Reimagining Place, Belonging & Community in a Shifting World

Place Consulting & Experiences with Corinna J. Moebius, Ph.D.
Explore My Offerings

I’m Corinna Moebius, Ph.D., a consultant and artist-educator who connects people to place and to each other through arts, dialogue, catalytic learning — and place rituals.

Today, we confront the loss of cherished places—from homes and local businesses to homelands and eco-systems. Many of us feel unsure how to cope with dramatic changes to our communities. We long for civil dialogue that brings together old and new residents, Town and Gown, older and younger generations. In addition to offering courses, workshops and consulting, I design public rituals that bring people together in healing ways that can help restore a sense of community and belonging.

Creative place rituals incorporate storytelling, movement, education, reflection, and dialogue, and can spark engagement in collaboratives aimed at fostering healthy, vibrant and inclusive neighborhoods. I also offer strategic planning guidance and facilitation for Main Street, Complete Streets, and placemaking initiatives.

Contact me to request a place ritual, a speaking engagement, or consulting services. Or, explore my upcoming events, workshops, walks, and courses. Together, we can foster community resilience and awaken to our interrelatedness with place, each other, and the Living Earth. 

Corinna Moebius

"Corinna sees the forest and each tree at the same time. She can communicate complex material in a form that everyone understands: via word, image, sound, motion, and silence.

She has a deep, intuitive sense about different learning styles, interpersonal reactions to group activities, and creating space for individual co-learning and expression.”

Anthony Olivieri
FHEED (Food for Health, the Environment, Economy & Democracy)

"Magical and life-changing."

Pura Vida, Peace & Light!

Jai Thando Stephens
Fellow, Sustain the Culture

"Corinna draws on a bevy of experience across nature, business, academia, culture, arts, and the human spirit."

Ruth Young

"You rocked! Everyone loved it."

Your knowledge is deep, critical, nuanced and embodied! You synthesized subjective embodied feeling with critical history as part of a deep learning experience. Thank you again for making this class and the world a little better.

Sallie Hughes
Associate Professor, Dean for Global Engagement, University of Miami

"This was by far one of the best tours I have ever been on."

Although I have been familiar with Calle Ocho and Little Havana for a couple decades, Corinna was able to provide a great deal of new information that would be available only to a resident and someone who lived with the local culture daily.

She did so in a way that was not only interesting and vivacious, but was able to explain things to participants at a variety of different levels.

Tina Bucavalas
Director of Florida Cultural Resources, Inc.
(former Director of the Florida Folklife Program of the Florida Department of State)

Why Choose TerraViva Journeys?

"A Vision for Growing an Inclusive City"

Experienced Place Consultant

For decades, Corinna has advised cities and nonprofits, including Main Streets initiatives, in regenerative, inclusive and creative placemaking and civic engagement processes, earning praise from diverse community stakeholders. She has organized and led conferences on placemaking for grassroots leaders and is profiled in an urban planning textbook.

Viernes Culturales

Performer/ Producer of Arts in Public Spaces

As an organizer/ performer of arts in public spaces, Corinna has long created place rituals that foster community connection and environmental stewardship.

Corinna integrates eco-spirituality into her holistic approach, emphasizing the interrelatedness of people and place. She has facilitated numerous community dialogues.

Little Havana mural

Community Advocate & Place Storyteller

Corinna is co-author of A History of Little Havana (The History Press, 2015), the most comprehensive book on this storied neighborhood. Corinna’s acclaimed walking tours promote nuanced understandings of culture, power, identity and place and challenge stereotypes. Corinna was featured in a PBS mini-documentary for her place-related work and has also been recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Civic Engagement and Urban Revitalization in Little Havana

Place Scholar & Educator

Corinna holds a Ph.D. in Global & Sociocultural Studies (cultural anthropology). Her research focuses on urban, public and place-based rituals of identity. She has taught university courses and served as Visiting Faculty for an acclaimed urban studies study abroad program, sharing diverse perspectives on global cities through a social-spatial justice lens.

Corinna Moebius has been interviewed by:

National Public Radio
New York Times
PBS
National Geographic Traveler
TerraViva Method

The TerraViva Method

My TerraViva Method draws upon my decades of experience in cultural anthropology/critical geography, placemaking, arts, civic engagement, and embodied methods. It’s a framework for shifting perceptions of place, body, and self. While it acknowledges our desire to preserve place and identity, it moves us away from mindsets that reinforce domination and fixedness. Instead, it fosters awareness of correspondences, interrelatedness and local-global systems. Together, we can reimagine and nurture our relationship with place, our bodies, and the Living Earth.

Upcoming Events & Courses

Learn more about my 2024 workshops, rituals, courses, speaking engagements and other events

yellow flower
Moving Away

Moving Away

It's hard to describe the feeling of moving away. I've moved from Miami...

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The Garden: Digging into Stories

The Garden: Digging into Stories

In my neighborhood’s community garden, we share the tasks, work together, and share the day’s harvest. This is how we cultivate a spirit of community.

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River Journeys & Lessons

River Journeys & Lessons

Oftentimes we use the metaphor of the “path” to describe our personal journeys, as if we are forging a path through a wild world, making our way alone. Yet the river reminds us of our interconnectedness.

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