Learning from the Remains: Meditations on Sustainability

Author

• Julae Tan, Rhode Island School of DesignFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-22-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA)

Department

Landscape Architecture

First Advisor

Markus Berger

Second Advisor

Elizabeth Hermann

Third Advisor

May Babcock

Abstract

What remains when a person or material assemblage is stripped of its

component parts?

What is left is the remainder, an irreductible core.

Purely cerebral learning can be fleeting. A hybrid approach of cerebral and

visceral, “perverse” learning grounded in a familial understanding of the

remainder yields a more resilient pedagogy that endures long after leaving the

site of formal education.

This research was completed under the aegis of the 2025/26 Sustainability

Design Lab and features the subject of making with paper discards as the

primary mode of interrogation.

Via a collection of essays, a literature review, as well as making and teaching

with the remainder, this thesis aims to spark curiosity, sustain interest in

learning about learning and propose a sustainable pedagogical approach

grounded in that which remains.

Recommended Citation

Tan, Julae, "Learning from the Remains: Meditations on Sustainability" (2026). Masters Theses. 1678.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1678

Creative Commons License

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