Landscape Architecture Commons^™

Cultivating America's Working Lands: A Study Of The Sociocultural Value Of Family Farms, Katherine Lloyd

All Theses

Our ability to produce food in a sustainable, healthy and humane manner is threatened, both in the United States and on the global scale. This difficulty is exacerbated by expected population growth, creating a need for 60% more food worldwide by 2050 to feed a population of 9.3 billion (United Nations Chronicle, 2012). How we produce food affects local economies, the cultural vitality of communities, and the health of regional ecosystems. Industrial or conventional agriculture is damaging all three of these systems, by draining local economies through corporate business practices, isolating farmers and attributing to rural population losses, while depleting …

Beyond Drawing The Line: A Study Of The Edge Structure Of Boston's Emerald Necklace, Priyanka Vankina

All Theses

Landscapes are mosaics of patches and corridors which are formed by hills, different soils types, vegetation patchiness, natural disturbances and human activities. As humans have developed, the patches and corridors have become fragmented and edges have been created. These edges become the critical points of interaction for wildlife with their surroundings. This is especially true in urban areas where development has created harsh edge environments.
This study investigates the edge structure of Olmsted's Emerald Necklace to understand how edges can be designed to create habitat for wildlife in urban areas. The Emerald Necklace is located in Boston, MA and was …

Transforming Urban Brownfields: Creating Natural Communities Through Successful Stormwater Management And Bioremediation Strategy, Yang Song

All Theses

Brownfields are a crucial issue for the 21century's urban development. To successfully restore brownfields and transform them into comfortable and enjoyable environments, we have to study how to mitigate contamination issues related to soil and stormwater. Three bodies of knowledge are studied in the literature: natural community restoration, urban brownfield restoration, storm-water management. Then, these areas are researched through case studies focusing on topography design, plant adaptation, and treatment wetland. The findings are in the form of descriptive design guidelines addressing six factors: spatial experience, stormwater collecting, natural succession, plant and species diversity, habitat creation, treatment, and cleaning. The recommendations …

An Evaluation Of Current Stormwater Best Management Practice Relationships Between Design And Efficiency: A Series Of Local And National Case Studies, Amanda Ann Goodwin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Water quality continues to be threatened by human development activities such as stormwater runoff from urbanization. This study addresses the question of how stormwater Best Management Practice (BMP) system design choices affect pollutant removal efficiency, through the examination of 12 case study sites (across five states) that use three common BMP system design types (detention, retention, and wetland channel). Water quality information was obtained from the International Stormwater Database and site composite grab samples. Development conditions were inventoried by orthophotos and assessed using Geographic Information System (GIS) and AutoCAD data.

This study relates Total Suspended Solid (TSS) load removal efficiency …

Measuring Sprawl Across The Urban Rural Continuum Using An Amalgamated Sprawl Index, Barry Kew, Brian D. Lee

Landscape Architecture Faculty Publications

Urban sprawl is rapidly transforming the landscape of Kentucky’s prime farmland from a dominant agricultural land use pattern to a patchwork of dispersed and loosely defined parcels. This state, located in the east central portion of the U.S., is not unlike many states considered rural, nor is it unlike many rural regions found throughout the world where urban sprawl is concentrated in metropolitan areas that are often encroaching into these rural areas. Authors have argued for and against urbanization patterns generally understood to be sprawl on the basis of social, economic, and biophysical opportunities and constraints. Finding consensus in the …

Cultivating America's Working Lands: A Study Of The Sociocultural Value Of Family Farms, Katherine Lloyd

Graduate Research and Discovery Symposium (GRADS)

Our ability to produce food in a sustainable, healthy and humane manner is threatened, both in the United States and on the global scale. This difficulty is exacerbated by expected population growth, creating a need for 60% more food worldwide by 2050 to feed a population of 9.3 billion. How we produce food affects local economies, the cultural vitality of communities, and the health of regional ecosystems. Industrial or conventional agriculture is damaging all three of these systems by draining local economies through corporate business practices, isolating farmers and attributing to rural population losses, while depleting natural resources and polluting …

Wasteland To Wonderland:Sustainable Brownfield Redevelopment Projects In Low-Income Areas Of Los Angeles, Rachel L. Warburton

Pitzer Senior Theses

The conversion of industrial waste sites, also known as brownfields, into sustainable green space can impact the surrounding community in a number of ways. This thesis is a compilation of three case studies in low-income areas of Los Angeles which have all experienced a brownfield to green space conversion. All three projects are dictated by various stakeholders and are located at the intersection of economic and environmental issues. I examine how the stakeholders of these projects affect the process and design and in turn how the process and design affects the community surrounding the site. Additionally this thesis sheds light …

Landscape Architecture Foundation Case Study Investigation And The Case Of The Streetscape, Pamela Blackmore

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The demonstration of landscape performance benefits has become increasingly important in landscape architecture practice and in communicating to interdisciplinary audiences. This project introduces four built streetscape projects investigated in the 2012 Landscape Architecture Foundation Case Study Investigation (CSI) program, including a large-scale permeable pavement project in Charles City, Iowa, and American Society of Landscape Architects' award-winning projects in Missouri, California, and Colorado. Following the case studies, several compelling performance benefits of these projects are presented, such as safety and accessibility and water and energy conservation. The paper specifically illustrates the economic benefits and the data source used for performance assessment …

Re-Thinking The Green Belt: Sustainability And Development In Growing Cities, Maria Saavedra

Architecture Senior Theses

One of the major goals of this research is to study the relationship between nature and technology as urban generators. I agree with Lisa Tilder and Beth Bostein, who state that instead of using architectural technology to return nature to some impossible, pre-human pristine state, we should consider fully employing the power of architecture to produce new forms of nature. Instead of thinking about the River’s edge as a natural and physical barrier between the water and the city, we should consider it as an opportunity to challenge the image of nature, exploring how it limits or furthers our social …

Master Planning For The Arts: Identifying The Skills And Roles For Landscape Architects, Jack Randal Phillips

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

Thіs rеsеаrch еxаmіnеs thе skills and experiences of lаndscаpе аrchіtеcts appropriate to lеаd thе dеsіgn аnd dеvеlopmеnt of аrts mаstеr plаns for communіtіеs, by assessing current arts master plan practices in major metropolitan areas in the United States. It first identifies thе requirements of thе arts master planning procеss through systеmаtіc documеntаtіon of еxpеrt opіnіons. A comparison is then made to thе scopе of mаstеr plаnnіng for thе аrts. Thе scope includes prеrеquіsіtеs аnd profеssіonаl аptіtudеs nееdеd to complеtе аn аrts mаstеr plаn for lаrgе cіtіеs іn the United States аnd to аssеss lаndscаpе аrchіtеcts rolе wіthіn those needs. An …

Identifying Perceptions Of The Creative Class Regarding Lost Space In Downtown Dallas, Yao Lin

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

This thesis deals with perceptions held by members of the "creative class" (Florida 2004) regarding lost space (Trancik 1986) in downtown Dallas, Texas. Data from this study come from face-to-face interviews with end-users (the creative class) of lost space, and the results of the study offer insight on design and use of these spaces, so common to contemporary human communities. Trancik (1986) argues that lost space consists of undesirable and seemingly useless urban spaces, which because they are problematic, need to be redesigned. Trancik contrasts the urban voids of lost space with positive urban spaces which he defines as those …

Professional Service Dependencies Between Landscape Architects And Architects, Alexandra Lorraine Romero

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

This thesis examines the professional service dependencies between landscape architects and architects practicing in single discipline private practice firms. Its intent is to determine the presence (or lack of presence) of dependencies within this subset of professional practice of both landscape architecture and architecture and the reasons dependencies exist. The primary hypothesis of this study is that dependencies exist between these two types of single discipline practices.Bornstein (1993) describes dependencies in a working definition as motivational, cognitive, affective and behavioral. Specifically, the term dependency has "no universally accepted operational definition" (Bornstein 1993, p. 18). It is, in the case of …

Stakeholders' Perceptions On The Design And Feasibility Of The Fused Grid Street Network Pattern, Hong Anh Mang

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

The fused grid is a newly developed street network pattern for laying out neighborhoods and districts (Grammenos 2002). It uses the fusion of two traditional North American street designs: the traditional nineteenth-century grid and the conventional curvilinear pattern of looped streets and cul-de-sacs utilized in modern suburbia (Grammenos 2004). In the twenty-first century, two cities in Canada -- Calgary, Alberta and Stratford, Ontario -- adopted this model for their neighborhoods. The site in Calgary have been adopted, implemented and is currently under construction. The site in Stratford have been adopted but not implemented. Although the two sites adopted ideas and …

Precursors To Context Sensitive Design (Csd) In Non-Csd Projects, Xiwen Feng

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

This study searches for planning and design strategies required in Context Sensitive Design (CSD) transportation projects executed prior to the establishment of CSD standards. CSD is &ldquo a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach in which all stakeholders develop transportation facilities that fit their physical settings and preserve the aesthetic, scenic, historic and environmental resources, while maintaining safety and mobility&rdquo (Center for Transportation and Environment (CTE), 2007).There were five pilot states which were Connecticut, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, and Utah, agreed to implement the CSD approach in 1998. In the following years, many states looked to CSD as a more effective approach for improving …

Master Planning For The Arts: Identifying The Skills And Roles For Landscape Architects, Jack Randal Phillips

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

Thіs rеsеаrch еxаmіnеs thе skills and experiences of lаndscаpе аrchіtеcts appropriate to lеаd thе dеsіgn аnd dеvеlopmеnt of аrts mаstеr plаns for communіtіеs, by assessing current arts master plan practices in major metropolitan areas in the United States. It first identifies thе requirements of thе arts master planning procеss through systеmаtіc documеntаtіon of еxpеrt opіnіons. A comparison is then made to thе scopе of mаstеr plаnnіng for thе аrts. Thе scope includes prеrеquіsіtеs аnd profеssіonаl аptіtudеs nееdеd to complеtе аn аrts mаstеr plаn for lаrgе cіtіеs іn the United States аnd to аssеss lаndscаpе аrchіtеcts rolе wіthіn those needs. An …

Identifying Perceptions Of The Creative Class Regarding Lost Space In Downtown Dallas, Yao Lin

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

This thesis deals with perceptions held by members of the "creative class" (Florida 2004) regarding lost space (Trancik 1986) in downtown Dallas, Texas. Data from this study come from face-to-face interviews with end-users (the creative class) of lost space, and the results of the study offer insight on design and use of these spaces, so common to contemporary human communities. Trancik (1986) argues that lost space consists of undesirable and seemingly useless urban spaces, which because they are problematic, need to be redesigned. Trancik contrasts the urban voids of lost space with positive urban spaces which he defines as those …

Stakeholders' Perceptions On The Design And Feasibility Of The Fused Grid Street Network Pattern, Hong Anh Mang

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

The fused grid is a newly developed street network pattern for laying out neighborhoods and districts (Grammenos 2002). It uses the fusion of two traditional North American street designs: the traditional nineteenth-century grid and the conventional curvilinear pattern of looped streets and cul-de-sacs utilized in modern suburbia (Grammenos 2004). In the twenty-first century, two cities in Canada -- Calgary, Alberta and Stratford, Ontario -- adopted this model for their neighborhoods. The site in Calgary have been adopted, implemented and is currently under construction. The site in Stratford have been adopted but not implemented. Although the two sites adopted ideas and …

Precursors To Context Sensitive Design (Csd) In Non-Csd Projects, Xiwen Feng

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

This study searches for planning and design strategies required in Context Sensitive Design (CSD) transportation projects executed prior to the establishment of CSD standards. CSD is &ldquo a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach in which all stakeholders develop transportation facilities that fit their physical settings and preserve the aesthetic, scenic, historic and environmental resources, while maintaining safety and mobility&rdquo (Center for Transportation and Environment (CTE), 2007).There were five pilot states which were Connecticut, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, and Utah, agreed to implement the CSD approach in 1998. In the following years, many states looked to CSD as a more effective approach for improving …

Native Plant Palettes: Perceptions Of North Texas Homeowners In Upper-Income Suburbia, Amber Michelle Davis

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

This study examines the perceptions of upper-income homeowners in North Texas regarding their knowledge of native plant palettes and their commitment to using them in their residential landscapes. Literature on the topic highlights different perspectives on the actual definition of `native' plants. However, for the purpose of this study a `native plant palette' refers to the use of a plant species that "occurs naturally in a particular region, ecosystem or habitat without direct or indirect human intervention" and in return helps support its surrounding ecological community (Tallamy 2009; US National Arboretum 2006, pg. 1)."Current literature on homeowners' perceptions of native …

Professional Service Dependencies Between Landscape Architects And Architects, Alexandra Lorraine Romero

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

This thesis examines the professional service dependencies between landscape architects and architects practicing in single discipline private practice firms. Its intent is to determine the presence (or lack of presence) of dependencies within this subset of professional practice of both landscape architecture and architecture and the reasons dependencies exist. The primary hypothesis of this study is that dependencies exist between these two types of single discipline practices.Bornstein (1993) describes dependencies in a working definition as motivational, cognitive, affective and behavioral. Specifically, the term dependency has "no universally accepted operational definition" (Bornstein 1993, p. 18). It is, in the case of …