Architecture Commons^™

From Concrete Jungles To Hemp Sanctuaries: The Rise Of Sustainable Building Practices, Kim Paige Sullivan

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

The evolution of urban landscapes from dense, concrete-dominated environments to greener, more sustainable habitats marks a pivotal shift in architectural and urban planning paradigms. This paper explores the transition from "Concrete Jungles" to "Hemp Sanctuaries," highlighting the significant role of sustainable building practices and the adoption of carbon sequestering materials, with a particular focus on hempcrete. The historical context of rapid urbanization and industrialization in the early 20th century set the stage for the dominance of concrete structures, driven by economics often at the expense of environmental sustainability. This approach contributed to increased demand for resources, energy consumption, and greenhouse …

The Just Green City: A Vision Of The South Holyoke Neighborhood, Michael Gagnon

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

Landscape Architects need to take their place as formative roles in the planning and design of our cities in the era of climate change. Not only do we have to be a part of the collaborative efforts, but we also have to bring it to the communities who need it most to create long-lasting impacts. Climate change is an equity issue and without tackling our social problems, we cannot tackle climate change. Our role is to not reinforce the status quo but to change it. The Just Green City takes place in Holyoke Massachusetts. This legacy city was once the …

Arising: Hurricane (Superstorm) Sandy’S Impact On Design/Planning Professionals, Maxinne R. Leighton

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Standing by my bedroom window, looking out at the ocean, a huge wave comes and swallows up my building. Everything around me is gone, including me. I wake up. I am 13 years old and living in the Coney Island Houses on Surf Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. With ongoing anthropogenic changes to the natural environment such as sea level rise and intensifying storms, coastal communities, especially ones segregated by class and culture, are particularly vulnerable in this context that challenges a way of life, and in some instances, threatens that life's survival. This dissertation focuses specifically on what one massive …

Ridazz, Wrenches, And Wonks: A Revolution On Two Wheels Rolls Into Los Angeles, Donald Parker Strauss

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

How can we make cities more livable? Los Angeles, in particular, is a notably challenging place to live. For many, it is hard to see Los Angeles—city or county—as anything other than a huge, sprawling, and some would say placeless place. Los Angeles is known by many as the place that tore up more than 1,000 miles of streetcar lines to make way for millions of cars and hundreds of miles of freeways. Because of this, Los Angeles is also known for its poor air quality and jammed freeways. Those who live in Los Angeles know that it can be …

Barrier(S), Marisa Nemcik

Architecture Senior Theses

Super Storm Sandy brutally exposed the vulnerabilities of the Atlanta coast leading to extensive damage and loss. It left 650,000 homes damaged or destroyed and caused $65.7 billion in damages in the tri-state area, making it the 2nd costliest storm in U.S. history. In the area of NJ alone, damages cost about $36 billion. In what way can architecture influence not only the how to rebuild but the way in which we think of recovery.

Due to its location, New Jersey’s coast was physically the largest impacted region as per Sandy. (Although New York overall saw more damage due to …

Fm, Risk And Climate Change Adaptation, Keith Jones, Mark Mulville, Adele Brooks

Conference papers

Improving the sustainability of built assets in the light of uncertain futures is a major challenge facing the Facilities Management profession. A changing climate poses significant challenges to the performance of built assets in-use and could potentially render many built assets prematurely obsolete. How business clients plan for such changes formed the focus of a research project undertaken by the authors. This paper presents the findings of a 12 month Action Research project that sought to identify the impact of future climate change on the performance of a new £75m education building over the first 60 years of operation. The …