Landscape Architecture Commons^™

The Town That Built Its Own River: La Plaza Del Cerro At Taos County New Mexico, José A. Rivera Ph.D

Faculty Publications

Cerro is an unincorporated community in Taos County, New Mexico, and is situated near New Mexico State Highway 522 heading north to the Colorado border. Nearby is Cerro de Guadalupe, a peak that has an elevation of 8,796 feet and Cerro at 7,490 feet. The connection to Guadalupe Mountain gave the town its original name as “La Plaza del Cerro de Guadalupe.” Cerro was established in the early 1850s by settlers who arrived from nearby Questa and Taos. By itself, Guadalupe Mountain did not provide sufficient water to sustain an agrarian economy based on farming and livestock ranching as was …

Building Hygge In-Roads Into Incremental Living, Tanisha Kalra

Masters Theses

Housing is one aspect of architecture and urban planning that has constantly been improved and redefined to suit the needs of people during the time periods they have been living in. People have taken significant steps in establishing how they want to live in retrospect to the times, according to their values and needs. Today, more architectural research may address the understanding and production of a healthy way of living than any other aspect of placemaking. It is no surprise that so much effort supports this spatial concern, which contributes to a fundamental building block of shared cultural definitions.

The …

Reflecting On Design: A Study Of The Relationship Between Beginning Landscape Architecture Students’ Graphic Skills And Self-Efficacy Through Hybrid Assessments And Reflective Writing, Rachel Michelle Nobles

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the connection between self-efficacy, reflective writing, and graphic quality inside a first-year Landscape Architecture design studio. Reflective writing and self-efficacy can be studied to better understand how to motivate students within a design studio. Bandura (1977) defines self-efficacy as the belief in one’s own capabilities relating to motivation, behavior, and environment. Reflective writing is overlooked as a mode of advancing knowledge in the design process (Lousberg, 2019). The data were collected with pre- and post-semester Likert scale questionnaires, graphic skill-building tests, and reflective writing. To determine growth, the pre-and post-Likert-type questionnaires and …

Script-Based Design Toolkit For Digitally Fabricated Concrete Applied To Terrain-Responsive Retaining Wall Design, Nada Abdel-Aziz

Theses and Dissertations

The potential of digitally fabricated concrete (DFC) to produce terrain responsive designs has not been thoroughly investigated. Existing research indicates diverse benefits of DFC, such as the rapid fabrication of customized geometries. This research clarifies the advantages and design processes involved in creating site-specific DFC structures. Existing literature is analyzed to provide an overview of fabrication methods and their impacts and constraints on design. Parametric scripting is used to develop an interactive toolkit that integrates aesthetic, structural, and fabrication considerations into the design process. This toolkit specifically focuses on unreinforced retaining walls with interchangeable modules for terrain analysis, wall form …

The Water Mills Of The Historic Río Arriba In Northcentral New Mexico, 1598-1975, José A. Rivera Ph.D, Thomas F. Glick Ph.D

Faculty Publications

The water mills of New Mexico played a major role in the agricultural economy of the Río Arriba for centuries 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. To process raw wheat, local grist mills (molinos) were essential infrastructure as were the aceq uias (ditches) that powered them. Situated near the banks of rivers, the internal components of each mill were driven by the gravity force of water from an acequia, itself diverted from the river. Researchers have documented …

A Mixed-Method Study On The Walkability Of Streets In Hospital-Anchored Neighborhoods, Xiaowei Li

All Dissertations

The field of healthcare design is adopting planning and design principles from the Healthy Communities movement to connect hospitals to their adjacent communities. This research explores the impact of neighborhood and street design on the walkability of Hospital-Anchored Neighborhoods (HANs), a concept integrating hospitals and satellite services with their surrounding communities to enhance public health. Walkability, a crucial marker of healthy and vibrant communities, was investigated through a mixed-method study across three HANs. A comprehensive Walkability Framework with 17 built environment dimensions was developed from the literature to inform data collection utilizing GIS archival data, ethnographic observations, street audits, and …

A Case For Educational Communication On Sustainable Stormwater Management Sites Using Interpretive Methods: Applications For Utah State University, Lilian Taft

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

Humans are increasingly urbanizing landscapes, lowering the land’s ability to infiltrate stormwater, increasing surface water runoff. This, combined with decreasing water availability in the Intermountain West, produces the issue of sustainable stormwater management. Professionals are moving toward green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), but public is often not aware of stormwater’s impacts on natural environments or what the purpose of GSI is. Stormwater management design techniques are evolving to use visible, sustainable methods celebrating stormwater, rather than treating the valuable resource as a disposable nuisance, channeling it underground and out of sight. Artful Rainwater Design (ARD), a technique coined by Stuart Echols …

Community Space Planning And Design Guide For Enhanced Wildfire Resilience In Heber, Utah, Devin Macfarlane

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

The wildland urban interface (WUI) is the fastest growing land type in the conterminous United States. These areas are prone to catastrophic wildfire events. In response to rapid population growth, Heber City, Utah is planning a significant amount of development within the WUI. This thesis project is aimed at proactively addressing wildfire risk in the WUI of Heber through two main strategies: regional geospatial planning and public space design to create wildfire resilient communities. Researching principles of wildfire adaptive practice and planning for defensible space led to the development of a list of criteria. This list was developed in the …

2022 Secretary General's Report, Elizabeth Brabec

ISCCL Scientific Symposia and Annual General Meetings // Symposiums scientifiques et assemblées générales annuelles de l'ISCCL // Simposios científicos yy las Asambleas Generales Anuales

2022 Annual Report and 2023 Work Plan

Water-Based Settlements At The Confluence: San Gabriel & El Guique New Mexico, José A. Rivera Ph.D

Faculty Publications

After more than four centuries, the acequias of New Mexico continue to serve agricultural purposes in spite of economic, demographic, political, technological, and environmental changes. Their origins can be traced to early settlements at the confluence of the Río Grande and the Río Chama, the birthplace of Iberian acequia irrigation in New Mexico. This article demonstrates the value of water in high desert environments where mountain snowpacks feed rivers and streams that are diverted to irrigate fields in places such as San Gabriel (now Chamita) and El Guique. These and other acequia communities in the region should be protected for …

Evaluation Of Green Roof Technology In Egypt, Hend Abada

Theses and Dissertations

A green roof is a well-known technology worldwide that provides many social, economic, and environmental benefits. In Egypt, green roofs are still a new construction practice where most stakeholders lack business and technical expertise within this emerging industry. This research is concerned with assessing this emerging technology within its contemporary context, Egypt, and testing its feasibility within the physical condition of the Egyptian buildings and the social and economic conditions of the Egyptians. This study starts by presenting intensive information about green roof technology and reviewing the literature on green roofs within the Egyptian context. A grounded methodology is used …

Beyond Burial - Transforming Death: A New Ritual Of Farewell And The Ecological Return Of The Body To Nature, Chang Xie

Masters Theses

Burial and funeral culture have been shaped by human self-awareness and reflect an anthropocentric worldview. The modern funeral industry's multi-billion-dollar enterprise is based on the principle of protecting, sanitizing, and beautifying the corpse to promote the idea of human exceptionalism. However, this practice overlooks the natural process of decay and the potential beauty in returning the body to the earth, with which the body shares the same chemical basis as the earth itself. Modern science has provided Eco-friendly green burial methods, such as soil modification, ice burial, and water burial, making it suitable to contribute to natural ecology using human …

Nature As Material, Time As Tool, Chuchu Chen

Masters Theses

No building stands forever. Over time, the natural environment acts upon the outer surface of the building, leading to the failure of materials and the final dissolution of the structure itself, leading to ruin. In order to prevent this or retard its occurrence, we constantly maintain and renew the things we build. Nature seems to stand in opposition to architecture. The passage of time is constantly subtracting from the building. However, what differentiates nature from architecture? This thesis questions whether these two are not opposed, but on a continuous spectrum. Approaching the building as part of the overall environment that …

Healing The Haunted: Rituals Of Mourning And Suture, Pian Zhang

Masters Theses

Healing the Haunted probes into the capacity of healing towards land trauma. It defines land trauma as a reflexive process that is rooted in the perspective of topophilia—the affective bond with one's environment. Human extractive activities that cause physical ecological violence have led to trauma on the land, which can result in a disconnection between people and their environment, leaving negative effects on the mind and body over the long term. The tangible or hidden wounds lead to an unsettling encounter with the ghost, turning topophilia into topophobia.

To calm the haunting apparition, this thesis suggests healing man-land bond …

Vanishing Ice, Zhehao Tang

Masters Theses

Many northern cities’ magnificent civilizations, especially coastal cities, have relied on the glacial ruins left by the melt in the past. These bustling metropolises get opportunities from glacial disappearance. But now, they face potential threats from remote alpine glacial melting. Most people view this glacial disappearance indifferently. Moreover, they do not seem aware that we have a potential connection with these remote landscapes. This thesis proposes to use landscape design to raise public awareness of the glacial geological history of cities and the concern for the glacier melt, including the impact of glacial changes in the past, present, and future. …

The Root Of Culture: Human Ritual And The Soils Of West Virginia, Aleece Mount

Masters Theses

The Cumberland Mountains of Southern West Virginia are home to mountaintop removal, with the Guyandotte River watershed exhibiting some of the most extreme examples. The strip-mining practices have removed fertile soil, altered water courses, deeply polluted the land, and stripped people of their wealth – prosperity in happiness and abundance of possessions and resources. This has resulted in some of the nation’s worst health, education, and economic conditions. The communities of this watershed live at the heart of the economic and political forces that undermine community and ecological well-being.

Southern West Virginia has a deep and continued history of living …

Modern Nomadism ——A Network Of Reciprocal Moorings, Jinting Liu

Masters Theses

The wave of modernization and the impact of globalization have gradually dissolved the traditional nomadic way of life^[1]. However some people still choose to live a nomadic lifestyle for quality of life or economic reasons, but they are still under huge cultural and political pressure. According to the National Institutes of Health(NIH), there are 164 million migrant workers in the world, which can be thought of as modern day ”nomads”.

This paper focuses on seasonally migrating Mexican farm workers without a permanent home, exploring how they can be provided with a “mooring system” and, through different forms of …

Cities Of Tomorrow Future Urban Planning Strategies, Jingyu Ge

Masters Theses

What is the goal of urban planning? Urban planning aims to increase the urban’s resiliency. During development and achieve a balance between nature and humans. In other words, the purpose of urban planning is to achieve an urban condition that supports a quantity of urban living while being equitable, adaptable, and resilient in the short and long term together. The tipping point is a term that is used to measure the vulnerability and prevent a city from achieving its urban planning goals.

This thesis will start with an urban planning theory generation and bring a new understanding of a good …

Rebuild Relationships Between City, Agriculture And Ecosystem In The World Of The Drought, Ninghao Wang

Masters Theses

The drought is a threat to our planet and our way of life, causing serious consequences for both people and the environment. These consequences include crop failures, food shortages, water conflicts, and so on. Arizona is currently at the center of the water crisis affecting the American West. The state depends on the Colorado River for a third of its agricultural and urban water needs. However, the river is shrinking due to drought, leading to water scarcity in the region. Rebuilt Relationships Between Agriculture, Ecosystem, and City in the World of the Drought: rethinking regenerative landscape practices in the drought-prone …

Arctic Resilience: Adaptive Networks Of Self-Sufficiency, Jingjing Cui

Masters Theses

As the impacts of climate change reverberate across the globe, there is an increasing focus on communities already grappling with high environmental stress, limited resources, isolation, and economic challenges. Among these communities, the Arctic region stands out not for its population size, but for the threat posed to their traditional ways of life by the melting polar icecap, rising seas, changing ecology, and shifting migration patterns of vital wildlife. Many communities are living on shorelines being lost to the sea, having been moved there decades earlier by government and oil corporation dictates. Now facing impending relocation again, these communities have …