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.

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Theses/Dissertations from 2022

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X-Era: adaptation to the future uncertainty with sustainable Indigenous wisdom, Ruoyuan Chen

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Systemic design: Experiments to trigger pedestrian empathy in the urban system, Yu Chen

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City of intelligent soil: systematic approach towards urban soil mutualism, Yuting Chen

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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

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Urban vine: reimagine the scaffolding as a repair opportunity to transform the ecosystem, Shuyi Guan

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Arriving in the city: reimagining the urban footholds for rural workers, Xinlei Gu

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Scalability system: A tool for bioregional navigation, Lulu Hou

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We walk, we live: reclaiming the rights of female and other gender minorities to the urban commons, Wenxi (Hillary) Huang

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Darkness matters: understanding the ecological effects and human sensory perception of night lighting, Zitong (Shirley) Hui

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Field guide to gendered public life : balancing the preservation of the existing vibrant public life with the improvement of the female experience, Christina Koutsoukou

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Regenerating the ground: Using regenerative agricultural practices to increase urban food production and restore the health of soils, Yuxiao Liao

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Anti-gentrification: reconnect Chinatown through culture practice, Xianzhongge Liu (Allen)

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Aquatic assemblages: improving dragonfly habitat and water quality in an urban park, Yan Liu

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Trash matters: material strategies for prolonging the life of single-use plastic, Zixin Li

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Infection-free landscape: adaptable urban open space design during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, Weirong Luo

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Offshore speculation: generative ethics for submerged lands, Leigh Miller

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Design in support of playfulness, Seung Hwan Oh

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Emotional experience: An exploration of reestablishing the connection with nature through novel street tree planning in Providence, RI, Xiuyan Qin

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Living with fire, Mohan Wang

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Farming publics: Use farming practices as a tool to de-alienate people with land, Sirui Wang

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Sensory resilience in urban walkingscapes: Space making strategies for streetside public systems in neuro- inclusive city visions, Yingying Wang

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Slow down: Investigating how pop-up installations transform multi-use space, Yuanrui Wang

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Landscape of resistance: reimagining public space for a vibrant socio-political life, Ziyu Wang

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Zoopolis: repurpose urban infrastructure to welcome invisible neighbors, Yu Xiao

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The Urban fabric: upcycling textile waste into raw material for urban ground surface design, Wenlin Yang

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Agricultural Landscape as cultural practice : through the lens of rice farming, Yumeng Yan

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One land / one ocean: reactivate coastal commons in urban territory, Chengie Zhang

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Bee stations: refueling bees and creating opportunities for education, Jinghan Zhou

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Cross border conservation - China - North Korea border, Ziyu Zhou

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The future of the High Plains Aquifer: addressing potential desertification in the Great Plains, Hongfei Zuo

Theses/Dissertations from 2021

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Solastalgic ecotone: the critical zone in suspension, Bareeq Bahman

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The sixth migration - rural/urban "heterotopia", Pan Chen

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Inclusive multi-sensory landscape: directing visually impaired people in a perception world, Tianqi Chen

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Urban tree community: living with tree spirits, Xueying Chen

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Blur the boundaries: an aerial coexisting system for birds and humans on rooftops, Yu Fang

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Holding: speculative infrastructure for fire mitigation, Ian George

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Rewilding Seattle: a green network for both humans and non-humans, Zhouqian Guo

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Mutable landscapes: diversity through the lens of the earth's biomass, Ilya Iskhakov

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The TEK-way: traditional ecological knowledge: a catalyst to building resilient communities, Smera Rose Jacob

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Transforming islands: a living memorial for the Marshall Islands, Chengwen Jiang

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Reimagining the damage: an exploration on urban brownfield regeneration strategies, Jun Jiang

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Re-foresting: cohabitation of human and trees, Chengyu Ke

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Filmic landscape: a performative space with multi-medium, Zhihong Ke

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Land, labor, water: an agricultural commons in the Central Valley of California, Jacob Lightman

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Post-industry brownfield renewal system: precision strategy and design via the new methodology, Sirui Li

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Fluid ground: imagining a floating future for Tuvalu, Yuxi Liu

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Eco-waste: household waste material flows in a circular economy, Erqi Meng

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Affordable Green: what cause landscape gentrification and how we deal with it, Siyu Pan

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Virtuality, reality, community, Siqi Rao

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Synthetic undulation: improving the marine life quality on the Indonesian island of Seleyar, Shreeyaa Shah

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Community steward of the deep bay: staging Lau Fau Shan for resiliency through collective participation, Lauren Tam

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Across the boundary: addressing segregation along transportation infrastructure, Ruochen Wang

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Regional food self sufficiency: new visions for productive landscapes, Yiling Wang

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Wandering land: landscape on space station, Xin Wen

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Optics / perception / experience: regenerating agricultural landscape through railways, Tianyi Xie

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A better city for her: design safer public spaces for women in the United States and China, Geruihan Xu

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Mother river: restoring transiting producing, Rui Yang

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Eco-corridor for wildlife: reclamation of wildlife habitat in Rhode Island, Xiaodong Yang

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Negative carbon growth in the atmosphere: to reverse the growth of carbon in the atmosphere through urban reforestation, Hanchao Zhang

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Eco-concrete: reimaging Nantucket infrastructure system, Huaiwen Zhang

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Driftscape: maximize urban space uses in the context of densification, Sida Zhang

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The second identity: the human-otters ha-ha - utopia for urban animals, Yuxin Zhang

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Feeling at home: working with the rhythm of the day to support seniors in urban villages, Guoxi Zhou

Theses/Dissertations from 2020

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This land is your land: democratizing landscape architecture, Adrienne Emmerich

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A material cooperation over time, Diana Marcela Gallo

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Urban storytelling: rebuilding the understanding of place via immersive narrative, Xue Gao

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Flowing garments: textile waste reutilization in landscape design, Fengjiao Ge

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Generative landscapes: successional and equitable plant propagation on Rhode Island's public lands, Elizabeth Hunt

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Mountainous city, Yixuan Hu

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Territories of trash: designing the overlap of spaces of disposal and acquisition, Mary Kokorda Cavazos

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Dynamic landscape: The theatre of time unfolding, Mo Kong

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42nd Soundscaping: sound as media for reshaping urban ecology, Chao Li

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3D simulation in flooding Providence, Qing Liu

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Urban ecotone: restoring the water-land balance as a strategy for social equity, Yuzhe Ma

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Landscapes of exposure: reframing the connection between body + environment, Kayla Murgo

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What is rural design? decentralized & community-driven approaches for the Green New Deal that value existing rural land and community, Cornelia Overton

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Urban palimpsest: re-placing memory in war torn city Dresden, Xinyi Sun

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Reviving the hollowing rural village: research on the coastal mountainous region of Kaihua, China, Rui Tao

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Green arteries, Jiapan Wei

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Discovering the potential of the public realm : revitalizing dead zones in Fall River, Massachusetts, Rui Xie

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Energy convergence, Xiaoyu Xu

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Clay beneath the tree: an exploration of design processes in community development, Shiya Zeng

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Fluid urbanism, Huachen Zhang

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Restorative urbanism: redefining socio-ecosystems in Manila, Kaixin Zhang

Theses/Dissertations from 2019

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Recovery in reverse, Shiyu Bei

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Walking mediation : bringing back rituals on temple visits on Mount Putuo, Zhejiang, China, Tianjie Chi

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The social life of working waterfronts : strategies for renewing the social value of productive harbors, Evan Davenport

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When we are old : a mutualism system for the canal network and its aging community, Jiali Li

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Lost & found : a model for retreated landscapes, Madison Murray

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Evolution of a type : street vending as urban strategy in Guangzhou, China, Yuying Shen

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Film for landscape architecture : learning from Alfonso Cuarón's Roma, Ramon Solis

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Recharging Bangkok : a climate adaptive vision for Saen Saeb Canal, Ratchu Surajaras

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Landscape as framework : downtown revival through rebuilding spatial identity, Dawei Tang

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HAB mitigation : wetland restoration in farmlands, Jae Won Wang

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Edge of emergence : landscape as a journey of memory, Jiayue Wang

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Regenerative assemblage : future vision for the canals of Pingdingshan, Meng Wang

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When the wind blows, Yiying Wang

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Landscape succession : oil field transformed through landscape process, Yuanbin Wang

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Regeneration of memory and home : rebuilding urban resilience and people's mental perceptions after the Camp fire in Paradise, CA, Xinye Xie

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Time traveler : interpreting landscape process through time by immersive narrative, Zhiyuan Yang