholarly to interrogate the ideologies that define how humans perceive the urban space, the narratives that construct it, and the people who enact their identities on the landscape. The author uses biking as a method to experience the landscape and uses observations as points of entry into explorations of semiology, materiality, and identity. This project seeks to offer alternative ways of thinking about the man-made urban environment and the capacity for those spaces to encourage human thriving.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/646"],"dc:subject":["Chicago","urban environment","semiology","nature writing","creative nonfiction","Nonfiction"],"dc:title":["Almost Trued: An Urban Exploration"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:24:17Z"}