Landscape Architecture Commons^™

Slr Practitioner Needs, Daniella Hirschfeld, Kelli Archie, Emilio Mateo, James C. Arnott, Julie A. Vano

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As sea levels continue to rise, 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 transdisciplinary approach that integrates data-driven research with local knowledge and community engagement is necessary. As such, it is imperative the science community understands the needs of practitioners. However, there has been little qualitative assessment of adaptation practice in coastal areas, especially with a focus on the needs of practitioners in making use of current SLR science. Our mixed-methods approach began with …

Riverview Community Park Commoning Plan, Haley B. Keene

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Riverview Community Park began as an illegal DIY skatepark in the Maymont neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. Now, although it is a city park, it is still entirely managed by volunteer community groups (skateboarders, the neighborhood Civic League, and a community garden) who view the park as a creative, experimental community-led spatial project. Due to a dearth of communication between the three groups, the park has suffered political strife between the groups and a chaotic physical atmosphere. This plan utilizes a commons governance framework and participatory, asset-based community design to usher in a new era of enhanced collaboration, common narratives, and …

Water Wise Landscape Practices: A Case Study For The City Of Gering, Christina E. Land

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

This professional project is founded on my education, experiences, and networks. I have had the opportunity to use what I have learned thus far and be challenged to look at public planning from a different perspective. In partnership with the City of Gering I was able to get knee deep in the facility planning of the city owned property which is home to the Community Ever Green House. The project reviews how the property is integrated into the community and the impact it has. Then, identifies opportunities to improve overall functionality with a closer look at addressing hazard mitigation using …

Las Facultades Especiales De Los Parques Públicos: Investigar Los Efectos Reconstituyentes De La Plaza Almirante Brown En Los Visitantes, Aidan Michelow

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En las últimas décadas, los psicólogos ambientales y expertos en la salud pública alrededor del mundo han realizado una cantidad creciente de estudios sobre los impactos de la salud mental de los espacios verdes urbanos en los visitantes. Este proyecto de investigación, que recogió datos de los participantes de la Plaza Almirante Brown en Río Grande, Argentina, es un estudio exploratorio que tiene el objetivo de investigar los efectos reconstituyentes de la Plaza en los visitantes. Las preguntas centrales son ¿Tiene la Plaza Almirante Brown efectos reconstituyentes en sus visitantes? En caso afirmativo, ¿qué aspectos del parque son reconstituyentes y …

Threshold Tectonics: Reclaiming Space Through Geomorphological Design, Amreeta Verma

Architecture Senior Theses

This research posits that a revitalization of indigenous earth architecture practices in a contemporary context can mitigate the immense waste and embodied carbon in the construction industry while engaging practices of land return and reclamation. Locally sourced earth materials are the focus of this research because when utilized in a circular consumption cycle, they can be reused or returned to the natural environment. Designing with a temporal understanding of material decay, changing site conditions, and project life cycle reduces the impact of construction waste on the burgeoning issue of environmental degradation and resource depletion. Material experimentation is used to develop …

Adaptive Reuse Of Frosty Morn, Veronika Kalugina, Rebecca Tonguis, Heidi Gabriel, Peyton Kauffman

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Frosty Morn, a former meat packing facility in Clarksville, TN, is now abandoned, dilapidated, and partially demolished. The site sits within the Red River District neighborhood, which consists of a diverse community of artists. The Red River District has been identified by the Clarksville Mayor’s Office as an area with potential for growth, catalyzed by repurposing the Frosty Morn building as an icon and beacon of the community. Highest and best use research, in addition to community voices, indicated programmatic needs of a farmer’s market, makerspaces, small business incubators, park space, and live/work units. Our presentation will describe how this …

Arts And Culture In Amherst, Ma: An Economic Impact Analysis Of The Drake, Chanel Lobdell

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

The Drake is a live performance and music venue in the heart of Amherst that was developed in 2022 by The Downtown Amherst Foundation. The Downtown Amherst Foundation believes that art and culture will be the economic and destination driver for Amherst and the Drake was the organization’s first project to bring more arts and culture into downtown. Now that the Drake has been opened for over a year, the foundation is interested in learning about the economic impacts that it had on Amherst.

Paradigm Of The Post Natural: Critiquing Capitalist Ideals Through Environmental Degradation, Andrea De Haro, Charlotte Bascombe

Architecture Thesis Prep

There is an unspoken value in the destructiveness caused by design that is exposed through the exploitation of natural resources. This thesis seeks to exemplify the aesthetic value inherent within these newly defined environments. Nature is a source for human consumption, and as such it has developed into a commodity. By now it should be made evident that humanity’s presence is everywhere. There is no ecosystem left unturned by human manipulation Iin this respect, nature is dead. Deforested sites of oil fracking leave mile long toxic ponds highlighting the destructive pursuits that capitalism creates. Chernobyl showcases how human errors in …

Planning: Scc-Civic-Pg Track A: Securing The Future Of The Great Salt Lake Basin Through Effective Water And Land Use Partnerships, Brent Chamberlain

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Restorative Streetscapes: Promoting Positive Mental Health Outcomes Through Urban Landscape Design In Winooski, Vermont, Sean R. Fitzsimmons

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

The global health burden of mental health disorders is immense. The World Health Organization ranks depression as the single largest contributor to global disability; anxiety disorders alone rank sixth. One in four people will have a diagnosable mental illness in their lifetime and mental health conditions are increasing worldwide, rising 13% in the last decade. The economic implications are also immense, costing the global economy US $1 trillion each year. Mental health is more than the absence of disorders or disabilities, however. It is defined by the WHO as “a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or …

Main Streets And Green Spaces: Creating A Community Vision In Indian Orchard, Rebecca Bagdigian-Boone, Li-Ting Hsu, Remington Pointes, Muskaan Handa, Abby Derrick, Jake Harlow, Suzanne Warner

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

Main Street and Green Spaces takes a focused look at the neighborhood of Indian Orchard and provides strategies for urban design and landscape architecture to support residents’ visions for the future. With the Studio’s partnership between the Indian Orchard Citizen’s Council, Grow IO (Wellspring Harvest), and the Springfield Office of Planning and Economic Development, the overarching goal for each design team was to create a cohesive, phased plan for redeveloping Main Street around the Oak and Main intersection and Parker and the Ludlow Bridge. Special attention was requested for exploring traffic calming measures and ways to support the local businesses …

Reinvigorating The Hill In Turners Falls, Ma, Patrick Burns

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

This masters project will focus on the site of the Hillcrest and Sheffield Elementary School campus in the "The Hill" neighborhood of Turners Falls, MA. This project aims to create a vision of possibility for an underutilized neighborhood amenity. This project reviews social, demographic, physical data of the neighborhood in Turners Falls as well as research on play, nature play, outdoor experiential learning, and the local ecology of Montague Wildlife Management area. To execute this goal, the study aims to achieve the following objectives:

• Revitalize an underutilized space into a neighborhood asset;
• Improve elementary school campus reinforcing a positive learning …

Bournewood Hospital: Designing A Healing Landscape, Winfield Henry

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

Currently in the United States there are 51.5 million Americans suffering from mental illness (Mental Illness, 2021). With trends having been on the rise over the past decade, particularly for depression and anxiety, and showing a significant jump during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial that behavioral health hospitals utilize all available treatment methods (Daly et. al., 2021, & Goodwin et. al., 2020). While the outdoor environment has played a role in mental and physical healthcare since the 11th Century, it has been largely lost until the late 1900s. Through research and evidence-based design, a holistic approach to healthcare is …

Cruser Place Green Streets Plan, Neal Friedman

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Combining green and complete street design techniques leads to multiple environmental, social and economic benefits that often enhance each other's effectiveness. In urban areas confronting increased pressures of sea level rise, green streets, which incorporate landscaped features or vegetative areas to manage stormwater within the right of way, can be crucial pieces of pedestrian oriented urban design and multimodal planning frameworks that consider and plan for diverse, complementary transportation options. This plan works with the Colonial Place and Riverview Civic League as well as the Norfolk Preservation Collective to come up with green street design recommendations in order to strengthen …

Historic Millyard Revitalization Project: Ware, Ma, Andrew Carrano, Limin Chen, Wyatt Collins, Omar Eissa, Andrew Folger, Kevin Herlihy, Kerran Holmes, Samuel Huntress, Tharanah Lundi, Emily Menard, Aidan Murray, Meaghan O'Brien, Harrington Riendeau, Corrina Rossetti, Amelia Scofield, Yichen Wan, Jinning Yan

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

This project’s mission is to provide an all- encompassing destination for the needs of current and future employees, residents, and visitors of the Ware Millyard Historic District and the community of Ware, MA. The project aims to facilitate the revitalization and redevelopment of the Millyard and develop a communal campus which provides employment, housing, goods, services, as well as recreational and social opportunities for the region. The vision of this project is to facilitate the revitalization and redevelopment of the Ware Millyard Historic District by establishing an emerging industry within the site. Incorporating the cannabis industry and all of its …

Adapting To Sea Level Rise: Insights From A New Evaluation Framework Of Physical Design Projects, Daniella Hirschfeld, Kristina E. Hill, Ellen Plane

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Faculty Publications

Designers and engineers are developing proposals for physical projects to adapt coastal sites to future sea level rise related threats. This puts pressure on local and regional decision makers to develop strategic frameworks for prioritizing, permitting and funding such projects. However, no systematic evaluation tools exist for the full range of these innovative designs. We build on the literature to develop an evaluation framework that synthesizes two different approaches to categorize these proposals and provide insight for coastal managers and decision makers. We apply this framework to physical projects that address sea level rise in their design around the San …

From Quadrangle To Square: Connecting Culture, Art And Public Spaces In Downtown Springfield, Lauren Azuela, Patrick Burns, Bo Carpen, Winfield Henry, Joseph Langois

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

From Quadrangle to Square: Connecting Culture, Art and Public Spaces in Downtown Springfield provides strategies to revitalize Springfield’s Metro Center through landscape architecture and public art initiatives, and to acknowledge the role that race has played in Springfield’s development from the City’s incorporation in the early 1600s through present day. With the Studio’s partnership between the Springfield Cultural Partnership, Armory Quadrangle Civic Association, Springfield Museums, Fresh Paint Springfield, and Art for the Soul Gallery, an overarching goal for each student was to create a cultural corridor along Bruce Landon Way from Springfield’s Museum Quadrangle to Court Square.

Manuscript For Aesthetic/Design Guidelines For Campus Master Planning Bethel University, Wayne Roosa, Eugene Johnson

Art and Design Faculty Works

This document is the manuscript version before graphic design and copyediting. Follow this link to see the final version.

The situation that inspired and drove these aesthetic guidelines for campus master planning were unique to the history Bethel University and Seminary. By the early 1960s, Bethel was outgrowing its site on Snelling Avenue in St. Paul. The opportunity to purchase 160 acres in Arden Hills arose and the leap of faith was taken to buy this land and relocate. But it was not that simple. More was involved than mere practical problems of too-little space solved by an abundance …

Aesthetic/Design Guidelines For Campus Master Planning Bethel University, Wayne Roosa, Eugene Johnson

Art and Design Faculty Works

Table of Contents

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

The Need for Aesthetic Guidelines for Campus Master Planning The Purpose and Use of this Document

Aesthetic Guidelines: “Suggestions Concerning the Character of the New Campus,” by Eugene Johnson (1963) (original version without annotations) . . . . . . . 5

Eugene Johnson’s, “Suggestions Concerning the Character of the New Campus” (with annotations, a history of interpretation and use) Annotations …

Vcu Monroe Park Campus 'Iconic Green' Pre-Planning And Design Study, Nicholas A. Jancaitis

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

The 'Iconic Green' pre-planning study for the Monroe Park Campus of VCU provides the framework and data necessary to support the intended 'nexus' on the proposed site. A review of the existing literature on various subjects included will highlight models and successful measures that have ensured success for previous similar built works. Having an understanding of the underlying factors and implications for the site, a needs assessment using existing literature and design precedents and in comparison with VCU's own desired end state and needs. Focusing on these comparisons within a theoretical framework called the Just Beautiful City, established in this …

Transforming Downtown Springfield: The Green And Equitable City Of Tomorrow, Frank Sleegers, Abriana Brown, Ella Cormier, Benjamin Devos, Matheus Gomes, Justin Hailey, Stuart Han, Ming Huang, Nan Jiang, Joshua Lemieux, Rachel Newman, Zachary Numan, Makenna Palzkill, Carter Roy, Hannah Welsh

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

Transforming Downtown Springfield, MA: The Green and Equitable City of Tomorrow

This urban design studio is a community service project that developed visions for the downtown in Springfield, MA, as a revitalized mixed-use walkable neighborhood. The project emphasizes neighborhood connectivity through walking and biking and creating a green mosaic of places to sit and gather outdoors. We understand cities as active, vibrant, and inclusive places that are accessible and inviting to all. The project covers 7 team projects from Dwight Street down to the Connecticut River.

Main Project Goal:

Create visions for a green downtown district and ways to foster …

Analyzation Of Sandpit Lakes In Grand Island, Nebraska, Olena Yarmolyuk, Morgan Davis

Student Creative Activity, Architecture Program

The oxford dictionary defines “dichotomy” as, “noun: a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.” In the context of Grand Island, Nebraska, a dichotomy exists in the development of housing. In the 1900s, sand quarrying began along the railroad in Grand Island. When the sand was dredged up from these quarries, the floodplain began to fill in holes over 5 feet deep, creating man-made lakes. As these lakes grew the sand could no longer be quarried, recreation and housing began to develop on their shores. The housing developments, in particular, …

Healthy Placemaking - Revitalizing Springfield's Medical District, Allyson Fairweather, Michael Gagnon, Tianyi Guan, James Mealey, Gwendolyn Stoll, Peter Wackernagel

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

Healthy Placemaking - Revitalizing Springfield’s Medical District

Healthy Placemaking for the North End Medical District was a community engagement urban design studio for Springfield, MA to propose a new vision for the Medical District as an exemplary model of healthy place-making. WHAT IS HEALTHY PLACE-MAKING? Healthy place-making is a creative process that generates an interconnected mixture of amenities that activate the public realm, creating a livelihood that builds upon sense of place. Urban design strategies consider the ecological relationship between people and the environment in order to provide design interventions that improve the mental, physical, social, and economic wellbeing of …

Springfield's Legacy: A Vision For A Transformative Transit-Oriented Union Station District, Keith Benoit, Nigel Cummings, Caitlan Davis, Kinjal Desai, Marcos Gonzalez, Jiaqi Guo, Anna Kellerman, Olivia Ashjian James, Bryce Lloyd-Hahn, Stephen Mccusker, Chris Ramage, Jessica Schottanes

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

This urban design studio developed concepts around equitable transportation Union Station in Springfield, Massachusetts. The work creates a vision for the Union Station District, a revitalized mixed-use walkable neighborhood adjacent to the restored transportation center. It emphasizes reusing the city’s historic street grid in new, forward thinking ways that enhance neighborhood connectivity. The plan creates physical and social networks that bring together diverse groups of residents and visitors. The Union Station District will be a place that offers a range of non-automobile transportation options to residents and visitors and will help transforming an area characterized by vacant lots and empty …

Knitting Together Communities - Designing The Heart Of Six Corners And Old Hill, Samantha Bowman, Ankur Choudhary, Alexandria Connell, Megan Davey, Katina Decoulos, Richard Duhamel, Brooklyn Feng, Ian Finn, Doreen Guan, Sophia Liquori, Connor Moloney, Claudia Namaroff, Emily Noonan, Hunter Proulx, Stephen Rezendes, Maura Robitaille, Vincent Shu, Jaques Skriletz, Frank Sleegers

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

Knitting together Communities -Designing the Heart of Six Corners and Old Hill

Knitting Together Communities – Designing the Heart of Six Corners and Old Hill provides a framework to knit together assets and opportunities for creating a strong identity and sense of coherence for a transformative urban district in Springfield, MA. The Senior Urban Design Studio 2019 created six proposals that were searching for design opportunities that enhance the aesthetic quality of the neighborhood and increase services for the wellbeing of the residents. The two neighborhoods are characterized by strong neighborhood leadership through committed residents, community centers and active religious …

The Just Green City: A Vision Of The South Holyoke Neighborhood, Michael Gagnon

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

Landscape Architects need to take their place as formative roles in the planning and design of our cities in the era of climate change. Not only do we have to be a part of the collaborative efforts, but we also have to bring it to the communities who need it most to create long-lasting impacts. Climate change is an equity issue and without tackling our social problems, we cannot tackle climate change. Our role is to not reinforce the status quo but to change it. The Just Green City takes place in Holyoke Massachusetts. This legacy city was once the …

Correctional Landscape Studies: Improving The Restorative Potential, Allyson Fairweather

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

The United States is the world’s leader in incarceration with 2.2 million people currently in the nation’s prisons and jails. On average, one-third of former offenders will return to prison for re-offence within three years of their release (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2018). This cycle is known as recidivism, and demonstrates a major reflection of the criminal justice system’s failure to provide rehabilitation that meets the needs of the incarcerated population. However, horticultural therapy in prison may offer a sliver of hope. Also referred to as Green Prison Programs (GPPs), studies indicate that participants in these programs gain valuable job …

Arc Of Recreation 2.0 Connecting The Mcknight Rail Trail From Mason Square To Union Station, Springfield Ma, Kevin Atkinson, Benjamin Boschetto, Sicheng Cui, Lauren Fiedler, Micah Franzman, Jiaqi Guo, Joseph Herman, Ross Kerr, Thomas Leary, Xueqi (Lucia) Li, William Taylor, Joseph Wynne Jr.

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

ARC OF RECREATION 2.0

Connecting the McKnight Rail Trail From Mason Square to Union Station, Springfield MA

ARC OF RECREATION 2.0 is a Senior Urban Design Studio that created design concepts to envision the McKnight Rail Trail on an abandoned railroad corridor as a place to walk, bike, recreate, and congregate and to connect Mason Square to Union Station. Arc of Recreation was a name that was coined over 10 years ago through a different project at UMass. Finally realization is within reach. The City published a feasibility study in 2014 and has freed a construction budget of $430,000 for …

Placemaking In Metro East Springfield - Creating A Landscape Framework, Benjamin Breger, Sean Fitzsimmons, Mitchell Johnson, Tasuku Kamei, Jiarui Yu, Tia Novak, Sarah Welch, Josiah Simpson, Yincheng Zhang, Dania Khlaifat, Jess Schoendorf

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

PLACEMAKING IN METRO EAST SPRINGFIELD - Creating a Landscape Framework

Placemaking in Metro East Springfield – Creating a Landscape Framework provides strategies to use the landscape as a framework for rebuilding community in a downtown urban area that has “good bones” but has been neglected and overlooked for decades. A catalyst for the development of project area is the recent acquisition of the historical 1916 Willys Overland building through a developer. The Graduate Urban Design Studio 2018 developed five proposals for urban revitalization in the area that are centered on the landscape. The programming of the proposals was developed in …

The Industrial Park: A Landscape-Based Vision For The Turners Falls Canal District, Josiah Simpson

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

This design study examines the history and economic context that defines Turners Falls as a de-industrialized mill town. It reviews the social, economic, locational, physical, and historical obstacles the town has faced redeveloping the mill buildings within its Canal District and proposes a landscape-based approach for addressing redevelopment. Landscape redevelopment is offered as an alternative to traditional redevelopment of buildings for non-affluent mill towns, like Turners Falls, because the costs associated with landscape upgrades are much lower and can provide multifunctional and multi-purpose spaces for many types of people. Additionally, it is a pathway for inviting community involvement that allows …