Digital Commons Network^™

Slr Practitioner Needs, Daniella Hirschfeld, Kelli Archie, Emilio Mateo, James C. Arnott, Julie A. Vano

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As sea levels continue to rise, practitioners at the local and regional scale are under increased pressure to reduce risks to people and property posed by the threats of sea-level rise (SLR) and associated impacts. To achieve this, a transdisciplinary approach that integrates data-driven research with local knowledge and community engagement is necessary. As such, it is imperative the science community understands the needs of practitioners. However, there has been little qualitative assessment of adaptation practice in coastal areas, especially with a focus on the needs of practitioners in making use of current SLR science. Our mixed-methods approach began with …

Promoting Community Identity Through Repurposing Vacant Land: City Park Design In Downtown Arlington, Dasom Phoebe Mun

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

As urbanization progressed rapidly in the mid-nineteenth century, people moved to cities for many reasons, and as a consequence, the volume of green spaces in the cities was reduced. Lands have been developed or redeveloped as urbanization developed. In this process, leftover spaces and vacant lands have been created. Urban vacant lands could be a problem for many cities. They might have aesthetic issues such as disordered or cluttered appearances, safety issues due to lack of maintenance, economic issues for it being wasted and so on (Kim et al., 2023). However, vacant lands in urban areas have become suitable assets …

Information Management And Bim Standards And Supports Inventory, Ryan Dempsey, Barry Mcauley, David Burke

Tools

The Digital Standards pillar consists of industry experts who champion the benefits of common rules, guidelines, and workflows that facilitate the improvement of information flow and information management across asset life cycles. Digital standards provide a common language that can be translated to technical specifications enabling clients, designers, contractors, and facilities managers, irrespective of their preferred tools, to communicate efficiently and reduce cost, rework, and disputes. Working closely with the Digital Procurement and Digital Education and Training pillars, this pillar is developing and delivering Irish Information Management/BIM (Digital Construction) guidelines for the sector.

This report summarises existing digital construction standards, …

The University Of Texas At Arlington: Green Infrastructure Report, Center For Metropolitan Density, Uta Office Of Facilities Management, Uta Office Of Sustainability, City Of Arlington, Us Epa, One Architecture & Urbanism, Climate Resilience Consulting, Sherwood Design Engineers, Taner R. Ozdil

Center for Metropolitan Density Publications

On the University of Texas at Arlington campus, investing in green infrastructure is critical for managing stormwater and heat stress today and addressing the emerging challenges caused by a changing climate: shifting precipitation patterns, “cloudbursts” or flash floods, and more frequent and severe extreme heat events. In 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provided technical assistance to UTA as part of the tenth anniversary of the Campus RainWorks Challenge, a national design competition that advances green infrastructure design on college and university campuses across the country. This report builds on UTA’s extensive engagement with the competition and envisions the campus …

Landscape Interventions For Pedestrian Safety Around Urban Parks: Learning From City Of Dallas, Texas, Ann Mariya Thuruthy

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

Urban parks and their immediate surroundings provide access to nature in urbanized areas. However, they can also be crime hotspots if not properly kept or monitored or provide a safe environment for positive activities (Jones & Robinson, 2008). The local community respects a safe and secure neighborhood urban park as proximity to green spaces (McCormack et al., 2010), which enhances living quality (Iqbal & Ceccato, 2015). Nevertheless, a neighborhood urban park and its context have a negative impact on the quality of life if they cater to criminal activity. Crime rates have increased in urban public parks and buffer zones …

Reexamining The Functions Of Urban Bridges With Nature And People In Mind: A Vision For North Main Street Bridge Fort Worth, Texas, Amanda Hinton

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

How can nature be incorporated into infrastructure bridges to promote connections in urban landscapes? The Paddock Viaduct, known today as the North Main Street Bridge in Fort Worth, Texas was formally opened on July 3, 1914. Designed by Brenneke and Fay to improve transportation to the North Fort Worth district, the bridge was the first reinforced concrete arch bridge in the nation to use self-supporting reinforcing steel and ball and socket joints (Paddock Viaduct - Main - Historic Fort Worth, 2017). Fort Worth in the mid-1900s, like many growing cities, was experiencing the repercussions of heavy flooding issues that come …

Cultivating Charismatic Landscapes: Designing For Preservation And Resilience Of Texas’S Natural Swimming Holes, Jessie Hitchcock

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

The swimming hole landscape provides a unique, immersive interface between humans and the natural world within a riparian corridor. Distinct characteristics of local watersheds and regional ecological systems result in an expression of the natural environment specific to each Texas swimming hole. These environmental components, along with human culture and settlement patterns, are all interrelated, underscoring the importance of health and harmony within and between each one. Overuse, urban expansion, watershed management, and climatic factors have negatively impacted the environmental quality and user experience of these landscapes. The purpose of this study is to better understand the cultural and environmental …

Designing Transit-Oriented District Station Areas For Pedestrian Activity: Learning From Dallas, Tx, Oren Mandelbaum

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) and Transit-Oriented Districts (TODt) are planning and development strategies that look to leverage close access to public transit to create places or districts that are dense, walkable and diverse (NCTCOG, 2021; Stojanovski. 2019; Ozdil et.al., 2012). While TOD and TODt are becoming more prevalent within Dallas, TX, and around the United States, (DART, 2019), there is limited literature as to how landscape architecture and urban design can be utilized to reach the goals set out by TOD, and especially TODt (Ozdil et.al., 2012). In addition, while station areas have the potential to act as the hubs of …

Addressing Obsolescence In Fort Worth Public Pools: Enhancing Forest Park Public City Pool, Juan A. Fuentes

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

The city of Fort Worth, Texas has strived to ensure high-quality recreational water activities, which resulted in the closure or demolitions of several demolished aquatic parks in 2009. With many parks exceeding their lifespan, depicting functional and physical obsoleteness, and presenting health and safety risk to swimmers; the city, following the audit report, demolished famous aquatic parks, such as: Sycamore Pool, Hillside Park Lake, Como Park, Sylvania Park, Marine Creek Park, and Kellis Park, etc. In July 2008, Counsilman-Hunsaker conducted a city-wide Aquatic Master Plan to determine the future of the city's aquatic parks (Counsilman-Hunsaker, Inc.,2012). Implementation strategies included replacing …

Enhancing The Entry Experience At Phap Quang Temple, Grand Prairie, Tx, Violet Lam

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

This design thesis explores the design principles of traditional Chinese Buddhist temple gardens and their significance in creating successful entry sequences. The study focuses on Vietnamese Buddhist temples in a suburban context in North Texas and investigates the role of design elements such as architecture, water features, planting design, and rocks in creating a spiritually enriching and culturally significant environment. The research method includes a literature review, comparison analysis, site inventory, user survey, interview with a member of the board of advisors, design testing, and design proposal. The proposed design aims to enhance the accessibility, wayfinding, and sense of place …

Designing For Best Use Of The Downtown I-345 Corridor In Dallas, Tx: Stakeholder Perspectives, Matthew Thornton

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

What is a city? It’s more than a location where many people live and work. It is a conglomeration of shared experience over generations. One generation informs the next, which informs how each subsequent generation adds to the development of their shared home. This is what gives each city its own unique form, character, and identity. But what happens if a city repeatedly outgrows itself, disconnects its communities, and demolishes the physical memory of its own cultural history? Dallas, Texas is one such city confronting these issues and is perceived as one without significant place memory or culture (if not …

Data For: A Global Survey Of The Application Of Sea-Level Projections, Daniella Hirschfeld, David Behar, Robert Nicholls, Niamh Cahill, Thomas James, Ben Horton, Michelle E. Portman, Rob Bell, Matt Campo, Miguel Esteban, Bronwyn Goble, Munsur Rahman, Kwasi Appeaning Addo, Faiz Ahmed, Monique Aunger, Orly Babitsky, Anders Beal, Ray Boyle, Jiayi Fang, Amir Gohar, Susan Hanson, Saul Karamesines, Mj Kim, Hilary Lohmann, Kathy Mcinnes, Nobuo Mimura, Doug Ramsay, Landis Wenger, Hiromune Yokoki

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Including sea-level rise (SLR) projections in coastal adaptation is increasingly recognized as crucial. Here we analyze the first global survey on the use of SLR projections comprising 253 coastal practitioners engaged in adaptation/planning from 49 countries with time frames of 2050 and 2100. While recognition of the threat of SLR is almost universally recognized, only 71% of respondents currently utilize SLR projections. Generally, developing countries have lower levels of utilization. There is no global standard in the use of SLR projections: for locations using a standard structure, 53% are planning for a single projection, while the remainder are using multiple …

Designing Cemeteries For Personal Expressions In The San Francisco Bay Area, Jodwin Surio

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

Our country’s largest cities have become more racially and ethnically diverse than they were in 2010 (US News, 2020). Differences are present and yet, our cemeteries, originally catering to a predominantly Caucasian market (Sloane, 1991), remain Eurocentric in design (Jones, 2011). The purpose of this master’s design thesis is to determine the design principles and elements necessary for a cemetery that is transformed by the personal expressions exhibited by visitors after the day of burial. The study focuses specifically on cemeteries in the San Francisco Bay Area. The findings were used to develop a new kind of cemetery typology that …

The Santaquin Greenway System: Preserving The Future Of Santaquin Trails And Open Space, Ian Kola

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Santaquin residents value their open spaces, trails and gathering spaces. Greenways are a space-efficient form of open space that can ensure a community has access to these amenities.

This greenway master plan is a cumulative result of work compiled and completed by students from Utah State University’s Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning department, Santaquin residents, and city government. Extensive community engagement occurred through USU’s senior capstone and Charrette projects, and this master plan coincides with the planning conclusions made in these projects.

This plan represents a conceptual layout and design of a greenway system in Santaquin, UT. These plans are …

Designing Neighborhood-Scale Green Infrastructure (Gi) To Improve The Health And Well-Being Of Industry-Adjacent Communities Through Air Pollution Mitigation In Joppa, Texas, Lauren Wardwell

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

Ambient outdoor air pollution kills roughly 4.2 million people every year worldwide and is linked as a contributing factor to diseases such as asthma, cancer, infertility, and neurological disorders. In the United States, minority communities are more likely to live near sources of air pollution, such as highways and industrial sites, and therefore face higher risks of developing the associated health difficulties. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), people of color (POC) are exposed to disproportionately higher levels of ambient fine particulate matter (PM) air pollution, regardless of income levels or region. While the EPA monitors and enforces outdoor …

The Role Of Temporary Installations Towards Permanency In The Built Environment, Paul D. Spittle

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

Heralding a new wave against “business-as-usual” planning, design and development practice that had in part brought about the Global Crash of 2008 (Marcinkoski, 2016), the rise in rapid and temporary design typologies, like Park(ing) Day or Better Block (CNU Next Gen, 2010), suggested a new direction that recognized that if you wanted to make a positive change in the built environment, it was easier to act first and apologize afterwards (Lydon et al, 2012). Taking the responsibility of living in the city into their own hands, a new guard of designers looked to the unfinished skeletons of civic construction to …

How An Environmental Crisis Catalyzed Community-Led Planning To Address Racial Inequities: A Case Study Of Shingle Mountain, In Southern Dallas, Evelyn Mayo

Planning Masters Professional Reports

Equity is one of the “Four E’s” representing the core values for planning at the City of Dallas, Texas (City of Dallas, Core Values). However, many neighborhoods in Southern Dallas endure environmental injustices partly because land use planning ignores or disregards the needs of low-income communities of color. This report examines the Shingle Mountain environmental justice crisis in Southern Dallas to illuminate the environmental injustices that the community of Floral Farms has endured partly due to misguided planning and the neglect of the city of Dallas.The study focuses on examining how the grassroots, community-led land use plan developed by residents …

Cemeteries, Construction, And Complicity Tyler’S Universe Cemetery As A Black Burial Site Under Distress, Anjelyque Easley

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

Black culture has shaped the American landscape in unique but often unrecognized ways. Black burial sites and cemeteries honor ancestors and are a site of reverence (LaRoche & Blakey, 1997). However, they are routinely neglected, reflecting America’s history of segregation. Black burial grounds, places of connection to history and family, are often “repurposed” and forgotten as the changing of property ownership occurs. In many cases, through hostile zoning and real estate practices, Black burial grounds have been desecrated (Levinson, 2019). Urban infrastructures like major transitways have cut through Black cemeteries, effectively “burying” the existence of the Black landscape and those …

Und Wellness Center, Gregor Cork

School of Aerospace 3D Models

3D model of the UND Wellness Center. The dataset it was made from was created in the later portion of the Fall 2021 school semester, right before the first major snow of the season (11/9/2021).

Und West Hall, William Laber

School of Aerospace 3D Models

A model of West Hall, a partially deconstructed dorm building on the campus of the University of North Dakota.

River Cities Speedway, Emmelinne Miller

School of Aerospace 3D Models

A 3D model of the River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, ND.

Empowering Artists Who Have Experienced Homelessness In The City Of Dallas, Texas Through Temporary Public Art In Urban Spaces, Angeles Marina Margarida-De Guzman

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

Homelessness is a critical social crisis impacting the United States in the 21st century. According to The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, in 2019 there were eight states that displayed a significant increase in the homeless population since 2010, with California and New York states having the most homeless. Even though homeless populations reportedly decreased in 2019 in the U.S. since 2010, most states continue to have large numbers of homeless populations, making this a persisting crisis in 2021 (United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, n.d.). In 2019 Texas was among the top seven states with the largest homeless …

Classifying Desire Paths Utilizing A Campus Master Plan Study: A Method For Recognizing Urban Design Flaws, Michael Shuey

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

Desire paths are the informal pathways created from the erosional effect of repeated foot traffic. These footpaths come in many shapes and sizes and can occur in spaces where there are no formal pathways for pedestrians. However, in many developed urban and natural areas, desire paths may appear within a landscape that has been intentionally designed. In some perspectives, desire paths can represent user dissatisfaction with the pedestrian landscape, as well as a failure of the urban design process. Recent literature on this topic considers the environmental, economic, and social impacts caused by desire path occurrences. However, desire paths are …

Cultural Landscapes, Historic Preservation, And Cattle Ranches: A New Protocol For Documenting And Preserving Historic Working Cattle Ranches In Texas. Featuring A Case Study At The Dudley Brothers Ranch In Comanche, Texas Using Tx-Clevr (Texas Cultural Landscape Evaluation For Ranches), Bonnie Blocker

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

The Texas cattle ranch is a vernacular landscape of historic significance, threatened by population-driven land use change and unsustainable exurban development (Kjelland, 2007). A vast majority of Texas cattle ranches have not been recognized by any official designation program (THC, 2020), and have no formal recognition as cultural landscapes (Ramirez, 2018). This research explores the cultural landscape of cattle ranching in Texas, a specific landscape typology with very little documented study, in order to promote identification, preservation, and maintenance of these valuable landscapes within the field of landscape architecture. As the standard pathway to designation and documentation of cultural landscapes, …

Treatments Of Contaminants From Hydraulic Fracturing: A Study Of The Attitudes Of Professionals Towards The Use Of Phytoremediation Methods In Tarrant County, Melissa Rubi Lemuz

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

Hydraulic fracturing poses challenges to the environmental stability of the areas surrounding a hydraulic fracturing site due to exposure to the byproducts of the hydraulic fracturing process. (Rahm, 2011; Perry, Sutton, Guo, Yan, & Yang, 2018; Gómez-Sagasti et al., 2012; Richardson et al., 2015). The use of hydraulic fracturing has increased in the United States, notably in North Texas. As the population of the DFW metroplex increases, oil and natural gas companies have begun to construct hydraulic fracturing sites within neighborhoods in the urban setting (Rahm, 2011). As the number of wells created in the urban setting continues to increase, …

Improving The Livability And Therapeutic Properties Of Hospital Campuses In North Texas By Integrating Artful Rain Design And Heat Island Mitigation, Reza Mabadi

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

Despite these efforts and signs of progress, such design and planning efforts have failed to thoroughly integrate restorative design principles and sustainable strategies into the landscape architecture of healthcare facilities. The case studies presented in this research illustrate this phenomenon. Currently, sustainable approaches to evidence-based research on health and well-being necessitate a reexamination and reinvention of design methods and recommendations for hospital landscapes to improve their therapeutic properties. The main goal of this research is to investigate strategies to improve the livability and therapeutic values of the constructed landscape of Clements University Hospital through an evidence-based approach and to examine …

Cultivating A Sense Of Place Through Experiential Landscapes: The Redesign Of Downtown Prosper, Texas, Nicole Palmer Simonini

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

Many rural Texas towns are being enveloped by urban sprawl. Former small, rural towns with tightly-knit communities and storied historic places are being replaced by mass residential and retail developments. These enveloped communities are often besieged by an uninviting appearance of monotony; their unique identities are often lost in the expansion. Their rich, shared community experiences are diminished (Andres & Plater-Zyberk, 1992). This master’s design thesis explores the concept of sense of place through the lens of experiential landscapes. This study seeks to identify design attributes that contribute to the creation of experiential landscapes (Thwaites & Simkins, 2007) in Texas. …

Evaluating Dallas County Landfills For Public Amenity: Repurposing The City Of Grand Prairie Landfill Through Landscape Architecture, Elena E. Naccari

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

The state of Texas produced more than 36 million tons of waste in 2019. Currently, there are 198 active landfills of varying size and capacity in the entire state. Overall landfill capacity within the state is decreasing over time, while the size of landfills on average is increasing, creating quite the contradiction and clear picture of the average consumer’s increase in waste production (Municipal Solid Waste, 2019). The state of Texas is on an unfortunate path to meet landfill capacity in 53 years (Municipal Solid Waste, 2019). Of the almost 800 landfill sites (active and inactive) in the state of …

Transforming A Typical Flea Market Into A More Vital Third Place Through Expressions Of Cultural Diversity, Nusrat Jahan Nipu

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

"Flea markets are significant in North America because of their cultural, socio-economic, functional values, and the opportunities they provide for social interaction and public gathering" (Riveira, A.N., 2013). They can be transformed from typical commercial marketplaces into vital third places by expressing various cultural themes through design. In 1989, "third place" was termed by Ray Oldenburg, an urban sociologist who espoused that one’s home is the first place, workspace or office is the second place, and the area where people meet informally to enjoy the company of others is the third place (Oldenburg, R., 2008). The use of cultural themes …

Uniting Families And Celebrating A Third Nation: Bridging The Wall, A True Binational Park For The Borderland Of Juarez – El Paso, Luis Rojo

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses

According to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), an estimated 11.3 million undocumented immigrants reside in United States (U.S.) of which 53 percent are Mexican (Gelatt & Zong, 2018). Many of these immigrants have not been able to see their families in Mexico for numerous years. Due to the lack of documentation, it is difficult to determine the exact number of separated families. By considering remittance inflow to Mexico, that is, money sent from individuals in the U.S. to individuals in Mexico, the researcher can gain an understanding of how many Mexican families exist in a state of separation (Orozco, 2015). …