In this seminar, students will be asked to explore how their practices- as artists and designers- can engage issues of land and water justice. Research will happen through local field trips, community willow weaving workshops, readings, conversations with artists and activists, and speculative and creative practices. Some of the questions we will ask in the seminar include: How do our actions and our lives change when we understand land and water as a system of relationships and obligations? How can we, as artists and designers, develop a creative practice that pushes back against the privatization and financialization of land, water and relationships? How can our practices respond to and challenge a singular narrative of progress and development and create hybrid practices that weave tradition with speculative futures? How can critical spatial practice be used to uncover the multiple and complex histories of place, unsettle the comforts of modernity, and contribute to struggles for decolonization and justice? The hope is that this will be a truly multidisciplinary seminar and have students from across all the divisions. Each student will develop a final project that resonates with the seminar’s core themes and is also relevant to their own interests, goals, media and creative practice.

This final core studio stresses large-scale and planning issues, complex sites, and urban conditions. The city is a living organism which evolves in a particular locale with a particular form due to a combination of environmental and cultural factors. These factors, the forces they represent and the material results of their interaction form, in their interrelated state, what can be called urban systems. The many forces at play within cities-social, cultural, economic, ideological, ecological, infra structural, morphological and visual-combine in various ways to created both an identifiable urban realm and the many sub zones within this. Yet, none of these factors is static and unchanging; and, as a result, urban systems, urban dynamics, and urban identity are likewise in a continuous state of flux. This studio will explore these systems and the complex issues at play in our urban areas and the potential for positive change. Estimated Cost of Materials: $250.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Landscape Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MLA-I, MLA-II Landscape Architecture

This seminar focuses on the ecology, policy and design of freshwater and coastal systems. Through the study of water from the top of the watershed to the coast, this class focuses on the role of designers and allied professionals in the design and management of the dynamic interface between land and water. Through a multi-scalar approach, students will learn about the impacts of urbanization on water quality and coastal ecosystems, current approaches to the restoration of freshwater and coastal ecosystems, storm water management techniques and calculations, and the impact of climate change on water resources.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Landscape Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MLA-I, MLA-II Landscape Architecture

This seminar focuses on the ecology, policy and design of freshwater and coastal systems. Through the study of water from the top of the watershed to the coast, this class focuses on the role of designers and allied professionals in the design and management of the dynamic interface between land and water. Through a multi-scalar approach, students will learn about the impacts of urbanization on water quality and coastal ecosystems, current approaches to the restoration of freshwater and coastal ecosystems, storm water management techniques and calculations, and the impact of climate change on water resources.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Landscape Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MLA-I, MLA-II Landscape Architecture