LANDSCAPE DESIGN THAT ENHANCES SOCIALIZATION AND COMMUNITY THROUGH CLIMATE RESILIENCE, GUIDELINES FOR NORTH TEXAS UNIVERSITIES.

Author

Melissa N. Brown, University of Texas at ArlingtonFollow

Graduation Semester and Year

Spring 2024

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Landscape Architecture

Department

Landscape Architecture

First Advisor

Diane Jones Allen

Second Advisor

Letora Anderson

Third Advisor

Meghna Tare

Abstract

Landscape architects must balance social, economic, and environmental considerations while creating places that people will love. And, in the words of American Society for Landscape Architects Fellow Mary Margaret Jones: “If we don’t make places people love, they won’t be taken care of”. (ALSA Interview, n.d.) Consideration for the user experience will result in spaces that people are more likely to love.

The growing student population at the University of Texas at Arlington means that every space must be used to its full potential. The green and open spaces on a university campus are more than circulatory routes between buildings. University campus landscapes form some of the first impressions a student or faculty member will make and can influence whether the university is viewed positively. University campus landscapes can positively impact users’ physical and mental health as well as improve performance. And they provide ecological services such as absorbing and filtering stormwater, absorbing carbon dioxide and filtering pollutants, reducing ambient temperatures, and providing food and habitat for local fauna. Because these spaces face threats from weather extremes caused by climate change, climate resilience should be a consideration when designing a landscape.

While climate resilience is itself a worthy pursuit, this thesis focuses on the benefits of socialization and community that effective landscape architecture will optimize. In recognition of the legacy of effective and ineffective landscaping actions at the University of Texas at Arlington over the last forty years, this thesis also provides a guide via a series of matrices demonstrating how one green space at the campus may dramatically achieve social, economic, and environmental sustainability. These matrices are provided in an appendix in the form of a Socially Active Climate Resilient Landscape Matrix to aid UTA and other universities in achieving these benefits.

Keywords

climate change, Landscape Maintenance, Landscape Architecture, landscape guidelines, Horticulture, Climate Resilience, Design for Human Behavior, Sustainable, Ecological, Socially Active

Disciplines

Landscape Architecture

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Comments

I appreciate and want to thank all the women who came before me. I would not be here in any form if it weren’t for my friends, family, classmates, and professors who have supported me. I am grateful to my thesis chair Dr. Jones Allen, my committee members Professors Letora Anderson and Meghna Tare, and my academic advisor Ana Maria Peredo Manor for their patience, encouragement, and guidance. The students, faculty, staff, that make up the UTA family made me feel welcome and it has become my second home.

I especially want to acknowledge my mom, who got her master’s degree in teaching from TCU at the age of 50 and served as a reminder that at 40 I was not too old to go back to school. Laura Miller, who is a successful cheerful woman teaching rooms full of men through the A&M extension, showed me that I can be myself and succeed in a male dominated industry. I cannot thank Dr. Diane Jones Allen enough, she has supported and encouraged me, hugged, and sat with me when I cried, and her presence cheers me up when I get frustrated by life’s injustices. I want to thank Melissa Lemuz for being honest and helpful throughout my journey, Judith Cissel for taking the time to listen and encourage, my best friends since grade school: Becca and Tiên, who kept telling me not to quit, my roommate Rachel for giving me a home and a listening to my woes, and of course Tony for formatting help and being a friend.

There are men at UTA, and I have grown to enjoy my lively disagreements and discussions with Dr. Ozdil and Professor Hopman. Professors Klahr, Chiessa and Bijan Youssefzadeh, though not my professors, were friendly, approachable and would engage with me in impromptu discussions on random topics; their friendly attitude reinforced the community feel of CAPPA. Small acts of kindness have immeasurable value.

We are diverse but together we are a sum greater than our parts.

Recommended Citation

Brown, Melissa N., "LANDSCAPE DESIGN THAT ENHANCES SOCIALIZATION AND COMMUNITY THROUGH CLIMATE RESILIENCE, GUIDELINES FOR NORTH TEXAS UNIVERSITIES." (2024). Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses. 242.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/landscapearch_theses/242