Landscape Architecture Commons^™

A Step Towards Sustainable: The Meshing Of The Mormon Church Headquarters' Environmental Earth Stewardship Practices With Modern Trends Of Sustainability, Natalie Watkins

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Planners and landscape architects are decision makers whose commitment to sustainable development is integral in transitioning our built environment into a renewable and more self sustaining system. The built environment is a place where the three pillars of sustainability comprising social equity, environmental bear-ability, and economic viability are clearly manifested. The recent decades or scientific research in this area have offered us opportunities to make changes in the built environment that will better support future generations of our local communities. However, social and religious community structures can make change difficult on the Wasatch Front where the headquarters of the Church …

The New American Landscape: Beyond Bollards And Barricades, William Towle

Landscape Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

The object of this thesis is to develop landscape architecture design guidelines that aid in the protection of people in public spaces while reducing security concerns on commercial properties. The integration of existing guidelines that come from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES), and the Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) will create a new standard of guidelines to be used for security credits within SITES. These guidelines will be developed through an analytical method. These new guidelines will be added to SITES for security and then tested against a local site, in Rogers, …

Design Of A Constructed Wetland For Wastewater Treatment And Reuse In Mount Pleasant, Utah, Yue Zhang

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

Municipalities in the Intermountain West are facing water shortages based on their current population growth projections. Utah has the second highest per-capita culinary water use in the United States. Among other cities, Mount Pleasant, Utah, is seeking innovative and cost-effective ways to reduce culinary water use. This study presents a feasibility analysis of and a design for using a free water surface constructed wetland system to treat the city’s wastewater. The study further presents a cost-benefit assessment of using the treated water for landscape irrigation in the city. The study is based on an analysis of existing wastewater quality, local …

Perceptions Of Naturalized Playgrounds: A Qualitative Study, Jeffrey C. Hamarstrom

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Play is an important part of childhood as it helps to develop social skills and ensure proper mental and physical development. Electronic media, stranger danger, and urbanization have reduced both the time and access children have to play in natural areas. Many people believe that this is an integral part of childhood and, therefore, concern that children are not interacting with the natural world is becoming a popular topic. Research has shown that natural environments can have various benefits such as reducing anxiety and promoting developmental skills. Play providers are now creating playgrounds that attempt to recreate natural settings, referred …

Rethinking The Industrial Landscape - Revealing The Curative Potential Of Genetically Modified Plants, Susannah Horton

All Theses

At the turn of the 21st century, much like the turn of the 20th century there has been a major shift in North America with its industries and their impact on the landscape. With a trend of massive deindustrialization of large-scale production facilities throughout the (Gibbs 2003, 222-236) United States, it has directly impacted the landscape. There are currently changes underway in the American industrial landscape emphasizing a new technology whereby pharmaceuticals are manufactured in recombinant plants. These plant-derived pharmaceuticals are poised to become the next major part of the pharmaceutical industry. By recognizing the potential and studying the possible …

Reconnecting Lost Place: Comprehensive Green Space Design Based On Historic Preservation Principles In Compact Changsha City, China, Jingjin Zhong

All Theses

As a developing country with a booming of economy and increase of population, China is in the different process of coexisting between old and new. This is particularly significant issue when one considers the long history and significance of Chinese culture. This study examines historic districts in the ancient Changsha city; the study proposes a design for an integrated green space network, aiming at sustainability for future urban expansion that addresses environmental concerns and culture heritage. This study uses case studies selected from United States, worldwide and vernacular China. Results at the neighborhood scale, include a new green space organization, …

Re-Framing Historic Agra: Resident Central Design Recommendations For The Yamuna River At Agra, India, Akshay Badwe

All Theses

The Yamuna River has religious significance in India. Its landscape evolved based on the cultural philosophies of Hindus and Islam. The current rapid urbanization in India affects the river, resulting in utilitarian drain. This study recognizes that extensive contamination is harmful for the physical and the cultural values along the river. Therefore, a new plan for the design and management of the river is needed. To create new sustainable model, qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the conservation of both the intangible and the tangible values in the region. The 105 surveys responses and interviews from the residents of …

Cultural Landscape Preservation: Analysis Of Five Preservation Models, Vineet Date

All Theses

In the recent past there has been a rise in concerns regarding the management and preservation of cultural landscapes. This project attempts to understand and analyze contemporary approaches taken by organizations around the world to preserve cultural landscapes. Five organizations are (1) United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), (2) Australian Heritage Council (AHC), (3) New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT), (4) National Park Service (NPS) and (5) Archeological Survey of India (ASI) have been selected for study. The existing preservation guidelines and two case studies from each organization are examined. The results of the study will help in …

City Food: Re-Imagining Urban Food Access Through Holistic, Multilayered Typologies Of Urban Agriculture Systems, Tiffany Managad

All Theses

Urban Agriculture is a growing movement that has resulted in response to the world's increasing urbanization. As global urban populations continue to multiply, the demand to supply healthy and nutritious food to cities has magnified. More than half of the global population now lives in cities and this trend continues to increase exponentially. This phenomena raises the question: How will cities continue to sustain and feed their growing populations now and in the future? Cities are hungry for sustainable ways to grow, access and consume healthier, more delicious food. The current industrialized food system is unsustainable due to escalated dependency …

Solving Urban Conservation Issues Through Botanic Garden Functions, John Lashley

All Theses

Historically, botanical gardens have many contributing factors relating to their success. Attracting visitors to botanical sites all around the world and providing a unique set of resources are only a portion of what makes these types of gardens so successful. This paper will first analyze the effects botanical gardens, in their current state of operation; have on society from a cultural, economic, and environmental impact. This paper will then propose and discuss education, environmental and community awareness and urban potential. Through a past and present inventory, a proposed alternative future for botanical gardens will be revealed.
Botanical gardens have an …

Re-Engaging Historic Military Sites, Gina Hartness

All Theses

Historic Conservation seeks to protect the historically significant built environment while
allowing for more current uses. As it pertains to land planning, this effort extends current
land-use tools beyond the historic and conservation districts to include buffer districts and
heritage areas. We need these tools because preservation, which is defined as maintaining
an unaltered environment, does not adequately address managing change over time. Fort
Moultrie on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina is one example where historic preservation
and conservation merge to address the adaptive reuse of this former military installation.
At Fort Moultrie, many of these former installations are in disrepair …

The Application Of Food Landscape In Johns De La Howe School, Shuowei Qin

All Theses

Recently, food landscape has been put forward under ecological urbanism. Most of our food in the plate comes from miles away and transporting them consumes large amount non-renewable energy in earth. At the same time, our existing landscape suffers from the land degrading because of old ecological paradigm. Food landscape encourages combining edible plants in our landscape and works under new ecological paradigm which could best address those two main problems. Food landscape is a newly coined word and does not have a specific definition. From intensive literature review, the origin, the rationale, and the benefits of food landscape will …

Transit Oriented Development Report, Taner R. Özdil, Pat D. Taylor, Jianling Li, Steve Mattingly, Brad Bell, Karla Weaver, Alma Morphis, Jack Buchanan, Yao Lin, Bhavana Kidambi, Nakjune Seong

Landscape Architecture Faculty Publications - Archive

The Transit Oriented Development Report is a comprehensive review of transit oriented development (TOD) projects, literature, and guidelines in order to build a knowledge base in the subject and set preliminary recommendations for the Dallas - Fort Worth metropolitan area. The goal of this report is to produce a resource for North Texas stakeholders in both public and private sectors by studying planning, design, and implementation activities of selected TOD projects in local, regional, national, and international scale.

Roger Williams Park Edible Forest Garden, Mark S. Scialla

Senior Honors Projects

An edible forest garden is a low-maintenance system that uses edible native and regionally-adapted plants arranged in beneficial relationships to meet human, wildlife and ecosystem needs. The forest garden in Roger Williams Park will transform underutilized urban land into a highly productive parcel producing market-viable fruits, nuts, vegetables, medicine and fiber. Forest gardens mimic natural forest systems in architecture and complexity. The design follows ecological principles to create a system that promotes biodiversity and enhances the surrounding ecosystem. This project also demonstrates the potential to grow food and create land-based livelihoods in the city.

Located on the edge of a …

Public Parks And Private Ideologies: Building Nineteenth-Century British National Identity Through Landscape, Laura Swaim Witherington

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project examines how nineteenth-century landscape theories shaped national identity and were influenced by it. Predominant is an investigation of how the desire for a more egalitarian class structure underlies the changes in British landscape design from an attachment to classical exclusivity through pastoral tropes to a limited acceptance of middle and working classes within public landscapes that represented patriotic values. Although poetic works inform the study, novel-length fiction and non-fiction prose and periodicals are also a primary source of consideration. Novels demonstrate how fictional geography generates the constructs of national ideology, and although canonical works typically referenced in studu …

A Critical Evaluation Of The Sustainable Sites Initiative's Guidelines And Performance Benchmarks 2009 As Applied To The Design And Development Of The Orem, Utah Intermodal Center, Jeffrey E. Dzikowski

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

In 2006 the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the United States Botanical Garden, and additional stakeholders joined together to form the Sustainable Sites Initiative^TM (SITES^TM), an organization dedicated to the promotion of sustainable land development and management practices. As part of this effort SITES recently released its Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009, a document which provides a voluntary guideline and rating system for the development, operation, and maintenance of sustainable landscapes.

This guideline and rating system is currently being tested through the Sustainable Sites Initiative pilot program, in which a select …

Utah State University Botanical Center Stream Master Plan, Daniel Willard Schults

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

The Utah State University Botanical Center Stream Master Plan is a design to assist Utah State University Botanical Center (USUBC) administration in fulfilling their goals of community outreach and education, implementing sustainable practices and creating aesthetically beautiful areas for public enjoyment. These goals are met through updating the USUBC master plan to account for the newly built man-made stream as well as other future buildings. Trails, overlooks and information nodes are part of the new master plan. The planting plan includes representations of six natural plant communities found in Northern Utah. Additionally, the stream design improves the water quality of …

Cultural Sustainability Of A Post-Industrial Brownfield In Wanzhou China: Maintaining Cultural Value Through Brownfield Redevelopment, Yi Zhang

All Theses

The post-industrial brownfield, generally regarded as one type of brownfield, is defined as an industrial property that remains abandoned or underutilized in part because of environmental contamination. In China, more and more post-industrial sites are abandoned because of changes to city land use, often becoming an obstacle for healthy city growth. This phenomenon places more concerns on brownfield redevelopment in China. Chinese professionals in landscape architecture can borrow some methods and techniques for addressing brownfields from more developed countries. While the brownfields in China share some similar characteristics with those in developed countries, they also have some specific features. For …

Value Add And Sustainable Parking Strategies: A Financial Evaluation And Real Estate Developer Perspective, Ryan Letzeiser

All Theses

Innovative techniques for parking lot design over the past 15 years have resulted in new approaches which address stormwater concerns on commercial real estate sites. A mixed method approach was taken to establish financial value in these new techniques being used. Sheraton Station, a proposed mixed use Transit Oriented Development (TOD) site with multi modal transportation in Hollywood, Florida was used as a research and demonstration project to evaluate ways to make sustainable parking lots more cost effective for real estate developers. After conducting interviews and a survey to evaluate real estate developers' perceptions on the use of sustainable features …

The Relationship Of Outdoor Recreation And Gardening With Depression Among Individuals With Disabilities, Justin Floyd Wilson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Activities involving natural environments have positive psychological impacts on participants. Both outdoor recreation and gardening have been shown to reduce feelings of depression. However, the effects of these activities on the depression levels of individuals with disabilities have not yet been studied. In order to better understand the relationship between these activities and depression among individuals with disabilities, two separate studies were conducted.

The first study seeks to better understand the relationship between outdoor recreation participation and depression among Montana residents with disabilities using publicly available Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data. It hypothesizes that depression would be negatively …