In an era when cities and towns are changing rapidly, public spaces are the key to reviving civic engagement. By re-introducing these public realms as ecological environments, we can re-structure the organic growth of civic tissue, re-define the city street into a park environment, and reveal the ecological landmarks that once beautified the landscape. These ecological landmarks will be used as corridors, nodes of circulation and storm water management to not only creates a regenerative landscape but to create a connection between ecology, suburbia and the city. The public realm in America has two roles: it is the dwelling place of our civilization and our city life, and our physical manifestation of the common good. When we degrade the public realm, we will automatically degrade the quality of our city and our city life, plus the character of all the enactments of our public life and communal life that takes place there. The public realm has to inform us not only where we are geographically, but has to inform us where we are in our culture, where we've come from, what kind of people we are, and it needs to afford us a glimpse as to where we are going. The past sixty years has engendered a decentralization of the city and a loss of our public realm. Suburbia was created and the absence of community development within cities increased. The lack of social economic interaction now challenges each city today. The inabilities to obtain a socially sustainable closed-loop system lifestyle are some of the challenges families continually battle. Transformation, succession and operation will help to emphasize and revitalize the downtown riverfront district in Nashville, Tennessee and create a living, dynamic entity that connects you to suburbia and an ecological dwelling environment. A naturalized mouth and iconic identity to the river will create a comprehensive plan for addressing urban design and the connection between the two sides of the river. Transportation, naturalization, sustainability and other ecological issues will be addressed in the development of a sustainable "green city," a new destination where city, river and suburbia interact in a dynamic and balanced relationship creating an urban estuary.

This paper examines the topic of memorial design and experiential landscapes, emphasizing the role of memorials as spatial expressions of culture, history, memory, life, and death. Memorials have traditionally been monumental in form, but there is a growing shift in landscape architecture towards designing experiential memorial landscapes that allow for healing, reflection, and active participation. This progression in design highlights the landscape's role in preserving memories of tragedy and fostering a deeper connection between users and the land. This project focuses on the design of a memorial for the St. Francis Dam Disaster, a catastrophic event in California that reshaped the landscape and the lives of those affected. This project explores how a post-disaster site can be transformed into an experiential memorial landscape that tells the story of the past, present, and future landscape, creates a site pilgrimage through strategic memorial design, and reveals the profound impact of the tragedy on the land. Studies of memorial design principles and case studies focused on trail systems, site programming, and landscape aesthetics guided the design work. Design guidelines and design study processes developed through this research exemplify how to approach an experiential memorial design and challenge designers to approach and adapt their designs to complement existing landscape conditions. / Master of Landscape Architecture / This paper explores how to design a memorial for the St. Francis Dam Disaster, a catastrophic event in California that altered both the land and the lives of those affected. A memorial is different from a monument because it focuses more on the visitor's experience within the space. Drawing on established memorial design guidelines and similar landscape architecture projects, this project creates a memorial that enhances the visitor's experience and educates the visitor on existing elements in the surrounding landscape. This project engages with existing research and establishes a way of approaching a large-scale memorial design that will be beneficial to the field of landscape architecture.