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 from 2021

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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 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 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

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Game / landscape / us, Dongqi Zhang

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Emerging ecotone, Tongyi Zhang

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Salt pans matter : a system of ecology and culture cohabitation for Cabo de Gata, Andalusia, Spain, Chenglin Zhu

Theses from 2018

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Life after dark, Austin Bamford

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Me too park : inform, connect, heal, Xiao Chen

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Living with impoundment, Chuxiong Feng

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We can HOST! : preparing Miami's neighborhoods for an amphibious future, Dongning Huang

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Embody phenomenal transparency : the expanded application of "phenomenal transparency" in landscape architecture, Hongfei Li

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Floating Miami, Jiongye Li

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Reviving floodplain in Miami, Shangyuan Li

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Providence productivity framework : ideas for a network of sites rethinking productivity in Providence, Patricia Noto

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Wastescape : stitching the process of natural decomposition back into the public realm, Yu Pei

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Home · land : Olmsted's legacy and gentrification in Boston, MA, Jessica Wilson

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Water voyage from Quabbin to Boston, Ling Xia

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Future street, Wushuang Xing

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Living with mega-cavity, Ankang Xu

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City in / above water, Jin Yan

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The Arctic Commons, A. Gavin Zeitz

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Threading puddles : stormwater management as a way to address the impact of Miami's future fresh water shortage due to increasing water demand and saltwater intrusion, Jing Zeng

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Guide the flood : Miami vulnerable neighborhoods flood adaptation design, Zhe Zhao

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The future of agriculture in Miami, Siyu Zheng

Theses from 2017

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Fluid solid : can we converse with granite?, Patrick T. Beals

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Water for the future, Ziqing Chen

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Narratives of public space : a manifesto for future urban landscape in Manhattan, Jaehong Chung

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Surveillance city in a post 9/11 era, Wanting Dong

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Super natural : hybrid strategies for urban flood protection in Coney Island NY, Georges Fischer

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Healing landscapes, Siyi He

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Inhabit the storm : emergency evacuation route, Anastasiia Isakova

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Light installations for LE, Yiqi Jiang

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Remediating the garment industry, Kellie Knight

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Landscape as an interactive layer, Yifan Kong

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Alleyways as avenues, Rebecca E. Ladd

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Thresholds : natural phenomena, urban form, equilibrium, Peiyi Liu

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Look up, city skygazers, Yiyang Qian

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How to get school children access to urban farming by activating vacant land and rooftops, Yixin Ren

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gRave : landscape necromancy, Jil Sanchez

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Borderscape : weaving political boundaries in the Amazon through water performance, Lucila Silva-Santisteban

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Grid talk : giving a voice to energy infrastructures, Kelsey Wakefield

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Culturally integrated space, Jing Wang

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Viaduct landscape, Juanru Wang

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Twilight revelation, Shuwen Xu

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Grid in landscape architecture, Ying Xu

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Wayfinding streetscapes : how to integrate a wayfinding system into the streetscape, improving public transit and pedestrian mobility, Lu Zhang

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Remnant landscapes as homo sapiens preserves : It is the dystopian utopia, the shrine for modernity, the home of everyone, Yuan Zhang

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Thrive in sea level rise, Xiang Zhao

Theses from 2016

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Hybrid spaces in the city, Zhihao Li

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Above the urban surface, Xirui Zhang

Theses from 2015

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Rising with the water, Xi Yang