There are increased ‘calls to reconnect humanity with the biosphere’ to respond to the current environmental crisis. The formative potential of nature experiences for individual’s development of connectedness with nature therefore requires attention. Specifically, connecting children with nature through nature experiences could be a leverage point for sustainable development. This thesis explores the temporal dimension of nature experiences, i.e. nature routines, for young children from a socialecological systems perspective. The views of experienced pedagogues in Swedish outdoors preschools are addressed. The results show that affective connectedness with nature develops in four general phases: being comfortable in nature, enjoy being in nature, caring for nature and oneness with nature, while experiential and cognitive connectedness with nature develop gradually. There is a progression in the pedagogically designed nature routines during the time at the preschool, as pedagogues facilitate relevant learning situations in nature to support the on-going development of children’s connectedness with nature. Nature routines are understood as generating enculturation on how to be and behave in nature. Furthermore, pedagogues’ functional classification of nature places highlights the pedagogical values of varying natural environments and biotopes near the preschool. Implications for urban planning could therefore be investigated further. Future research could also address the relevance of nature routines and the phases of affective connectedness with nature for other age groups.

The concept of my thesis is to employ architectural intervention in residual urban space as a catalyst for transformation. The goal is design of a building and environment that could be used for any combination of purposes, be used freely by all members of the community, be designed so that the art and architecture is interactive, and could be transformed by the users of the space. The project makes use of a residual urban space that would otherwise remain largely inaccessible. The project explores how the space could be designed to give a sense of ownership of it to the community, and how it could be designed to reunify areas of the city that have been severed by urban renewal. The site I have chosen is the Franklin Arterial in Portland, Maine, a four-lane divided surface highway surrounded by parking lots vacant lots, industrial sites and housing projects. Design interventions include a centrally located public market building, which would have a variety of uses throughout any given time period, a bicycle pedestrian path which reconnects the surrounding neighborhoods, and designated sites for art and performance throughout the area.

Written from a nuučaan̓uł perspective this dissertation documents the reclamation of knowledge, teachings, culture, language, responsibilities, and identity through my personal (re)connection to my family’s ḥaḥuułi and hereditary home, čaačaac̓iiʕas. In specific and intentional ways my research, fieldwork, and dissertation are part of a story of reconciliation between myself and čaačaac̓iiʕas, the ḥaḥuułi that my family was dispossessed from because of the impacts of colonization. Despite the near severing of our relationship with čaačaac̓iiʕas and the near destruction of our ḥaḥuułi, čaačaac̓iiʕas is thriving and now is the time to pick up my responsibilities and begin to re-establish a relationship with the natural and spiritual worlds found there. In my research the lands, waters, skies, and natural world are not a place and/or object of inquiry, they are non-human knowledge holders and teachers. The dissertation draws upon on a diverse set of ethnographic, anthropological, and Indigenous literatures. Emphasis is placed upon the use of nuučaan̓uł scholarship, theory, and methodologies including muułmuumps (being rooted to the land), ceremony, language, song, and interviews. The research builds on four kinds of knowledge that are expressed as: 1) known knowledge; 2) incomplete knowledge; 3) unaccounted for and/or unknown knowledge; and, 4) ethnographic/anthropological knowledge. Through this theoretical platform I explore tangible and intangible cultural and hereditary forms of knowledge production. Importantly, I highlight the role of song and sound as critical vehicles through which contemporary Indigenous peoples can connect to historical places and times. I place equal emphasis on the production of sound through song as I do through the reception of song and sound through a methodology of deep listening. Song and sound play a crucial role in my research and form the basis of knowledge transfer between myself, čaačaac̓iiʕas, and my yakʷiimit kʷiyiis nananiqsu (ancestors). Furthermore, the songs shared within this dissertation are the analysis of my data and how I am choosing to disseminate that data. I argue that these connections provide ways for future agendas and aspirations for cultural resurgence and governance to emerge. / Graduate