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 2022
X-Era: adaptation to the future uncertainty with sustainable Indigenous wisdom, Ruoyuan Chen
Systemic design: Experiments to trigger pedestrian empathy in the urban system, Yu Chen
City of intelligent soil: systematic approach towards urban soil mutualism, Yuting Chen
To mine or not to mine? Epistemological development of the Pebble Mine landscape in Lake Iliamna area as a resilient commons system, Chenfang (Vincent) Gang
Urban vine: reimagine the scaffolding as a repair opportunity to transform the ecosystem, Shuyi Guan
Arriving in the city: reimagining the urban footholds for rural workers, Xinlei Gu
Scalability system: A tool for bioregional navigation, Lulu Hou
We walk, we live: reclaiming the rights of female and other gender minorities to the urban commons, Wenxi (Hillary) Huang
Darkness matters: understanding the ecological effects and human sensory perception of night lighting, Zitong (Shirley) Hui
Field guide to gendered public life : balancing the preservation of the existing vibrant public life with the improvement of the female experience, Christina Koutsoukou
Anti-gentrification: reconnect Chinatown through culture practice, Xianzhongge Liu (Allen)
Aquatic assemblages: improving dragonfly habitat and water quality in an urban park, Yan Liu
Trash matters: material strategies for prolonging the life of single-use plastic, Zixin Li
Infection-free landscape: adaptable urban open space design during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, Weirong Luo
Offshore speculation: generative ethics for submerged lands, Leigh Miller
Design in support of playfulness, Seung Hwan Oh
Living with fire, Mohan Wang
Farming publics: Use farming practices as a tool to de-alienate people with land, Sirui Wang
Sensory resilience in urban walkingscapes: Space making strategies for streetside public systems in neuro- inclusive city visions, Yingying Wang
Slow down: Investigating how pop-up installations transform multi-use space, Yuanrui Wang
Landscape of resistance: reimagining public space for a vibrant socio-political life, Ziyu Wang
Zoopolis: repurpose urban infrastructure to welcome invisible neighbors, Yu Xiao
The Urban fabric: upcycling textile waste into raw material for urban ground surface design, Wenlin Yang
Agricultural Landscape as cultural practice : through the lens of rice farming, Yumeng Yan
One land / one ocean: reactivate coastal commons in urban territory, Chengie Zhang
Bee stations: refueling bees and creating opportunities for education, Jinghan Zhou
Cross border conservation - China - North Korea border, Ziyu Zhou
The future of the High Plains Aquifer: addressing potential desertification in the Great Plains, Hongfei Zuo
Theses/Dissertations from 2021
Solastalgic ecotone: the critical zone in suspension, Bareeq Bahman
The sixth migration - rural/urban "heterotopia", Pan Chen
Inclusive multi-sensory landscape: directing visually impaired people in a perception world, Tianqi Chen
Urban tree community: living with tree spirits, Xueying Chen
Blur the boundaries: an aerial coexisting system for birds and humans on rooftops, Yu Fang
Holding: speculative infrastructure for fire mitigation, Ian George
Rewilding Seattle: a green network for both humans and non-humans, Zhouqian Guo
Mutable landscapes: diversity through the lens of the earth's biomass, Ilya Iskhakov
The TEK-way: traditional ecological knowledge: a catalyst to building resilient communities, Smera Rose Jacob
Transforming islands: a living memorial for the Marshall Islands, Chengwen Jiang
Reimagining the damage: an exploration on urban brownfield regeneration strategies, Jun Jiang
Re-foresting: cohabitation of human and trees, Chengyu Ke
Filmic landscape: a performative space with multi-medium, Zhihong Ke
Land, labor, water: an agricultural commons in the Central Valley of California, Jacob Lightman
Post-industry brownfield renewal system: precision strategy and design via the new methodology, Sirui Li
Fluid ground: imagining a floating future for Tuvalu, Yuxi Liu
Eco-waste: household waste material flows in a circular economy, Erqi Meng
Affordable Green: what cause landscape gentrification and how we deal with it, Siyu Pan
Virtuality, reality, community, Siqi Rao
Synthetic undulation: improving the marine life quality on the Indonesian island of Seleyar, Shreeyaa Shah
Community steward of the deep bay: staging Lau Fau Shan for resiliency through collective participation, Lauren Tam
Across the boundary: addressing segregation along transportation infrastructure, Ruochen Wang
Regional food self sufficiency: new visions for productive landscapes, Yiling Wang
Wandering land: landscape on space station, Xin Wen
Optics / perception / experience: regenerating agricultural landscape through railways, Tianyi Xie
A better city for her: design safer public spaces for women in the United States and China, Geruihan Xu
Mother river: restoring transiting producing, Rui Yang
Eco-corridor for wildlife: reclamation of wildlife habitat in Rhode Island, Xiaodong Yang
Negative carbon growth in the atmosphere: to reverse the growth of carbon in the atmosphere through urban reforestation, Hanchao Zhang
Eco-concrete: reimaging Nantucket infrastructure system, Huaiwen Zhang
Driftscape: maximize urban space uses in the context of densification, Sida Zhang
The second identity: the human-otters ha-ha - utopia for urban animals, Yuxin Zhang
Feeling at home: working with the rhythm of the day to support seniors in urban villages, Guoxi Zhou
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