Landscape Architecture Masters Theses
Fully accredited by the American Society of Landscape Architects, RISD’s MLA program is unique in that it gives students access to a wide range of fine art and design courses on campus, along with classes at Brown University, study abroad options and a six-week Wintersession that allows for focused study on campus or off. In addition, the program revolves around environmental and global issues, with recent involvement in projects in Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Ghana and beyond.
In the final year, students complete the course of study by developing a thesis and a methodology for testing their conceptual premise through a committed design project. This final requirement differs from most programs, and allows students to spend the time they need to develop a visual and written language that articulates their interests and future direction. All MLA candidates also participate in the RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition, a large-scale public show held annually.
These works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Theses/Dissertations from 2020
This land is your land: democratizing landscape architecture, Adrienne Emmerich
A material cooperation over time, Diana Marcela Gallo
Urban storytelling: rebuilding the understanding of place via immersive narrative, Xue Gao
Flowing garments: textile waste reutilization in landscape design, Fengjiao Ge
Generative landscapes: successional and equitable plant propagation on Rhode Island's public lands, Elizabeth Hunt
Mountainous city, Yixuan Hu
Territories of trash: designing the overlap of spaces of disposal and acquisition, Mary Kokorda Cavazos
Dynamic landscape: The theatre of time unfolding, Mo Kong
42nd Soundscaping: sound as media for reshaping urban ecology, Chao Li
3D simulation in flooding Providence, Qing Liu
Urban ecotone: restoring the water-land balance as a strategy for social equity, Yuzhe Ma
Landscapes of exposure: reframing the connection between body + environment, Kayla Murgo
What is rural design? decentralized & community-driven approaches for the Green New Deal that value existing rural land and community, Cornelia Overton
Urban palimpsest: re-placing memory in war torn city Dresden, Xinyi Sun
Reviving the hollowing rural village: research on the coastal mountainous region of Kaihua, China, Rui Tao
Green arteries, Jiapan Wei
Discovering the potential of the public realm : revitalizing dead zones in Fall River, Massachusetts, Rui Xie
Energy convergence, Xiaoyu Xu
Clay beneath the tree: an exploration of design processes in community development, Shiya Zeng
Fluid urbanism, Huachen Zhang
Restorative urbanism: redefining socio-ecosystems in Manila, Kaixin Zhang
Theses/Dissertations from 2019
Recovery in reverse, Shiyu Bei
Walking mediation : bringing back rituals on temple visits on Mount Putuo, Zhejiang, China, Tianjie Chi
The social life of working waterfronts : strategies for renewing the social value of productive harbors, Evan Davenport
When we are old : a mutualism system for the canal network and its aging community, Jiali Li
Lost & found : a model for retreated landscapes, Madison Murray
Evolution of a type : street vending as urban strategy in Guangzhou, China, Yuying Shen
Film for landscape architecture : learning from Alfonso Cuarón's Roma, Ramon Solis
Recharging Bangkok : a climate adaptive vision for Saen Saeb Canal, Ratchu Surajaras
Landscape as framework : downtown revival through rebuilding spatial identity, Dawei Tang
HAB mitigation : wetland restoration in farmlands, Jae Won Wang
Edge of emergence : landscape as a journey of memory, Jiayue Wang
Regenerative assemblage : future vision for the canals of Pingdingshan, Meng Wang
When the wind blows, Yiying Wang
Landscape succession : oil field transformed through landscape process, Yuanbin Wang
Time traveler : interpreting landscape process through time by immersive narrative, Zhiyuan Yang
Game / landscape / us, Dongqi Zhang
Emerging ecotone, Tongyi Zhang
Salt pans matter : a system of ecology and culture cohabitation for Cabo de Gata, Andalusia, Spain, Chenglin Zhu
Theses/Dissertations from 2018
Life after dark, Austin Bamford
Me too park : inform, connect, heal, Xiao Chen
Living with impoundment, Chuxiong Feng
We can HOST! : preparing Miami's neighborhoods for an amphibious future, Dongning Huang
Floating Miami, Jiongye Li
Reviving floodplain in Miami, Shangyuan Li
Providence productivity framework : ideas for a network of sites rethinking productivity in Providence, Patricia Noto
Wastescape : stitching the process of natural decomposition back into the public realm, Yu Pei
Home · land : Olmsted's legacy and gentrification in Boston, MA, Jessica Wilson
Water voyage from Quabbin to Boston, Ling Xia
Future street, Wushuang Xing
Living with mega-cavity, Ankang Xu
City in / above water, Jin Yan
The Arctic Commons, A. Gavin Zeitz
Guide the flood : Miami vulnerable neighborhoods flood adaptation design, Zhe Zhao
The future of agriculture in Miami, Siyu Zheng
Theses/Dissertations from 2017
Fluid solid : can we converse with granite?, Patrick T. Beals
Water for the future, Ziqing Chen
Narratives of public space : a manifesto for future urban landscape in Manhattan, Jaehong Chung
Surveillance city in a post 9/11 era, Wanting Dong
Super natural : hybrid strategies for urban flood protection in Coney Island NY, Georges Fischer
Healing landscapes, Siyi He
Inhabit the storm : emergency evacuation route, Anastasiia Isakova
Light installations for LE, Yiqi Jiang
Remediating the garment industry, Kellie Knight
Landscape as an interactive layer, Yifan Kong
Alleyways as avenues, Rebecca E. Ladd
Thresholds : natural phenomena, urban form, equilibrium, Peiyi Liu
Look up, city skygazers, Yiyang Qian
How to get school children access to urban farming by activating vacant land and rooftops, Yixin Ren
gRave : landscape necromancy, Jil Sanchez
Borderscape : weaving political boundaries in the Amazon through water performance, Lucila Silva-Santisteban
Grid talk : giving a voice to energy infrastructures, Kelsey Wakefield
Culturally integrated space, Jing Wang
Viaduct landscape, Juanru Wang
Twilight revelation, Shuwen Xu
Grid in landscape architecture, Ying Xu
Thrive in sea level rise, Xiang Zhao
Theses/Dissertations from 2016
Hybrid spaces in the city, Zhihao Li
Above the urban surface, Xirui Zhang
Theses/Dissertations from 2015
Rising with the water, Xi Yang