Date of Award
Spring 5-22-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA)
Department
Landscape Architecture
First Advisor
Jacob Mitchell
Second Advisor
Ann Kearsley
Abstract
This thesis explores the possibilities and challenges that legacy hydro-powered dams and mill complexes offer. Through historical and contemporary analysis of New England’s 14,000 dams and of a particular site in Maynard, Massachusetts, the research delves into the factors that make these interventions so challenging. It begins from an assumption rooted in the ethical and environmental imperative to remove or modify legacy dams, which are those built for a purpose that is no longer being utilized, and rejects the existing binary of “remove” vs “preserve,” which is the dominant narrative in the dam removal conversation as it exists in 2026. Instead, the project asks how a middle ground might be found that insists on ecologically-responsible interventions that also prioritize human use. Through an iterative design exploration, it presents a speculative future in which the interventions facilitate ecological improvements alongside the preservation of both recreational use and the historic aesthetic of the mill ponds, but that also focuses the interventions on mitigating the growing divide between humans and their environmental context. It proposes a reshaping of the mill complex and the surrounding landscape in ways that create immersive experiences that help visitors see and understand natural processes, environmental connections, and their relationships with these systems in ways that question the human-nature divide and advocate for the ethical imperative of environmental stewardship.
Recommended Citation
Kelley, Travis, "Embodied River: Deliberate Unbuilding in Post-Dam Landscapes" (2026). Masters Theses. 1685.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1685
Creative Commons License
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