Landscape Architecture Professional Masters Projects

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https://hdl.handle.net/1813/55171

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 11

Preservation and Regeneration of Muck Soil
Sun, Jiacheng, (2023)
"MUCK" is a term that is not common in life, but it is an amazing and rare soil. This soil is widely used in farming, but people don't seem to realise that it is a non-renewable soil that is only allowed to form naturally over time. What is muck soil? How does it form? What does it do? Where is it? Why is it not renewable? How to protect it? In order to solve this series of questions, I designed a set of multi-functional windbreak corridors, tried to use design proposals to protect this amazing soil, and also investigated trying to accelerate the regeneration of the muck soil by means of artificial intervention under the long-term goal.
Coffee co-ops: a key part of rural agriculture development in Laos
Hu, Yunge (2023)
Laos is one of the few countries in the world able to boast about its high-quality coffee bean. The first coffee beans were brought into Laos by French colonists in 1900. After trial and error, the Bolaven Plateau, a high mountain area in southern Laos, was selected as the best coffee-growing area. Despite the plateau's status as the primary region for cultivating coffee in the country and accounting for 95% of the total output, vestiges of colonialism still plague these plantations. Farmers were forced to sign unfair contracts, and workers, especially women workers, faced issues of labor exploitation, slavery, and abuse. Remote areas in Laos, such as small and medium-sized coffee plantations on the Bolaven Plateau, bear most of the risks of the coffee industry. These farms are unable to obtain information about new technologies, practices, and market trends, making it difficult for them to improve production methods and compete with larger coffee producers in the region. Meanwhile, due to farmers having limited tools and techniques to grow coffee crops, this outdated planting method ultimately leads to deforestation and soil erosion in the region. In addition, the impact of climate change is affecting the coffee industry in Laos. The frequent changes in weather patterns such as drought and floods directly lead to a decrease in yield, a decrease in coffee bean quality, and an increase in pest and disease problems. Lao female coffee practitioners have been bearing the negative impact of these industry issues. Affected by the social and cultural environment, women can only engage in the most basic labor work in the coffee industry and cannot participate in higher-level transactions and sales processes. The long-term imbalance of rights further leads to the low status of women, who are unable to obtain benefits equal to their labor efforts. This thesis studies the challenges and problems faced by small and medium-sized coffee plantations (with agricultural production areas less than 50 hectares) in the Boravin Plateau. This study adopts a mixed approach to study the socio-economic and environmental factors that affect the sustainability and profitability of coffee cultivation in the region, as well as the employment status and risks of women in coffee plantations. Inspired by the 2019-2020 Sawyer Seminar “Interrogating the Plantationocene,” the thesis proposes an alternative model to the coffee farms of Laos - establish a female-oriented coffee planting cooperative to provide resource, market, and technical support for female farmers. The cooperation model also helps to strengthen the bargaining power of small-scale farmers, enabling them to negotiate better prices and establish more flexible and sustainable livelihoods for women. The paper concludes by discussing the potential benefits of establishing cooperatives, the challenges involved, and the practical steps required to successfully implement this method. Overall, this study aims to understand the current situation of coffee farmers in developing countries, as well as the challenges and opportunities faced by female practitioners in the industry, to gain a deeper understanding of how to develop coffee cultivation in a sustainable and sustainable environment, and to strengthen the economic independence and decision-making ability of women in the coffee industry.
Designing spectrums: the sensory world of autism and its design implications
Jensen, Benjamin (2023)
How do sensory sensitivities alter autistic people's perception of the world, and how as designers can an increased literacy in these sensitivities lead to more inclusive and equitable design practices? The way we percieve the world is crafted through our senses, and if those senses change, so does our world. As landscape architects we design spaces for people through an assumption of the normative self and experience without taking into account the multiplicity of diverse neurological and sensory experiences. However, 1 in 15 people in the world are considered neurodivergent, and 1 in 44 on the autism spectrum. This neurodivergence means that the experience of the world most designers are familiar with is not theirs, and therefore, that the world wasn't designed for them. This thesis, by pushing new understandings of autism, generating new methods of landscape analysis, and a visual language to represent an autistic sensorial experience, new understandings can be generated within neurotypical designers and lead to more mindful and inclusive design of the public realm.
Cultivating Neighborhood: Exploring community-based edible green infrastructure as tactical habitats for well-being in public environment in Shanghai
Hanqi, Chai (2023)
A report by (WHO) has enumerated that mental disorders account for nearly 12% of the global burden of disease. Developing countries are likely to see a disproportionately large increase in the burden attributable to mental disorders in the coming decades. (World Health Organization, 2001) China's cities have experienced rapid urbanization over the past three decades, while the aging of the population has become increasingly serious. About 35% of the population is expected to reach the age of 60 or older by 2050, a phenomenon that is particularly evident in large cities like Shanghai. However, the infrastructure in China's cities is not yet optimally prepared for this large elderly population and still faces many difficulties in terms of social wellbeing. Due to these factors, the improvement of the quality of life and subjective well-being, and help with the psychological pressure of the elderly in China's cities is a very important future issue. These expressions suggest the need for a restorative environment within their communities, where old people can find themselves and achieve the desired recovery. Through the research and mapping, several workers' communities have been highlighted, which become the target sites. Within these sites, there are 3 representative displacement communities. These include Caoyang New Village, Kongjiang New Village, Yanji New Village and Changbai New Village. These communities were set up by the Chinese government in 1952 as a new type of worker housing to solve the housing problem of over 100,000 workers, and they also serve as a record of Relocation for the urbanization, containing a large population of current elderly people in Shanghai.
Landscape architecture as a historic project: the central role of capitalist development in the emergence of the discipline in England and North America
Curtis, Andrew (2023)
The relationship between landscape architecture and politics has in the past decade or so been the subject of much discussion within the discipline. Recent articles on this matter argue for the discipline to recover its engagement with politics, mostly in the form of the Green New Deal, legislation, advocacy, and policy. However, many of those same scholars have noted the difficulties of the discipline achieving just ends within the context of capitalism. This thesis attempts to situate landscape design as a professional body which has historically mediated the outward consequences of the central contradictions of capitalism while lacking an analysis which posits their abolition. The intention of the thesis is to begin with a historical analysis that provides the basis for the larger argument that the discipline can and should attempt to overcome its limitations within capitalism by allying itself with and contributing toward the collective and emancipatory political project of socialism.
A Survey of Government Driven Undevelopment in the Coastal American Northeast
Haimes, Ilana (2023)
This thesis examines the extent to which state, county, and municipal governments are employing the strategy of undevelopment as a response to sea level rise. The study area encompasses nine states: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. Jurisdictions are examined through the lens of publicly available planning and policy documents. This research endeavors to understand the role of the landscape architect in this process as well as to propose new roles for the landscape architect in government driven undevelopment going forward.
Flooding on amphibians
Wang, Yiting (2022)
This project starts with the irregular urban flooding in the city of Binghamton as a backdrop. In the process of studying the city, I gradually found out about the urban fragmentation situation caused by the construction of flood control facilities. At the same time amphibians, as travelers between inland and water bodies, are bound to bear the brunt of this. In my curiosity about this situation and the conservation mentality towards amphibians, I decided to choose the topic of the effects of urban flooding on amphibians as my research direction. And I also look forward to helping them create a more livable and friendly home by means of design. This project is led by Assistant Professor Jamie Vanucchi in the College of Agricultural and Life Science in Landscape Architecture Department. We constructed a framework through rich field trips and interviews, and categorized the information obtained from the research during a year of study, which led to interesting design ideas. I hope this project outcome as a possibility could inspire more people to participate in amphibian conservation.
Collaborative visions for a resilient future
SUN, Yuang (2022)
In this year's MPS project, we mainly focus on the flooding issues in Binghamton, considering how to reimagine the floodplain as a unique territory for high ecological and social value and the land as a matrix of flood collection and infiltration system. I advocated an alternative method that permits residents to stay in place by turning suburban backyards into a collective water management system and initiating the process of relocating home activity to front yards and into reconceived public spaces, blurring distinctions between private and public realms to make collective visions. I conducted research on the CRS (Community Rating System), to turn a government-led program (CRS) into self-organized community/neighbors' actions that contribute to larger common benefits for the Binghamton community. I would like to advocate for a transitional period of retreat from the floodplain, preserving the right to remain in place while re-orienting the new community towards collective water management. I would like to offer an alternative that permits residents to stay in place by turning suburban backyards into a collective water management system and initiating the process of relocating home activity to front yards and into reconceived public spaces, blurring distinctions between private and public realms.
MPS 2022 design method
SUN, Chenxin (2022)
This year's Master of Professional Studies in Landscape Architecture project starts with floodplain plant communities in Binghamton. Binghamton is in the New York State at Broome County which nears the border of Pennsylvania. It surrounds with many rolling hills in the valley with the Susque- hanna and Chenango rivers. Binghamton has a population of 47,969, and its main economy is from the industries of shoes, cigars, and computer; it is also well known as six antique carousels in the world. There were three major floods happened in Binghamton in 2005, 2006, and 2011. It has caused more than $1 billion of damage, and flood was happened on the convex and confluence between the Chenango and Susquehanna River, and yet most the neighborhood was destroyed by the flood. However, flood also is an essential part of the nature and bring nutrients to the soil and keep balance the diversity in a floodplain. My focused area on this research with the questions that are: How to increase the value of plants along the river? How the floodplain plants community help Binghamton's climate change? What a buyout land (vacant land) can be used in the floodplain? According to the questions above, I have studied the plants and soil to base on the site visiting, lab tests and the design ideas with scientific research to improve the sites' condition when flooding happened. This project is funded by Assistant Professor Jamie Vanucchi in the College of Agriculture and Life Science in Landscape Architecture Department. This research not only includes the design ideas to make Binghamton a more livable city, but also with the scientific research to study the sites in a holistic view. With ample site visiting and interviews of Binghamton residents, and Broome County Planning Department, it indicates some difficult experience for the locals and other relevant depart- ments in Binghamton such as how they dealt with flooding issues.
Designing a resilient apple: a landscape design approach
Lynch, James (2021-05)
Malus domestica (the apple) is a historic and culturally important fruit that has been cultivated and bred for specific qualities, reducing its genetic diversity, and making it susceptible to pests and disease. This thesis promotes a landscape architecture approach to improve apple resiliency through the creation of novel apple orchards that are simultaneously productive, experiential, and educational. These apple orchards could shift public perception of apples and perhaps persuade people to demand variety and growing standards that promote biodiversity, improving resilience of the apple. South Hill Cider in Ithaca, NY serves as a case study site, offering a model of how the orchard typology could be adapted to propagate novel apple cultivars, apply and test emerging methods of management and maintenance, and engage customers in advocating for a more resilient future for the apple.

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