Landscape Architecture Commons^™

The City’S Unnoticed Limits: Considerations About The Boundaries In Caracas, Fabio Capra-Ribeiro

Faculty Publications

In Caracas, insecurity has prompted an individual but generalized quest for isolation that is translated into an accelerated growth of boundaries as walls and fences. This situation has led to a significant deterioration of the spaces around them, setback space on one side and the street on the other, confined and divided, urban fabric if getting fragmented. The research wants then to illustrate this complex problem from a qualitative methodology and the hermeneutic circle, from which dialogical relationships are established between the elements analyzed. The main contributions of the research highlights the explanation of a reality that is happening nowadays …

Discussion Of The Contradictions Of The Contemporary Urban Landscape: The Case Of Caracas, Fabio Capra-Ribeiro

Faculty Publications

In the ongoing debate between seemingly conflicting conditions, the author contrasts several features of urban landscape to dig deeper into the understanding of the current Caracas. An interpretative process allows viewing the city from a daily perspective of joy and suffering. The process takes into account different scales of approach, the relationship between buildings and emptiness, and the role of green in the city. Gradually the carelessness of Caracas’s urban landscape becomes evident, fed by little attention to the small scale, the clustering of individualistic interventions and the neglect of the natural component. Final considerations will show the urban landscape …

Downtown Athol: A Revitalization Plan (Athol, Ma), Brendan Conboy, Nicole Forsyth, Robert Hummel, Ian Kolesinskas, Christina Pillarella, Katelyn Silva

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

The goal of the Master of Regional Planning Studio is to develop a student’s techniques for collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing spatial and non-spatial data and then presenting that collective data in a manner (i.e., report, video, presentation, and charettes) that is understandable to academics, professionals, and the public. Planning Studio allows students to integrate knowledge from coursework and research, and apply such knowledge to resolving representative planning problems. At UMASS Amherst, these problems are found in neighborhood, rural, urban, and/or regional settings.

In the fall of 2014, three local governments contracted with the MRP Studio to create separate vision plans …

Recreating Winchendon Village: A Distinct Destination In Toy Town (Winchendon, Ma), Cat Bryars, Kathleen Doherty, Brandon Gibbs, Sheena Grewal, Allyson C. Manuel, Johanna Stacy

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

The goal of the Master of Regional Planning Studio is to develop a student’s techniques for collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing spatial and non-spatial data and then presenting that collective data in a manner (i.e., report, video, presentation, and charettes) that is understandable to academics, professionals, and the public. Planning Studio allows students to integrate knowledge from coursework and research, and apply such knowledge to resolving representative planning problems. At UMASS Amherst, these problems are found in neighborhood, rural, urban, and/or regional settings.

In the fall of 2014, three local governments contracted with the MRP Studio to create separate vision plans …

Memorial Drive Revitalization (Chicopee, Ma), Emily Anyzeski, Pei-Yu Chen, Noam Goldstein, Stephanos Koullias, Jesse Regnier, Elena Shulman

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

The goal of the Master of Regional Planning Studio is to develop a student’s techniques for collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing spatial and non-spatial data and then presenting that collective data in a manner (i.e., report, video, presentation, and charettes) that is understandable to academics, professionals, and the public. Planning Studio allows students to integrate knowledge from coursework and research, and apply such knowledge to resolving representative planning problems. At UMASS Amherst, these problems are found in neighborhood, rural, urban, and/or regional settings.

In the fall of 2014, three local governments contracted with the MRP Studio to create separate vision plans …

Reconnecting Downtown To The Riverfront. Springfield, Ma. Senior Urban Design Studio,, Aqsa Butt, Justin Cooper, Elyse Couture, Matthew Crosby, Valerie Degroote, Andrew Duncan, Caroline Fay, Adam Fearing, Russell Greene, Mark Gullifer, Bladimir Hernandez, Christopher Johnson, Daniel Keirstead, John Milos, Jing Pan, Benjamin Perrett, Rebecca Jean Walton

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

The work of this urban design studio illustrates visions for the revitalization of Springfield’s downtown riverfront through landscape architecture facing the challenges of a dissecting I-91 highway corridor. Re-Connecting people to the riverfront capi­talizes on the great Connecticut River and will revitalize the city to attract and engage residents and visitors alike. The proposals foster creating spaces in Riverfront Park for multiple activities such as recreation, places for arts and culture, education and enhancement of the River’s ecology. They further promote pedestrian/bicycle arteries to and along the riverfront that are embedded in a livable, mixed-use, diverse neighborhood.

The work explores …

Greening Worcester: Planning And Designing Green Infrastructure Networks For Habitat, Recreation, And Landscape Interpretation:, Meilan Chen, Zhuoya Deng, Ericka Duym, Matthew R. Hisle, Laura Keskula, Joseph Larico, Bin Liu, Shu Liu, Wenjie Liu, Tharyn S. Nein-Large, Junbo Zhang

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

This graduate studio focused on the creating green infrastructure networks in Worcester, Massachusetts which is the second most populated city in Massachusetts. The studio worked in conjunction with the EcoTarium, an innovative science museum in Worcester in order to link the City’s rich cultural, historic, and academic resources across a densely populated urban region; and expand opportunities for local residents to learn about urban ecology in their own neighborhoods. The studio project builds on the City’s open space plan goals by planning improved access to water resources, increased connectivity between existing parks and open space, and safer bicycle and pedestrian …

The Community Cohesion Trail Of Brattleboro, Vermont, Patrick C. Kitzmiller

Masters Theses

The focus of this thesis is the creation of a series of architectural installations, bridges and gardens that link together via a pedestrian/bike path to connect the urban center of Main St. in Brattleboro, Vermont with the municipal park on the western end of town known as Memorial Park.

This thesis argues that the vast majority of community interactions take place along the sidewalks of the urban downtown, and in certain centers of activity in and around the area, such as Memorial Park. Thus, these two places have been chosen to test whether architecture can be used to bridge the …

An Interpretive Plan Guide For Wilderness Park In Lincoln, Nebraska, Rachel J. Ward

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

Wilderness Park, located in Lancaster County, Nebraska, is a public park of unique ecological and historical value to the city of Lincoln and to the surrounding region. The natural and historical features of the park present an opportunity to communicate environmental and historical topics that are relevant on local, national, and global levels, as well as inspire a lively sense of pride in the community. The problem is that many topics relevant to Wilderness Park are not currently being interpreted at the park, and that there are relatively few interpretive resources available to park visitors.

The purpose of this project …

Creative Placemaking: A Case Study Exploration Of How Creative Economy Strategies Can Provide Potential Opportunities For Revitalization In Downtown Chicopee, Ma, Laura Selmani

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

Chicopee, a former industrial center in western Massachusetts, is experiencing a stagnant economy, high vacancy and a steady loss of population. City of Chicopee wants to increase downtown visibility and bolster its economy by attracting in the area people constituent of creative class. This research represents an attempt to identify creative strategies to develop the neglected downtown of Chicopee. After more than a century of economic blight, vacancy and declining population, the city wants to research and exploit the potential of arts and culture as means to a physical, social and economic revivification of its downtown.

A key aim of …

The Concept Of Ecosystem Services In Adaptive Urban Planning And Design: A Framework For Supporting Innovation, Jack F. Ahern, Sarel Cilliers, Jari Niemela

Jack F. Ahern

Recent research and professional interest in planning for sustainable and resilient cities emphasizes the assessment of a broad spectrum of urban ecosystem services. While such assessments are useful to establish specific benchmarks, and for measuring progress toward sustainability and resilience goals, they do not motivate, or support the innovations required to provide specific ecosystem services as an intentional part of routine urban and infrastructure development activity by municipalities and professionals. In this context, predictions for unprecedented future urbanization and development of new urban infrastructure represent a unique opportunity to “learn-by-doing”. Significant advances in urban sustainability have recently been made through …

Representing Rurality, Carolina Esther Jimenez

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Architecture is a system of representation. Architecture’s power is that through representation we may change previously constructed conceptions and misperceptions, and ultimately it can transform patterns of spatial inhabitation. Through words, images, drawings, and built work, we define modes of experiencing space. This project seeks to redefine Nebraska as a territory of critical social, political, economic, and physical importance through architectural representations.

Collective Counter Cartography From Prinzessinnengarten, Berlin, Gabriel Wulff

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

No abstract provided.

Cultures Of Exile: Conversations On Language And The Arts, Eleni Bastéa, Walter Putnam, Mark Forte

Faculty Publications

The conference “Cultures of Exile: Conversations on Language and the Arts,” co-organized by Professors Eleni Bastea and Walter Putnam, was inspired by the music of Georges Moustaki (1934--2013), especially his song “Le Métèque” (1969). In “Le Métèque” Moustaki dealt with outsiders, strangers, and all those who do not share one homogeneous place of origin. What does it mean to be a “métèque,” an exile, an outsider today? Although often associated with loss and victimhood, exile can also foster artistic freedom, creativity, renewal, and empowerment. What is the role of the new place in the development of one’s artistic oeuvre? How …

Redefining America’S Postwar Urban Renewal At The Northgate Of Springfield, Ma, Mohammed Abdelaal, Meilan Chen, Zhuoya Deng, Ericka Duym, Laura Keskula, Joseph Larico, Bin Liu, Shu Liu, Wenjie Liu, Tharyn Nein-Large, Junzhi (Jason) Yu, Zhangkan Zhou

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

This project presents visions for an underutilized and overlooked district in Springfield, MA, developed by the Graduate Urban Design Studio in the spring of 2014. The area between downtown and the North End neighborhood has undergone major transformations in the 1950’s and 1960’s during America’s era of postwar urban renewal. Residential blocks were replaced by large office buildings and oversized streets left a ”no-man’s land”. The current rehabilitation of the Springfield’s Union Station into an intermodal transportation hub should draw new attention to the area as the northern gateway to downtown - the “Northgate”. Five visionary design proposals rethink and …

Commonwealth Of Massachusetts Mill Building Repurposing Pilot Project (Twist Mill - Athol, Ma), Mark D. Berube, Calliope E. Bosen, Tara Lynn Gehring, Allyson C. Manuel, Alexander Casey Mello, John Armando Rosa, Alexander R. Train, Benjamin Perrett

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

The purpose of the UMass Amherst Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning’s participation in this project is to establish a redevelopment action plan that incorporates the ownership’s clear vision for reuse of the site, proposes solutions to various obstacles that have hindered progress, and serves as a guiding model in terms of improving the feasibility of similar projects throughout the state.

The project team gathered information from a variety of resources, and conducted three distinct phases of analysis in order to complete this redevelopment action plan. The Phase I: Inventory examines the physical, regulatory, and financial context surrounding the …

The Heritage Landscape Of Plymouth, Ma Greenway Planning And Cultural Design, Dave Mitchell, Evan Cox, Jen Verville, Rob Garcia, Dan Kamins, Andrew Fang, Rich Disharoon, Colin Lord, Tricia O'Grady-Howard, Calder Alexander, Brett Riley, John Nicol, Sam Brown, Bryan Anderson

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

In anticipation of the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim’s landing in 1620, this studio combined greenway planning and cultural landscape design and interpretation to revitalize the public landscape of Plymouth, Massachusetts and convey the significance of these historic places to visitors and residents. Through the use of landscape research combining GIS data and analysis with historical narratives and maps, this fourteen-week senior BSLA capstone studio developed a regional and town-scale greenway plan along with detailed designs of individual public landscapes in historic downtown Plymouth.

Application Of Stormwater Management Techniques For Mitigation And Education At The Stockbridge School Agricultural Learning Center, Samantha R. Anderson

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

The Stockbridge School Agricultural Learning Center (SSALC) will be a 40-acre hands-on agricultural learning laboratory for students, staff, visitors, and neighbors. Still in its planning phases, the Center will be located on what is currently a hay field just north of UMass Amherst campus. A conceptual master plan was created in 2013 that is being used for fundraising as well as planning for agricultural demonstration plots and architectural hubs. Improperly managed agricultural landscapes are known as one of the biggest threats to water quality in the United States. As a model of forward thinking agricultural practices, properly managed stormwater on …

'Gardens Of Justice': Australian Feminist Law Journal, 2013, Volume 39, Matilda Arvidsson, Leila Brännström, Merima Bruncevic, Leif Dahlberg

Matilda Arvidsson

FOREWARD: GARDENS OF JUSTICE

Matilda Arvidsson, Merima Bruncevic, Leila Brannstrom, Leif Dahlberg

Our Gardens of Justice special themed issue of the Australian Feminist Law Journal grew out of the 2012 Critical Legal Conference in Stockholm and its theme of Gardens of Justice, a conference organised by Matilda Arvidsson, Merima Bruncevic, Leila Brannstrom and Leif Dahlberg. We issued a Call for Papers early in 2013 in which several conference theme questions were repeated. We called for papers devoted to thinking about law and justice as a physical as well as a social environment. The theme suggested a plurality of justice gardens …

Embodying Law In The Garden: An Autoethnographic Account Of An Office Of Law, Matilda Arvidsson

Dr Matilda Arvidsson

Based on an autoethnographical study of the office of the tingsnotarie this article questions the relation between the ethical self and the act of taking up a judicial office, employing the question of how I can live with (my) law. While the office and the ethical self are kept apart, often by recourse to persona, I make a case for the attendance to the self in examinations of ethical responsibility when pursuing an office of law. I propose that the garden, and in particular the practices and notions of (en)closure, (loss of) direction, cultivation, (dis)order, authorship and care-for-the-other which are …

Qualitative And Comparative Analysis Of Stormwater Management In The Tan Brook Watershed, Natalia Von Hausen, Robert F. Smith

Research

The Tan Brook Watershed is both a daylighted and diverted underground stream that runs through the Town Center of Amherst and the campus of UMass Amherst. Various stormwater management practices have been used to infiltrate stormwater runoff from streets, lots, buildings and/or vehicles. These systems are custom-designed relative to the surrounding permeability of the soil, vegetation and geographical topography. Some systems have higher success rates than others.

Syllabus: Sustainable Green Infrastructure Planning And Design, Robert L. Ryan

Sustainability Education Resources

Green infrastructure planning requires a systems approach to improving ecological function while providing vital ecosystem services for human populations. This course will introduce students to the concepts, theories, and applications of greenway and green infrastructure planning at multiple scales, including the site-level, neighborhood, and regional scales. A particular area of focus will be the relationship of green infrastructure for improving hydrology and riparian corridors as part of comprehensive green space planning for recreation and cultural resources. The course will look at a wide range of systems including water, transportation, and food systems. A case study approach will be used to …

Springfield’S “X” – From Crossroads To Center, Joseph A. Agrillo, Theodore D. Chesbro, Nic M. Brown, William Cody Black, Patrick W. Corey, Krystal A. Ford, Jay M. French, Alexander Jardin, Da Hee Lee, Henry C. Puza, Sean J. Regnier, Charles M. Richard, David William Ross, Stphen Sanborn, Julia Rose Sim, Thomas F. Holt, Bryan Anderson, Samuel Brown, Richard Disharoon, Andrew Fang, Dan Kamins, Colin Lord, John Nicol, Tricia O'Grady-Howard, Brett Riley, Jennifer Verville

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

The work explores a community service learning strategy within the framework of two urban design studios with the goal of revitalizing the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, through design, planning, and engagement with the community. The studio worked in the Forest Park neighborhood around the “X” – on the intersection of three major street arteries. Our study contains a diverse catalogue of strategies to make the Forest Park Neighborhood a better place to live, work, and recreate where the most important streets meet. Through rerouting of the traffic patterns around the “X” the number of pedestrian crossings is increased and the …

Espacios Sucre: Interdisciplinary Program To Develop A System Of Small- And Medium-Scale Interventions In Public Spaces, Daniel Belandria, Fabio Capra-Ribeiro

Faculty Publications

With the accelerated growth of most Venezuelan cities, many of them show precarious settlements where residents seek to resolve their housing needs while services, facilities, and public spaces in particular hove been neglected. This is the case in Caracas and within the Municipality of Sucre, the second largest in size and population of the whole country. In this context. the Espacios Sucre Program, an interdisciplinary initiative with the main purpose of building networks of public space in both small and medium scales, not only works to confront the deficit but also to relate the contrasting areas of the Municipality and …

Performance And Economic Benefits Of Four Streetscape Renovations: A Comparative Case Study Investigation, Bo Yang, Yue Zhang, Pamela Blackmore

Bo Yang

The demonstration of landscape performance benefits has become increasingly important in landscape architecture practice and in communicating to interdisciplinary audiences. This paper provides an overview of the Landscape Architecture Foundation Case Study Investigation (CSI) program and introduces four built streetscape projects investigated in the 2012 CSI program, including a large-scale permeable pavement project in Charles City, Iowa, and the American Society of Landscape Architects’ award-winning projects in Missouri, California, and Colorado. Unlike traditional streetscape design that mainly focuses on safety and engineering principles, these four streetscape projects tackled unique design challenges, and more importantly, have captured baseline data that help …

Form-Based Variables For Stormwater Quality Performance: Comparing Three Bmp Types In Five U.S. States, Bo Yang, Amanda A. Goodwin, Ryan R. Dupont, Malgorzata Rycewicz-Borecki

Bo Yang

The efficacy of the best management practice (BMP) systems for stormwater treatment has been extensively discussed in respect to water quality. However, little research has been conducted on how form-based variables (e.g., shape, length) can affect the performance of BMP systems. This study presents empirical findings from three common BMP types—detention, retention, and wetland channel—in urban settings of five U.S. states. Total suspended solids (TSS), the number one pollutant carrier in stormwater, is selected for comparison. Multiple years of water quality data are collected from on-site grab samples and from the International Stormwater Database. Geographic Information System (GIS) is used …

3d Digital Graphics In Landscape Architecture Professional Practice: Current Conditions In A Nutshell, Shujuan Li, Bo Yang, Jie Yan

Bo Yang

3D digital graphics and representation have been a critical part in landscape architecture professional practice. However, few studies have been conducted to document how 3D digital graphics are currently being used. Some important questions are largely unknown. For example, who are the primary users of 3D digital graphics programs, and what are the most popular 3D software packages, and why. A better understanding of these questions is not only important to practitioners, but also to educators and software developers. This study tackles the above questions through a national online survey of landscape architecture firms. Five sets of questions were asked, …

Local Levers For Change: Mainstreaming Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Into Municipal Planning To Foster Sustainability Transitions, Christine Wamsler, Christopher Luederitz, Ebba Brink

Christine Wamsler

Unprecedented global challenges demand wide-reaching societal modification to ensure life support functions and human well-being. In the absence of adequate international responses to climate change and the need for place-based adaptation, local governments have a pivotal role in fostering sustainability transitions. In this context, the importance of ecosystem-based adaptation is increasingly recognized as a multi-benefit approach that utilizes ecosystem services to harmonize human-environment systems. Although research advocates the mainstreaming of ecosystem-based adaptation to advance sustainable planning, the pathways for its systematic implementation are missing and it remains unclear how local authorities can best integrate this new approach into their core …

Establishing New Urban Green Spaces Classification For Malaysian Cities, Mehdi Rakhshandehroo, Mohd Johari Mohd Yusof

mrakhshandehroo@yahoo.com

It is estimated that over 50 per cent of the world’s population now reside in urban areas. Moreover, the United Nations (2010) projects that the world’s urban areas will absorb all of the global population growth over the next four decades, as well as continue to draw some of the rural population. Urban green is often at the center of the debate on urban sustainability, as it is so essential for quality of life. Urban green and open spaces have different values like: ecological, economic, social …. In urban planning usually there is a conflict between urban development and environmental …

Reflections On Developing Landscape Performance Case Studies, Jessica Canfield, Bo Yang

Bo Yang

Increasingly landscape architects are being asked to design and evaluate high-performing, multi-functional landscapes. To grow the profession’s knowledge about landscape performance, in 2010 the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) launched the Landscape Performance Series (LPS). The centerpiece of the LPS are case studies, which aim to illustrate the sustainable features and subsequent benefits of high-performing built works. Though LAF has established guidelines for the content and format of its LPS case studies, a formalized procedure for identifying and quantifying a project’s landscape performance benefits has yet to be developed. As foundation for a forthcoming set of performance benefit guidelines, we reflect …