Hedekeyeh Hots’ih Kāhidi – “Our Ancestors Are In Us,” describes a Tahltan worldview, which is based on the connection Tahltan people have with our Ancestors, our land, and our language. From this worldview, I have articulated a Tahltan methodology, Tahltan Voiceability, which involves receiving the teachings of our Ancestors and Elders, learning and knowing these teachings, and the sharing of these teachings with our people. By giving voice to our Ancestors and Elders, as well as to all of our people, it sets the stage for research that is useful, relational, and transformative. Tahltan Voiceability speaks not only to the methodology of this study, but also the way in which the voices of my people can gain strength and healing from the revitalization of our language. Conversations with fluent speakers, language teachers, educators, administrators, and language learners informed this investigation with their ideas and experiences regarding Tahltan language revitalization. The learnings from the research are presented in such a way as to honour all voices, using different modes of written expression woven throughout the dissertation. The organization of the dissertation is based upon physical manifestations – examples of art – that have played key roles in my Tahltan journey. This investigation addressed the following questions: How can Tahltan language revitalization positively affect the lives of my people? In the past and present, what has been done to maintain, preserve, and revitalize our Tahltan language? In the future, what do my people need to do to continue to maintain, preserve, and revitalize our Tahltan language? In terms of positive effects, language revitalization can be the start of a process in which we begin to heal from the impacts of past losses by reclaiming our language, culture, and identity, thereby allowing our voices to become stronger and healthier. My people need to identify the steps and actions we need to take in the areas of health, education, social development, and Aboriginal rights and title, so that we can revitalize our language and heal at the same time. From what I learned from co-researchers, scholars who have worked with our Tahltan communities, other Indigenous community language revitalization experts, and international language revitalization scholars, I have provided suggestions to a newly formed Tahltan Language Authority dealing with the assessment of the language, community support, and language revitalization programs being used in British Columbia and other parts of the world. Finally, I speak about Tahltan identity, the process of language revitalization, and the connection between language revitalization and healing as forms of empowerment for my people. / Graduate

This thesis concerns a study of an elementary school Cree bilingual program. Students’ language proficiency, attitudes and academic performance were analyzed and parent and teacher interviews were conducted to assess the program’s effectiveness and to determine how well it meets community needs and expectations. The study found that students were learning Cree vocabulary but developing only limited communicative ability and they were not able to converse. The study also found that Cree Program students had positive attitudes toward Cree language and culture, and that their performance in other subject areas was not negatively affected by their focus on Cree language learning. Adult interviews demonstrated that parents and teachers had realistic assessments of students’ performance, but that they were strongly committed to the program. Parents demonstrated that they were very engaged in their children’s education.

Collective memories and how they are enacted through sensual experience of the material world play a key role in maintaining group identities. Material creations like art or social activities such as sports incorporate the social ideals of both the past as well as present; these creations can transform feelings of personhood into socialized objects. This thesis examines some of the creative expressions found within Oklahoma Choctaw revitalization practices to better understand how people maintain cultural sensory embodiments after they have experienced extreme social dislocation. Through the examination of the senses from an ethnographic approach a researcher can possibly identify those areas of culture that become embodied over time. I will be examining previously written research, oral histories pertaining to the Choctaw origin, and key material expressions of Choctaw identity alongside the contemporary practices associated with the current Choctaw revitalization efforts in Oklahoma.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / John W. Keller / In the mid-20th century a migration took place taking residents of American downtowns to the newly-developed, master-planned suburbs. In the wake were abandoned urban cores that evolved into poorly-perceived conditions. One of the many responses to correct these deteriorating central districts was the establishment of Business Improvement Districts (BID), a public-private partnership that develops complementary services to what a city already provides and is paid for by assessments collected from property and business owners in a defined area. With more than 1,000 BIDs in existence in the United States as of 2010 (Becker, Grossman, Dos Santos, 2011), the concept has caught on as a tool utilized to bring downtowns back to life. However, despite the popularity of BIDs and their nearly 50-year existence as a planning tool, the question of how successful they are in improving the conditions of safety, cleanliness, and business growth in the districts over time needs continued analysis. This study gauges the impact of BIDs through a case study of Fresno, California and its BID, the Downtown Fresno Partnership. To measure how the Downtown Fresno Partnership has been successful or unsuccessful, interviews with Downtown Fresno stakeholders were conducted to measure the BID’s ability to change perceptions and advocate for the property owners in its boundary. Also, to measure further impacts, crime, property values and retail data was investigated. A perceived injection of new energy seems to exist in Downtown Fresno, as evidenced by the activity taking place and the change in perception of the area since the Downtown Fresno Partnership was formed in 2011. The BID has played a central role in instituting physical change to the space while it has been a strong advocate for its property owners. In its first five years of existence, the Downtown Fresno Partnership has proven to be necessary, but it is not sufficient on its own. From a planning standpoint, it is important to recognize that in order to revitalize, a community must first organize. In the case of Fresno, the BID provided an opportunity to collect formerly competing interests and put itself at the center of an underperforming downtown to alter the course towards a more vibrant and thriving area. It has established positive momentum down this path, and it is expected to be a strong voice for downtown in the future as others join in on the fully-experienced revitalized state of Downtown Fresno.

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This thesis is an exploration of the fusion of building and landscape. Along with the development of modern design education, architecture design has been subdivided into several specific branches which actually cause harm to the whole design process and education in turn. In this thesis, I try to bridge the difference between the traditional concepts of building and landscape and try to make these two parts interweave with each other. By breaking the boundary between these two fields, integrity can be created which is able to make the building an object growing from its environment and to create a new middle landscape on the campus of Virginia Tech. / Master of Architecture

The main idea of the project is a gradual interpenetration of a town and nature and concurrently the free connection of the new projected area Rybníky and neighbouring quarter Prštné. And so the density of housing gradually becomes thinner and the density of vegetation thicker from the South to the North. At the same moment the form and function of buildings are changing. There is a sport area in greenery between Rybníky and Prštné as an open connection of new buildings in Rybníky and old ones in Prštné. Entrances of the area are defined by two dominant administration buildings. A local centre of the area is a park with a pavilion in its heart and a near public courtyard with café, kindergarten and the home for the elderly and singles. The projected area is full of cycle paths which connect the quarter and the Zlín city centre. The riverbank with a relaxation zone is created along the river Dřevnice.

Since the adoption of neoliberalism, many cities have taken to integrating nature with capital accumulation to create a sense of place. This has been closely tied to urban greening, or green "revitalization." As part of curating this desired character, city governments are working to roll out plans to restore and renew neighborhoods using their natural landscapes through methods such as reforestation, the creation of parks, and commercial development. These cities, deemed Entrepreneurial cities, are increasingly incorporating natural or green spaces into their development of character as part of their branding schemes. This research focuses on the role of nature as the site of economic development and community revitalization within Dallas, Texas. This research examines how the City of Dallas uses nature to attract capital, and how the narratives of development relate to residents' visions for development in the historically neglected Joppa neighborhood in the Trinity River Corridor. Development near Joppa could be an example of how the natural landscape is being used to not only attract developers but also to bring a different ‘class' of resident into the area. By exploring this intersection of nature and capital in Dallas, we can better understand the nuanced ways through which the neoliberalization of nature can lead to deeper social and economic disparities.

San Felipe de Neri, a neighborhood located in the Historic District of Panama, is the object of physical, economic and social transformations that are affecting its residents' daily lives. Revitalization and gentrification drive these transformations as wealthy Panamanians invest in the neighborhood, and affluent foreigners flock to it since it became a World Heritage Site in 1997. This dissertation addresses perceptions and reactions residents have because of these physical, economic and social challenges. This study poses four main questions: 1. What physical, economic, and social (quality of life) changes have taken place in the Historic District of San Felipe from the early twentieth century to the present? To what extent are these changes the result of global processes, local processes, or both? 2. How do residents perceive these changes? Is there any significant difference in opinions and attitudes among residents regarding changes that revitalization and gentrification impose on the neighborhood? If so, how and why are they different? 3. To what extent have residents participated in these transformations? and 4. How do residents who have been relocated perceive these changes? My research analyzes Smith's five characteristics of a third wave of gentrification: first, the transformed role of the state; second, the penetration by global finance; third, changing levels of political opposition; fourth, geographical dispersal; and fifth, the sectoral generalization of gentrification and its relevance for my case study of San Felipe. This methodology enlists quantitative and qualitative methods to address these research questions to gain insight about residents' perspectives regarding these transformations. Findings indicate that both residents and ex-residents of San Felipe view the outcomes of revitalization and gentrification in mixed ways. Both groups mostly agree that the improvement of the physical conditions of the neighborhood is a positive outcome for preserving the material heritage, and for encouraging international and national tourism benefiting the country. Regardless of their economic and social status, residents claim that the place where they have lived for a long time is no longer theirs, except in their memories. They face the threat of eviction and an uncertain future. Former residents—those who have been displaced—have mixed views as well. On the one hand, they have improved their living standards because they now have better housing infrastructures. On the other hand, their new locations are scattered about the city and are often in dangerous areas that lack the amenities of San Felipe. Others feel that in the process they have lost a home; a place filled with meaningful memories and to which one day they dream of returning. A diverse residential population is the only way to save historic centers from becoming museums that present a pastiche and a 'façadism' catered to the international consumer. Preserving the human and physical patrimony is the most viable way to achieve sustainability and development in historic areas. Associations had no permanent places to meet with residents. This eroded the desire of residents to participate, and encouraged them to accept whatever owners wanted to give them to move out of the neighborhood. In the end, they became disenfranchised. A lack of both leadership and strong social movements, and the dissemblance of grass-root organizations through co-optation, clientelism, and even deception became the norm in the neighborhood. / Ph. D.