Landscape Architecture Commons^™

Family Roots And Research Journal Unm Emeritus Professor José A. Rivera, José A. Rivera Ph.D

Faculty Publications

This article is an abbreviated life narrative of UNM Emeritus Professor of Community and Regional Planning, José A. Rivera. It begins with highlights of his family ancestry and continues with an account of his educational experiences K-12 and into a decade of university life as a student while earning a bachelor’s, two master’s and a doctorate. He taught at UNM for 35 years while also conducting research in his areas of interest, mostly in community irrigation studies, mutual aid societies, and rural development. The main body in the article focuses on positions he held at UNM and on publications that …

Spirituality In Place: Assessment Of Spirituality, Place Attachment, And Locus Of Control In College, Chloe Armand

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to explore how spirituality in place shapes college students’ cognition. While spiritual development is recognized as an important aspect of student affairs, its influence on cognitive factors such as locus of control and place attachment remains underexplored. This study investigates the relationship between spirituality, place attachment, and locus of control, as well as students’ perceptions of spiritual design elements on UCF’s campus. To assess these perceptions, a Quality of Place Questionnaire for Spirituality was developed. This instrument aims to measure humanity, sensuality, and sustainability in the built environment. This research uncovers the connections between …

The Scientific Landscape Of The Aging-In-Place Literature: A Bibliometric Analysis, Saman Jamshidi, Nastaran Hashemi

Architecture Faculty Research

The world’s population is aging and, as populations age, they exhibit an increased prevalence of chronic diseases, which can reduce the independence of elderly individuals. The set of initiatives known as aging in place, a common policy response to the aging population, is preferred by both the elderly population and policymakers. Aging in place is a broad and multifaceted topic that involves multiple stakeholders and academic disciplines. A science map of the literature on aging in place can help researchers pinpoint their efforts and help policymakers make informed decisions. Thus, this study maps the scientific landscape of the aging-in-place literature. …

The Creation Of Intergenerational Playspaces, Avery Lake

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

The benefits of play are tenfold for both children and older adults, from improved cognitive function to enhanced social connections. However, traditional playgrounds often cater exclusively to one age group, limiting opportunities for intergenerational interaction. This study explores the design of intergenerational playspaces, focusing on those designed for intergenerational learning centers, institutions that operate as combined assisted living facilities and preschools. The research aims to answer the question: What does an intergenerational playspace look like, and how can it maximize the benefits of play for both age groups? The evolution of playgrounds for children and the older adults is examined, …

Reframing The Landscape: Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, Amy Reid

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis project recognizes Robert Smithson’s contribution to the fields of art and landscape architecture with a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places for Spiral Jetty. The nomination was completed with support from the Utah State Historic Preservation Office, Dia Art Foundation, and Holt/Smithson Foundation.

Spiral Jetty is considered a highly influential work of the Land art genre. At Rozel Point Smithson constructed a 1,500-foot-long and 15-foot-wide earthwork of site-sourced basalt rock and soil. It extends from the shore approximately 600 feet before collapsing twice in a counterclockwise spiral. Smithson carefully selected the site where the earthwork would …

The Restorative Design Scale (Rds) An Assessment Guide: Measuring The Potential For Mental Restoration In Urban Green Spaces, Corinne Bahr

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Mental health is a growing national priority, and green space has been proven to benefit mental health. There is a massive amount of recent research studying the influence of green space characteristics on mental health improvement and restoration. However, professional landscape architects, designers, and planners involved in creating physical spaces have not been able to assess and therefore prioritize mental health in their designs due to the sheer quantity of information that has not yet been synthesized and applied efficiently. The Restorative Design Scale (RDS) Assessment condenses this material into a scientifically inspired resource for professionals to easily understand and …

Examining Support By Residents For Community Scale Wildfire Mitigation Strategies In The Wasatch Front, Conner R. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Current development trends along the Wasatch Front are causing a greater threat of wildfires to the Utahns who reside there. Research indicates that although studies meant to examine wildfire mitigation strategy preferences do exist, their findings are not applicable to the Wasatch Front. This thesis addresses the lack of applicable data and the resultant lack of understanding of the Wasatch Front residents' preferences. In my project specifically, I will be looking at what wildfire mitigation strategies, at the community scale, residents of the Wasatch Front prefer. Additionally, I will be comparing the preferences of residents living in areas with above …

Physical Activity In Play Environments Inclusively Designed For Children With And Without Disabilities, Mckall E. Vigil

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This study examines physical activity within inclusively designed play environments for children with and without disabilities. The purpose of this study is to determine to what extent children in the third grade with and without disabilities differ in physical activity across various behavior settings of an inclusively designed play environment. Of the 50 third-grade students, 34 participated in eight weeks of observations conducted during lunch recess. Accelerometers and GPS units were utilized to collect data during the observations. The majority of settings on this playground were identified as inclusive. Children with disabilities didn’t engage in organized games as often as …

Practitioners' Needs For Addressing The Challenges Of Sea-Level Rise—A Qualitative Assessment, D. Hirschfeld, K. M. Archie, E. Mateo, J. C. Arnott, J. A. Vano

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Faculty Publications

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 dialog between practitioners and scientists is imperative. Current research documents impacts of SLR, evaluates local SLR adaptation activities, identifies barriers to action, and works to assess local adaptive capacity. Despite this work, there has been little qualitative assessment of practitioners' needs when it comes to translating SLR science into local changes. To fill this gap, we used a combination of semi‐structured interviews and surveys. The interviews revealed …

Architectural And Curatorial Extensions Of Extraction At The Royal Ontario Museum, Camille-Mary Sharp

Visual Arts Publications

No abstract provided.

Overview For Exploring The Multisensory Landscape, Brent Chamberlain, Richard Smardon

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Faculty Publications

Land use change has had a fundamental impact on the livelihoods of people throughout the world. This Special Issue focuses on the research being conducted at the intersection of this land use change and the importance of maintaining landscapes that enrich humanity and our engagement with nature. Within this Special Issue, we explored the value of landscapes that heighten the senses. Visual Resource Stewardship is an area of research that closely aligns with understanding how changes in the environment may be perceived and experienced. Understanding the tools, processes, and theories involved helps us to better understand how land use change …

Los Molinitos De La Gente: Arquitectura Popular En El Río Grande Del Norte, 1600-1950, José A. Rivera, Levi Romero

Faculty Publications

For centuries, acequias and small grist mills in northern New Mexico villages played a major role in the agricultural economy of the region following the introduction of wheat from the Old World to the Americas. Wheat, in its ground form as flour, was a staple during the Spanish colonial period of the region. To process raw wheat, local mills (molinos) were essential infrastructure as were the acequias (ditches) that powered them. Most molinos were built from logs and were situated near the banks of watercourses. The wheel and axle were driven by the gravity force of water drawn …

Settling Dust, Unsettling Ground, Olivia Newroz

Masters Theses

Understanding dust as a material system that blurs the line between ground and atmosphere, I developed a dust machine as a tool for making dust legible at the human scale. While the blurriness of ground is visualized at both particle and planetary scales, at the human scale, it becomes less evident. Drawing from Lisa’s Moffitt’s discussion of “environmental models”–that is, models that don’t merely simulate phenomena, in this case dust, but rather produce the underlying force itself––I produced visualizations of how dust, as both a grounded and atmospheric element, intertwines ground and weather across scales, through a cyclical process of …

In Pursuit Of Eye Tracking For Visual Landscape Assessments, David Evans, Brent Chamberlain

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Faculty Publications

Visual quality and impact assessments have historically relied on experts to formally evaluate the visual properties of a landscape. In contrast, environmental psychologists have studied subjective landscape preferences using ratings and surveys. These two approaches represent, respectively, the “objectivist” and “subjectivist” paradigms within visual landscape research. A gap, however, exists between these approaches: actual observation behaviors. In this paper, we argue for the inclusion of eye-tracking research in visual landscape assessments as a critical bridge between objective landscape qualities and subjective visual experiences. We describe the basics of eye-tracking methods and data types to introduce the role of eye movements …

Evaluation And Improvement Of The Design 4 Every Drop Course, Kenzy Fogle

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Utah and the greater Intermountain West are experiencing a water crisis. Many factors are contributing to this situation, including an arid climate exacerbated by climate change, rapid population growth, and a high-water-demanding landscape typology. Landscapes currently consume an estimated 60-80% of Utah’s potable water, representing a significant opportunity for water savings. However, changing the traditional water-dependent landscape typology requires educating the public regarding water-wise landscape design processes, best practices, and implementation approaches. Utah State University is the land grant university for Utah and home to one of the oldest Landscape Architecture departments in the Intermountain West. Utah State University’s community …

Introduction To Landscape Architecture State Standards And Curriculum For Utah High Schools, Joseph Pancoast

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Utah State University (USU) offers a successful Introduction to Landscape Architecture class for college students; this class increases awareness and understanding of landscape architecture as a profession. Though this is a wonderful resource offered at the college level, high school is a key time for career awareness. Unfortunately, there is a lack of student awareness surrounding the profession of landscape architecture. In Utah and the rest of the United States, there are currently no in-person Introduction to Landscape Architecture classes available in a high school setting to increase awareness and understanding for students in a high school setting. Providing a …

The Sustainable Sites Initiative As It Applies To Existing Parks In Logan Utah, Randall Smith

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

The Intermountain West of the United States consists of a variety of climates and landscapes. Despite their diversity, all of these regions face similar issues, such as water shortage, lack of biodiversity, invasion of non-native plant species, land development, and population growth. The pursuit of sustainability has become imperative in order to meet the needs of the present, while simultaneously safeguarding the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Many influential landscape architects have advocated for sustainable design; namely, Frederick Law Olmsted, Ian McHarg, and Laurie Olin. However, sustainability is used too often as a generic buzzword, diminishing …

Presence Of Other People In Urban Parks: Exploring Psychological Effects Using Virtual Reality, Eye Tracking, And Qualitative Methods, Shuai Yuan

All Dissertations

Urban parks are essential public spaces that provide numerous benefits, but the presence of others can significantly influence these benefits. This dissertation explores the complex and context-dependent effects of the presence of other people on urban park experiences by drawing on diverse disciplinary perspectives and employing multiple methodological approaches, including theoretical synthesis, virtual reality, eye tracking, and qualitative methods.

Chapter 2 develops a comprehensive theoretical framework that bridges social psychology, environmental psychology, and practice-based fields. It categorizes the impacts of the presence of others on park users' experiences into perceptual, behavioral, cognitive-emotional, and symbolic domains. Chapter 3 utilizes virtual reality …

The Influence Of Business Development Areas On Leadership Positions Within Landscape Architecture Professional Practice, Catherine E. Frost

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Landscape architecture is a discipline that connects natural, physical, and human sciences, and which operates as a professional design practice. While technical skills and design proficiency have historically been the focus of landscape architecture programs, the literature indicates a recognition of the indispensable role of entrepreneurial skills alongside design expertise (Marsh, 1928; Pray, 1911; Rice, 2017; Shepphard et al., 2018). However, there remains a scarcity of research specifically investigating business development skills within landscape architecture practice (Evans & Leccese, 1991; Gobster et al., 2010; Granet, 2021; Littlefield, 2015; Powers & Walker, 2009).

To bridge this gap, this study engaged in …

A Framework To Unveil Design Decisions In Ecological Urbanism, Addison C. Martin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Ecological urbanism offers a framework for landscape architecture to address the challenges posed by dynamic infrastructure projects in the face of changing climates and human impacts. As Nature-based Solutions (NbS) become more prevalent, the role of aesthetics in these solutions becomes increasingly important. However, there has been a lack of systematic approaches to assess the design aesthetics of landscape architecture in practice. This study aims to fill this gap by providing a rapid assessment framework tailored for landscape architecture practitioners. Drawing from the concepts of regenerative design and ecological urbanism, the framework comprises three sections: Ecological Function (EFx), Anthropocentric Function …